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THE 

ROCKY  MOUNTAm  SAINTS: 


A  FULL  AND  COMPLETE 

HISTOET  OF  THE  MOEMOITS, 


FROM  THE  FIRST  YISIOiT  OF  JOSEPH  SMITH  TO  THE  LAST 
COURTSHIP  OF  BRIGHAM  YOUiTG; 

INCLUDING 

THE  STOEY  OF  THE  HAND-CAET  EMIGRATION— THE  M0EM05T  WAE— THE 
MOUNTAIN-MEADOW  MASSACEE— THE  EEIGN  OF  TEEEOE  IN  UTAH 
—THE  DOCTEINE   OF   HUMAN   SACEIFICE— THE  POLITICAL, 
DOMESTIC,  SOCIAL,  AND  THEOLOGICAL  INFLUENCES 
OF  THE  SAINTS— THE  FACTS  OF  POLYGAMY 
—THE  COLONIZATION  OF  THE 
EOCKY  MOUNTAINS, 

AND 

THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  THE  GREAT  MINERAL  WEALTH 
OF  THE  TERRITORY  OF  UTAH. 


BY 

T.  B.  H.  STENHOUSE, 

TWENTY-FIVE  TEAE8  A  MOEMON  ELDER  AND  MISSIONARY,  AND  EDITOR   AND  PROPRIETOE  OF  THE 
SALT  LAKE  DAILY  TELEGRAPH. 


ILLUSTRATED  WITH  TWENTY-FOUR  FULL-PAGE  ENGRAVINGS,  A  STEEL  PLATE  FRONTISPIECE, 
AN  AUTOGRAPHIC  LETTER  OF  BRIGHAM  YOUNG,  AND  NUMEROUS  WOODCUTS. 


NEW  York:: 

D.  APPLETON   AND  COMPANY, 

549   &  551  BEOADWAY. 
1873. 


[All  Rights  of  Translation  Reserved,^ 


Books  written  by  thinkers — men  who  thought  and  dared  to  express  their 
thoughts — arc  always  worth  reading.  I  care  not  whether  their  authors  were 
Atheists  or  Methodists,  Heathen  or  Mohammedan ;  the  life's  blood  of  the  au- 
thor circulates  through  them,  and  in  reading  you  feel  its  pulsations.  But 
books  written  by  men  who  never  saw  through  their  own  eyes,  who  never  put 
out  their  hands,  and  felt  the  world  for  themselves,  nor  took  one  manly  step, 
are  the  faintest  echoes  from  the  distant  hills  compared  with  the  heaven- 
shakiug  thunder  that  produced  them. — Denton. 


Entered,  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  181'2, 
By  D.  APPLETON  &  CO., 
In  the  Office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress,  at  Washington. 


PREFACE. 


Notwithstanding  the  frequency  witli  wliicli  the  American 
press  has  kept  the  name  of  the  Mormons  .before  the  public, 
few  persons  have  any  definite  idea  of  what  Mormonism  claims 
to  be,  and  what  it  actually  is. 

Occupying,  as  the  Saints  do,  the  centre  of  the  great  high- 
way between  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific  oceans,  and  demanding 
admission  into  the  Union  as  a  sovereign  State,  Congress  cannot 
long  refuse  attention  to  their  claim.  The  question,  therefore, 
of  engrafting  upon  the  Republic  a  Theocracy  which  practices 
polygamy^  teaches  the  barbarous  doctrine  of  human  sacrifice^ 
and  is  in  its  sentiments  inimical  to  the  constitution  of  the  na- 
tion, demands  the  careful  consideration  of  all  who  are  inter- 
ested in  the  honour  and  good  name  of  the  United  States. 

In  the  pages  of  this  work,  the  politician,  the  preacher,  the 
litterateur^  and  the  thoughtful  reader,  will  find  abundant  mat- 
ter for  studious  reflection. 

It  requires  no  prophetic  inspiration  to  predicate  that,  in  spite 
of  all  the  crudity  and  ridiculous  assumption  of  Mormonism, 
the  highest  wisdom  of  the  national  Government  may  yet  be 
required  to  avert  scenes  of  conflict  which  would  be  universally 
deplored. 

Memorials  demanding  the  admission  of  Utah  into  the 
Union,  under  the  title  of  "  The  State  of  Deseret,"  have  for 
twenty-three  years  engaged  the  attention  of  Congress.  Last 


PREFACE. 


session  the  demand  was  again  made,  and  met  with  a  much 
more  favourable  reception  than  ever  before.  Next  Session 
it  will  be  repeated,  and,  if  not  then  successful,  it  will  be  again 
and  again  urged,  until  finally  Statehood  is  secured. 

Emboldened  by  the  encouragement  of  some  prominent 
members  of  Congress,  the  Mormon  Prophet  has  approved  of 
the  retirement  of  the  monogamic  Delegate  who  served  the 
Territory  for  a  dozen  years,  and,  as  a  test  of  the  disposition  of 
the  national  mind,  sends  as  his  successor  to  Washington  an 
apostle — the  husband  of  four  wives.  Should  the  nation  con- 
sent to  this  innovation,  Statehood  will  soon  be  secured  for 
Utah,  and  Brigham  Young's  Theocracy  will  be  triumphant 
over  the  Republic  and  the  National  laws. 

Mormonism  is  not  dead  nor  dying. 

Until  this  "  Utah  difficulty "  is  settled  emphatically  and 
finally  by  the  voice  of  the  people,  declaring  that  no  political  or 
domestic  institution  opposed  to  the  spirit  and  genius  of  republi- 
canism can  ever  be  allowed  to  exist  within  the  domain  of  the 
United  States,  Mormonism  is  destined  to  be  the  disturbing 
dream  of  every  occupant  of  the  chair  of  Washington. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTEB  1. 

MORMONISM  EXPLAINED.— The  First  Faith  bihlical—Spuitual  Enthusiasm  of 
the  Elders — Establishment  of  a  Literal  Kingdom  predicted — Polygamy  not  in 
the  Original  Programme — Mormon  Errors  attributable  to  the  System  and  Lead- 
ers— ^Argument  of  the  Miraculous  Power  of  Healing — Difficulty  experienced  in 
leaving  the  Mormon  Church — Assumption  of  Infallible  Priesthood — Mormonism 
summed  up,   1 

CHAPTER  n. 

THE  MOEMON  PEOPHET— His  Early  Life— His  Visions— His  Personal  Charac- 
teristics— An  Angel  reveals  to  him  the  Golden  Plates — His  Mission  announced 
—The  Story  of  the  Stone  Box,  8 


CHAPTER  HL 

THE  GOLD  PLATES.— Joseph  translates  the  "Reformed  Egyptian  "—Martin  Har- 
ris acts  as  Scribe — Professor  Anthon  pronounces  the  Characters  and  Translation 
"a  Hoax" — ^A  Prediction  of  Isaiah  fulfilled — Satan  and  Mrs.  Harris  bring  the 
Prophet  into  Great  Trouble — Oliver  Cowdery  replaces  Harris — John  the  Baptist 
ordains  Smith  and  Cowdery — They  baptize  each  other,  prophesy  and  rejoice — 
Witnesses  are  chosen  to  testify  to  the  Book  of  Mormon,       .      .      .  .21 


CHAPTER  TV. 

ORGANIZATION  OF  THE  CHURCH.— Disciples  receive  the  Holy  Ghost— Ancient 
Apostles  and  Prophets  revisit  the  Earth— Newell  Knight  is  tortured  by  the  Devil 
— His  Experience  claimed  as  the  first  "  Latter-Day  "  Miracle— Judge  Edmonds 
records  similar  Phenomena  in  Spiritualism,  30 


CHAPTER  y. 

THE  FIRST  CONFERENCE.— Parley  P.  Pratt  and  Orson  Pratt  converted— Mis- 
sionary Enterprise  begins — Elders  sent  to  preach  to  the  Indians — Sidney  Rigdon 
converts  his  Campbellite  Congregation — Saints  commanded  to  gather  in  Ohio- 
Jackson  County,  Missouri,  designated  the  "  Land  of  Promise,"   .      .      ,  36 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  VL 

SATAN  THREATENS  THE  CHUECH.— He  shakes  and  corrupts  the  Ohio  Saints 

 The  Youthful  Prophet  labours  with  Great  Zeal — Missionaries  evangelize 

the  Eastern  States— Smith  and  Eigdon  behold  a  Great  Vision — They  are  tarred 
and  feathered— Go  to  Missouri  and  found  a  Newspaper,        .      .      .  .40 

OHAPTEE  VII. 

MEETING  OF  THE  PEOPHETS.— Brighara  Young  sees  Joseph  Smith  for  the 
First  Time — They  rejoice  together  in  Kirtland — ^Brigham  speaks  in  "  Unknown 
Tongues" — Joseph  predicts  the  Southern  Eebellion — He  makes  an  Inspired 
Translation  of  the  New  Testament — Troubles  arise  between  the  Saints  and  the 
**  Gentiles  "  in  Missouri — The  Disciples  are  driven  from  Jackson  County,  .  4A 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

THE  PROMISED  LAND.—"  The  Lord  "  calls  for  "  the  Strength  of  his  House  "  to 
reinstate  the  Exiled  Saints  in  Jackson  County — Two  hundred  and  five  Elders  re- 
spond— The  Prophet  becomes  Commander-in-Chief  of  "  the  Armies  of  the  Lord  " 
— A  Revelation  promising  Restoration  to  the  Exiles — Joseph  is  the  Man  like  unto 
Moses  to  lead  them  to  Victory,  48 

CHAPTER  IX. 

ZION'S  CAMP.— The  Prophet's  "Army"  marches  to  Missouri— A  Great  Storm— 
The  Cholera  desolates  the  "  Strength  of  the  Lord's  House" — Utter  Discomfit- 
ure of  the  Mormons — The  Promises  to  restore  the  Saints  to  Jackson  County  a 
Total  Failure — The  Army  Disbanded — The  Saints  sue  for  Peace — "  The  Lord  was 
only  trying  their  Faith" — They  are  to  curse  their  Enemies — Anniversary  Meet- 
ings of  Zion's  Camp — ^Dancing  and  Rejoicing,  62 

CHAPTER  X. 

TWELVE  APOSTLES  CHOSEN.— Quorums  of  "Seventies"  organized— They  go 
abroad  and  preach — Kirtland  Temple  finished — Dedication  and  Endowment- 
Joseph's  Wonderful  Vision  of  the  Celestial  Kingdom — A  Second  Pentecost — 
Brigham  Young  "  Speaks  in  Tongues  " — The  Temple  filled  with  Angels — Joseph 
and  Cowdery  are  visited  by  Moses,  Elias,  and  Elijah— They  behold  "  The  Lord  " 
— Cowdery  afterward  apostatizes,  60 


CHAPTER  XI. 

FIRST  GREAT  APOSTACY.— Joseph  predicts  about  Brigham  being  President 
of  the  Church— British  Missions  projected  as  a  Strategic  Measure— One  of 
Joseph's  own  Counsellors  rebels  against  him— He  is  proclaimed  "  A  Fallen 
Prophet  "—Troubles  again  threaten  in  Missouri,    ......  67 

CHAPTER  XII. 

THE  PROPHET  BECOMES  A  BANKER.— Apostates  and  Capitalists  bring  him 
to  Grief— Sidney  Rigdon's  Interesting  View  of  a  "  Circulating  Medium  "—He 
assures  Mr.  Jones  that  the  Bank  Notes  were  never  intended  for  Redemption— 


CONTENTS. 


vii 


The  Kirtland  Safety  Society  Bank  repudiated — Joseph  and  Sidney  fly  to  Mis- 
souri— Pursued  by  Armed  Men — Extraordinary  Escapes — The  Lord"  protects 
them,  70 

CHAPTER  XIII. 

CUTTING  OFF  APOSTATES.— Witnesses  of  the  Book  of  Mormon  expelled  from 
the  Church — Joseph  denounces  the  Lord's  Chosen"  as  Blacklegs,  Thieves, 
Liars,  and  Counterfeiters" — More  Apostles  dethroned— The  Prophet  locates 
the  Garden  of  Eden  in  Missouri— It  was  there  that  Adam  and  Eve  sported  in 
Innocence — More  Trouble  looming — Kigdon's  famous  Declaration  of  Independ- 
ence,  76 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

WAE  COMMENCES.— Affidavits  made  against  the  Prophet— The  Mormons  and  the 
Mob  resort  to  Arms — The  Governor  calls  out  the  State  Militia — Joseph  and  Sid- 
ney propose  to  become  Lawyers — The  Mormon  Settlements  attacked — Houses 
burned — Women  and  Children  forced  to  flee  before  an  Infuriated  Mob — Frightful 
Cruelties — The  Saints  fight  and  retaliate,  80 


CHAPTER  XV. 

THE  CHUECH  IN  DANGER.— Apostles  apostatize— Marsh  and  Hyde  make  Affi- 
davits against  the  Prophet — Charge  him  with  aiming  to  be  a  Second  Mahomet— 
The  Danite  Band — Its  Name  and  Origin — Dr.  Avard's  Statements — The  Doctor's 
Speech — Joseph  denies  the  Paternity  of  the  Band — Great  Excitement  throughout 
the  State — A  Sensational  Eeport— More  Fighting — The  Apostle  Patten  killed — 
The  Saints  to  be  rooted  out,  98 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

EXPULSION  OR  EXTEEMINATION.— Terrible  Excitement  throughout  Missouri 
— The  Country  in  Arms — General  Clark  placed  in  Command  of  the  State  Militia 
— The  Governor's  Order  for  the  Expulsion  of  the  Saints — Brutality  of  the  Mob 
— Horrible  Massacre  of  unoffending  Mormons — Murder  of  Women  and  Childen 
— The  Narrative  of  an  Eye-witness,  96 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

THE  PEOPHET  EESOLVED  TO  FIGHT  IT  OUT.— Faith  struggles  with  Fate- 
Treason  in  the  Camp  of  the  Saints — ^Joseph  and  the  leading  Mormons  delivered 
over  to  General  Lucas — The  Prisoners  tried  by  Court  Martial — Sentenced  to  be 
shot  next  Morning — General  Doniphan  protests  against  their  Execution — 
The  Prophet  and  his  Brethren  sent  to  Jail — The  Eevelations  contradicted  by 
Facts  103 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

THE  MISSOUETANS  TEIUMPHANT.— Grandiloquent  Speech  of  General  Clark- 
Mormons  ordered  to  leave  the  State — Examination  of  the  Prisoners — The  Prophet 
not  subdued — The  Legislature  memorialized — The  Saints  wavering — Joseph  re- 
views the  Situation,  109 


Viii  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  XIX. 

IN  PEISON.— The  New  Year  opens  dark  and  dreary— The  Mormons  suffer— The 
Missouri  Legislature  consider  the  "  Persecutions  "  of  the  Saints — Brigham  Young 
flees  from  Missouri— Joseph  indites  an  Epistle  from  Prison— The  Prisoners  in- 
tiicted— They  escape  from  Missouri,  115 

CHAPTER  XX. 

THE  EXILES  FIND  AN  ASYLUM  IN  H^LINOIS.— The  Prophet  again  at  Lib- 
erty—Nauvoo  selected  for  a  new  Zion— A  City  rapidly  built— Brigham  Young 
sent  to  England — The  Saints  importune  Congress  for  Eedress — Joseph  visits 
President  Van  Buren — The  Mormons  still  cling  to  the  Promises  of  Zion  in  Mis- 
souri,  120 

CHAPTER  XXI.  ' 

THE  PEOPHET»S  POLITICAL  LIFE  BEGINS.— New  Men  gather  round  him— A 
reorganization  of  the  "  Quorum  of  the  Apostles  " — Another  Temple  to  be  erected 
■  — "  The  Lord"  commands  the  Saints  to  build  a  "  Boarding  House  — Kings  are 
invited  to  the  Aid  of  Zion,  126 

CHAPTER  XXIL 

THE  PICKLE  FOETUNE  OF  POLITICS.— The  Legislature  liberal  to  the  Saints 
— The  Prophet  becomes  a  Lieutenant- General — ^Foundation  of  the  Temple  laid — 
Grand  Military  Display — Joseph  at  the  Height  of  his  Glory — ^Missouri  seeks  to 
re-capture  him,  133 

CHAPTER  XXIII. 

POLITICAL  DIFFICULTIES.— The  Prophet  balances  between  the  Whigs  and 
the  Democrats— The  Neighbours  of  the  Mormons  become  dissatisfied — Joseph 
charged  with  Designs  upon  the  Life  of  Governor  Boggs — He  is  arrested  on 
a  Charge  of  Treason — Ways  that  are  dark — Governor  Ford  explains — The 
first  Budding  of  Polygamy — The  Beginning  of  the  End — Serious  Charges  are 
made,  139 

CHAPTER  XXIY. 

JOSEPH  PEEDICTS  THE  EOCKY  MOUNTAIN  ZION.— He  designs  to  found 
there  an  Independent  State — ^Becomes  a  Candidate  for  the  Presidency  of  the 
United  States— Assails  Clay  and  Calhoun— Great  Trouble  with  Apostates— Poli- 
tics and  Polygamy  threaten  to  engulf  him — The  Nauvoo  £xj^ositor  founded 
and  destroyed — Writs  issued  for  the  Arrest  of  the  Prophet — He  resolves  on 
Flight,  146 

CHAPTER  XXY. 

THE  PEOPHET  SUEEENDEES  TO  THE  LAW.— The  Governor  pledges  the  State 
for  his  Safety — The  Country  intensely  excited — The  Destruction  of  the  Nauvoo 
Expositor  a  Fatal  Error— The  Militia  in  Arms— The  Murder  of  the  Prophet 
planned — His  Enemies  resolve  to  kill  him  while  Governor  Ford  visits  Nau- 
voo,  •  152 


CONTENTS.  .  IX 

CHAPTER  XXYI. 

LAST  HOURS  OF  THE  PEOPHET.— The  Presentiment  of  Ms  Death— The  Mur- 
derers— Their  Attack  upon  the  Jail — The  Assassination  of  the  Prophet,  and  the 
Patriarch — An  Apostle  shot — Thrilling  Narrative  of  a  Survivor — Two  minutes 
in  Jail,"   .  163 

CHAPTER  XXVn. 

POLYGAMY  IN  ILLINOIS.— Its  Introduction  among  the  Mormons— The  "  Eev- 
elation  "  given  by  Joseph  Smith — The  Sons  of  the  Deceased  Prophet  dispute 
the  Polygamic  Marriages  of  their  Father — They  call  for  the  Posterity — The 
Promise  of  a  "Eighteous  Seed"  unfulfilled — Joseph  without  Issue  by  his  score 
of  Polygamic  Wives — Married  Women  become  his  "Wives"  without  Divorce 
or  Separation  from  their  Husbands,  176 

CHAPTER  XXYIIL 

POLYGAMY  EEPUDIATED.— Joseph  Smith  and  the  Mormon  Leaders  deny  it— 
The  Eevelations  of  the  Church  condemn  it — The  Sons  of  the  Prophet  defend 
their  Father's  Eeputation — The  Evidences  of  his  Polygamic  Life,      .  .190 

CHAPTER  XXIX. 

AFTEE  THE  PEOPHET'S  DEATH.— Sidney  Eigdon  delivered  over  to  Satan— 
Brigham  Young  and  the  Twelve  Apostles  rule  the  Church — Mobocracy  again 
rampant — The  Expulsion  of  the  Mormons  demanded — The  Saints  agree  to  Ex- 
patriation,  204 

CHAPTER  XXX. 

THE  EXODUS  FEOM  NAUVOO.— The  Hasty  Departure  of  the  Apostles— Jour- 
ney to  the  Eocky  Mountains — The  Sufferings  of  the  Exiles — Nauvoo  besieged 
and  bombarded — An  Exile's  Story — Colonel  Kane*s  Narrative,    .      .  .221 

CHAPTER  XXXL  , 

ON  THE  MISSOUEL— Enlistment  of  the  Mormon  Battalion— False  Ideas  about  the 
Matter — Historical  Facts — Elder  Little  at  Washington — He  is  introduced  to 
President  Polk — Important  Official  Documents — Colonel  Kane's  Story — The 
Mormon  Ball — Brigham  receives  the  Volunteers'  "Advance  Pay" — Mormon 
Testimony  in  favour  of  Government — ^Brigham  Young's  Extraordinary  State- 
ments— The  Government  vindicated,  236 

CHAPTER  XXXIL 

FOUNDING  OF  THE  FEONTIEE  CITIES.— Brigham's  first  and  last  "  Eevela- 
tion" — The  Departure  of  the  Pioneers — The  Discovery  of  Salt  Lake  Valley — 
The  Eeturn  to  the  Missouri  Eiver,  250 

CHAPTER  XXXIII. 

CHANGES  IN  THE  CHUECH.— Brigham  Young  assumes  Joseph's  Authority  and 
Place — The  Emigration  from  Europe  re-opened — Migration  of  the  Saints  to 


CONTENTS. 


the  New  Zion — ^BrigTiam  invites  Presidents,  Emperors,  Kings,  Princes,  Nobles, 
etc.,  to  come  to  the  Help  of  "the  Lord'' — The  Pioneers  en  route^      .      .  262 

CHAPTER  XXXIY. 

THE  CIVIL  HISTOKY  OF  UTAH.— The  "State  of  Deseret"  created— The  Crick- 
ets destroy  the  Crops — A  Miracle  performed — Territorial  Government  extended 
over  Utah — Trouble  with  the  Federal  Officers,      ......  268 

CHAPTEE  XXXY. 

THE  IREEPEESSIBLE  CONFLICT  BETWEEN  THEOCEACY  AND  EEPUB- 
LICANISM. — The  Federal  Officers  in  Utah — Some  become  Sycophants  to  the 
Priesthood — Some  are  defiant — Brigham  Young  a  Second  Time  appointed  Gov- 
ernor— Trouble  with  the  Federal  Judges — They  leave  the  Territory,   ,      ,  279 

CHAPTER  XXXYL 

•  THE*  "EEFOEMATION"  IN  UTAH.— Its  Extraordinary  Origin— Shortcomings 
of  the  Saints — "  Jeddy's  "  Frenzy — Sinners  rebaptized — Terrible  Enthusiasm — 
Tabernacle  Teachings — Doctrine  of  the  "Blood  Atonement" — Human  Sacri- 
fices commended — Erring  Saints  to  offer  up  their  Blood  as  Incense  to  propitiate 
Deity — Brother  Heber  declares  that  Brigham  Young  is  God  to  the  Mormons — 
Strange  Preaching — Confessions  of  the  Saints — Brigham's  Casuistry  about  re- 
baptizing — Extraordinary  Public  Meeting  of  the  Priesthood — A  "Eeign  of  Ter- 
ror"— Shocking  Outrages  upon  Citizens — Crusade  against  Intellect — Eesults  of 
the  Eeformation — An  Important  Letter — What  Brigham  and  the  Leaders  really 
said  in  the  Tabernacle — Apostates  and  Gentiles  threatened,        .      .      .  292 

CHAPTER  XXXYIL 

EMIGEATING  TO  UTAH  WITH  HAND-CAETS.— Mr.  Chislett's  Narrative— 
The  "Divine  plan"  for  Emigrating  the  Poor — Outfitting  in  Iowa  City — Organ- 
izing the  Company — Journey  through  Iowa— The  Elders  prophesy  a  Successful 
Journey — Brother  Savage  protests — "  Inspirational  "  Counsel  followed — The 
Carts  break  down — Cattle  are  lost — The  Apostle  Eichards  prophesies  in  the 
Name  of  the  God  of  Israel — The  Elders  eat  the  Fatted  Calf— Arrival  at  Fort 
Laramie — Provisions  become  scarce — Great  Privations — The  People  begin  to 
faint  by  the  Way— Captain  Willie's  Bravery — The  Winter  overtakes  them — 
Snow  on  the  Mountains — The  Sweetwater — Great  Privations,  Disease,  and  Death 
— Envoys  from  Salt  Lake  Valley — Provisions  all  gone — Captain  Willie  goes  in 
Search  of  Aid — Terrible  Condition  of  the  People — Courage  and  Faithfulness  of 
the  Sufferers — Arrival  of  Timely  Aid — A  Thrilling  Scene — Hope  revived — "  Too 
late" — Eavages  of  Death — A  Hard  Eoad — An  Old  Man's  Death — "  Thirteen 
Corpses  all  stiffly  frozen  " — Fifteen  buried  in  one  Grave — The  ending  of  the  Jour- 
ney— Great  Kindness  of  the  Elders  and  People  of  Utah — The  Pilgrims  enter 
Zion — Sixty-seven  Emigrants  dead  on  the  Journey — Greater  Losses  in  another 
Company — Folly  of  Modern  Prophecies,        .  311 

CHAPTER  XXXYIII. 

THE  MOEMON  WAE.— How  it  was  inaugurated— Isolation  of  Utah— Carrying  the 
Mails— Mormon  Enterprise— Senator  Douglas  and  the  Saints— Anniversary  Fes- 


CONTENTS. 


ti  cities  at  Big  Cottonwood  Lake — New  Official  Appointments  for  Utali — Warlike 
Preparations  of  the  Saints — Believers  concentrated  at  Zion — Ludicrous  Fears  of 
some  Elders — Major  Van  Vleit  sent  by  the  United  States  Government — Brighaui 
receives  him — Major  Van  Vleit's  Story — Brigham's  Proclamation — Defiance 
from  the  Tabernacle — ^Brigham's  Wrath — Heber's  Enthusiasm — Expedition  of 
the  United  States  Army — Bogberryism  of  Brigham — I).  H.  Wells  instructs  the 
Brethren  to  harass  the  Army — The  Mormons  burn  the  United  States  Trains — 
Great  Suffering  of  the  Troops — Mules  and  Cattle  freeze  on  the  Eoad — Thirty -five 
Miles  in  fifteen  Davs,   345 

CHAPTER  XXXIX. 

THE  TWO  ARMIES.— The  Saints  rejoice,  and  sing  their  Warlike  Songs— The 
Federal  Troops  in  Camp  Scott — Brigham  sends  them  a  Present  ot  Salt — "  The 
Lord"  is  to  destroy  the  Enemies  of  Zion — Col.  Kane  arrives  among  the  Mor- 
mons and  converts  Brigham — ^The  Prophet  concludes  that  he  cannot whip  " 
the  United  States — He  proposes  Flight — Means  to  take  Care  of  Himself— Col. 
Kane  visits  Gov.  Gumming  and  arranges  a  Basis  of  Prospective  Peace — He 
offends  Gen.  Johnston  —  A  Duel  imminent  —  The  Mormons  flee  from  their 
Homes,  371 

CHAPTER  XL. 

PEACE  EESTORED.— Gov.  Gumming  visits  Salt  Lake  City— His  Passage  through 
Echo  Canon — Everywhere  greeted  with  Honour— Brigham  surrenders  the  Terri- 
torial Seal,  and  receives  the  new  Governor  with  Courtesy — Commissioners  arrive 
with  President  Buchanan's  Pardon — Peace  proclaimed — General  Johnston  with- 
out Opposition  traverses  the  Streets  of  Zion — Tlie  Federal  Troops  locate  Forty 
Miles  from  the  City — The  Saints  return  to  their  Homes — The  Prophet's  Boast- 
ing and  the  President's  Folly  suddenly  terminate,  389 

CHAPTER  XLL 

THE  JUDGES  AT  WORK.— The  Federal  Officers  divided— Judge  Sinclair  op- 
posed by  the  District  Attorney  at  Salt  Lake  City — Judge  Cradlebaugh  holds 
Court  at  Provo — The  Charges  of  Murder  at  Springville — Attention  drawn  to 
the  Mountain  Meadows  Massacre  and  other  Murders — The  Jury  find  no  Bills 
of  Indictment — The  Judge  discharges  them — Depositions  of  Witnesses  taken — 
Terrible  Revelations— Counterfeiting  on  United  States  Treasury— Trying  to  ar- 
rest Brigham — Saving  the  Governor's  Official  Head,  400 

CHAPTER  XLIL 

THE  EXPEDITION  A  FAILURE.— The  Mormons  enriched  by  the  Presence  of  the 
Troops — Intercourse  with  the  Camp  forbidden  to  the  Saints — The  Assertion  of 
Personal  Liberty  and  the  Dawning  of  Freedom  to  the  bold — Brigham  supplies 
the  Military  with  Tithing  Flour — Rowdyism  ^and  Murders  in  the  City — The 
Prophet  guarded  Night  and  Day — The  Desperadoes  are  wasted  away — The 

*  Rebellion  in  the  South  a  Theme  of  Rejoicing — The  Fulfilment  of  Joseph's  Pre- 
diction— The  Expedition  recalled — Great  Destruction  of  Munitions  of  War — Mill- 
ions of  Property  wasted— The  Federal  Troops  vacate  the  Territory,  and  the 
Saints  rejoice,  415 


xii 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  XLIII. 

THE  MOUNTAIN  MEADOWS  MASS  ACRE.— The  Stoiy  of  two  Emigrant  Trains 
--The  Journey  across  the  Plains — Arrival  in  Salt  Lake  City — Denied  Provi- 
sions in  the  Mormon  Settlements — The  Travel  to  the  Mountain  Meadows — A 
Militia  Regiment  follows  them — ^Indians  and  Mormon  Militia  attack  the  Train — 
A  Fight  for  Four  Days — Mormon  Officers  betray  the  Emigrants  under  a  Flag  of 
Truce— They  lay  down  their  Arms  under  Promise  of  Protection — A  Hundred 
and  Twenty  Men,  Women,  and  Children  butchered— Seventeen  Children  pre- 
served—The Story  of  the  Massacre  confirmed  by  the  Affidavit  of  Bishop 
Smith — The  Author's  Letter  to  Brigham  Young — Superintendent  Forney's  Re- 
port— Names  of  the  Little  Ones  saved — Judge  Cradlebaugh's  Speech  in  Con- 
gress— Sale  of  the  Emigrants'  Property — Major  Carlton's  Story  of  the  Monu- 
ment— "Vengeance  is  mine,  I  have  repaid" — "Argus"  defines  Brigham 
Young's  Responsibility — Congress  deaf  to  the  Demand  for  Investigation,  ,  424 


CHAPTER  XLIY. 

THE  SPRINGVILLE  MURDERS.— The  Status  of  the  People  during  the  Tinae  of 
Blood — Brigham's  Absolute  Authority — Something  Personal  of  Lee  and  the 
Leaders  at  Springville— How  the  Parrishes  were  entrapped  and  murdered — 
Confession  of  the  Bishop's  Counsellor — "  Helping  those  who  need  Help" — How 
Bird  ''^worked  the  best  he  could" — ''A  Lick  across  the  Throat" — Paying  the 

Atoning  Penalty — Horrible  Sacrifice  of  an  Unfaithful  Wife — How  John  G  's 

Blood  was  "Spilled,"  459 


CHAPTER  XLY. 

THE  FAITH  OF  THE  SAINTS.— The  Prophet's  Creed  given  to  the  Public— The 
Doctrines  taught  to  the  Saints— Spirits  in  Prison — Baptism  for  the  Dead — Brig- 
ham Young  teaches  that  Adam  is  the  God  of  this  World — Brigham  and  all  the 
;Mormons  are  to  make  New  Worlds  and  become  Gods — A  New  Version  of  Para- 
dise Lost  and  Paradise  Regained — Origin  of  the  Devil — The  Mormon  Account  of 
the  Origin  of  the  African  Race,      .      .  472 


CHAPTER  XLYL 

THE  MORMON  THEOCRACY.— All  Earthly  Government  is  Rebellion— The  King- 
dom of  God  in  Utah — The  Gentiles  to  be  destroyed — Why  the  Mormons  pray 
for  the  Overthrow  of  the  Republic — Believers  to  deed  all  their  Property  to  Brig- 
ham Young,  "  the  Lord's"  Representative  on  Earth — The  Families  of  the  Saints 
to  be  Adopted  by  the  Apostles— Brigham's  Word  equal  to  that  of  God— Orson 
Hyde  illustrates  the  Kingdoms  of  the  "  Gods,'*  495 


CHAPTER  XLYH. 

THE  BOOK  OF  ABRAHAM.— An  Extraordinary  Document— The  Prophet  buys 
Egyptian  Mummies— Translates  Papyri  found  with  them— Another  Translation 
by  a  Scientist— Delusion,  Deception,  or  Folly  ?— Was  Joseph  Smith  a  "  Spirit 
Medium?"  507 


CONTENTS. 


xiii 


CHAPTER  XLYIII. 

THE  BOOK  OF  MOEMON.— Orson  Pratt's  Account  of  its  Origin—Ancient  Hebrew 
Prophecies  fulfilled— First  Inhabitants  of  America— Murder  of  Laban— Tt  eft  of 
his  Plates— Migration  of  Israelites  from  Palestine  to  America— The  Building  of 
the  "Barges  "— Lehi  and  his  Sons— Jared's  Interview  with  "the  Lord"— Diffi- 
culties of  Navigation— The  Wonderful  Compass— Bad  Ways  of  the  Brethren— 
Landing  in  America— Nations  founded  and  Cities  built—"  Christians"  in  Amer- 
ica One  Hundred  Years  before  Christ  was  born— A  Church  founied— Persecu- 
tions and  Preachings— Fearful  Signs,  Wonders,  and  Prophecies— Battles  between 
the.Nephites  and  Lamanites— Two  Millions  of  Men  slain  in  one  Battle— The 
Gold  Plates  hid  in  the  Hill  Cumorah— Internal  Evidence— Plagiarisms  from  the 
New  Testament  and  Shakespeare— Analysis  of  the  Book— The  l  olly  of  the  Mor- 
mon Argument  upon  Evidence,  523 


CHAPTER  XLIX. 

THE  PEIESTHOOD  IN  ZION.— Its  Organizations,  Apostolic,  Judicial,  and  Po- 
litical—The Prayers  of  the  Saints— The  Surveillance  of  the  Teachers— The  Eyes 
of  the  Priesthood  over  all— The  Missionaries  abroad— The  Elders  travel  "  with- 
out Purse  or  Scrip" — How  Mormonism  is  introduced  among  the  Gentiles — For- 
eign Missions — His  Satanic  Majesty  attacks  the  Apostles  in  England — "Devils" 
attack  Brother  Heber — Success  in  Britain — The  Emigration  to  Zion — Baptizing 
Converts  in  the  Atlantic — The  Journey  through  the  States,  ....  566- 


CHAPTER  L. 

POLYGAMY  IN  UTAH.— Preached  from  the  Tabernacle— A  Terrible  Trial  to 
Women — Degradation  of  the  Sex — Ancient  Hebrew  Examples  adduced — "Liv- 
ing Martyrs"  to  a  Debasing  Doctrine — Brigham  Young  on  Polygamy — Second 
and  "  following"  Wives — Marriage  Bites  among  the  Mormons — The  First  Wife 
is  not  asked  one  Question — Impossibility  of  Happiness  in  Polygamy,  ,      .  681 

CHAPTER  LL 

UTAH  DUEING  THE  EEBELLION.— Change  of  Federal  Officers— Brutal  Attack 
upon  Governor  Dawson  by  Mormon  Eowdies — Three  of  them  shot — A  Eival 
Prophet  to  Brigham — The  "Morrisite"  Community — They  disregard  a  Writ  of 
Habeas  Corpus — The  Mormon  Militia  acting  as  a  Posse  Comitatus — Three  Days' 
Fighting — The  Prophet  Morris,  his  Counsellor  Banks,  and  two  Women,  killed 
after  the  Surrender — Arrival  of  new  Federal  Officers — An  early  Difficulty — Arrival 
of  the  California  Volunteers — Establishment  of  Camp  Douglas — ^Brigham  defies 
the  Law  of  Congress,  and  takes  "an  Elderly  Young  Woman"  to  Wife — The 
Prophet  afraid  of  Arrest — Citizens  summoned  to  protect  him — Chief-Justice 
Kinney  arrests  the  Prophet  for  violating  the  Anti-Polygamic  Law — ^Brigham 
gives  Bail — The  Grand  Jury  find  no  Evidence  that  Brigham  had  married  again 
— Trouble  with  the  Federal  Officials — The  Mormons  invite  them  to  leave  the 
Territory — The  Tabernacle  and  Mormon  Press  rejoice  in  the  Calamities  of  the 
Union — General  Connor  and  the  Volunteers  a  Terror  to  Evil-Doers — A  Midnight 
Scare — Another  False  Prophecy — Brigham  predicts  another  Four  Years  of  War 
only  Four  Days  before  General  Lee  surrendered,  ♦    .  591 


xiv 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  LII. 

AFTER  THE  WAR. — Grand  Procession  '  of  Mormons  and  Gentiles — ^Prospective 
Peace — The  Federal  Officers  and  Mormon  Dignitaries  wine  together — The  City 
honours  General  Connor  in  the  Social  Hall — The  Prophets  and  the  Gentile 
Ladies  decline^  attending  the  Ball — Vice-President  Colfax  and  Literary  Friends 
visit  Zion — The  Interview  with  the  Prophet — The  Hon.  James  M.  Ashley  sees 
the  Difficulty  of  convicting  the  Apostles  for  Polygamy — He  tells  Tom  Corwin's 
Story  of  the  "  Eleven  Jurors  who  had  some  of  the  Ham'''' — A  Gentile  marries  a 
Mormon  Elder's  Second  Wife — Mr.  Brassfield  assassinated — Great  Excitement 
among  the  Gentiles— General  Sherman  gives  Brigham  a  Hint  that  he  will  send 
Troops  to  Zion — Brigham  hastens  to  assert  his  Innocence — Contention  over  the 
Warm  Springs — Dr.  Robinson,  the  Contestant,  is  assassinated — A  Foul  and 
Dreadful  Murder — Brigham  joins  the  Gentiles  in  offering  a  Reward  for  the  Mur- 
derers— No  Detection — Years  after,  Brigham  withdraws  his  Reward — Afraid  of 
tempting  Men  to  Perjury — Three  Apostates  charged  with  stealing  a  Cow — 
Arrested,  confined,  two  murdered  in  "attempting  to  escape" — The  Brethren 
arrested  for  Murder,  and  escape — Chief-Justice  Titus  grossly  insulted,      .  611 

CHAPTER  LIII. 

THE  DAWNING  OF  FREEDOM.— The  Mercantile  Struggle  against  Despotism— 
"Freezing  out  the  Gentiles'' — Police  Surveillance  of  Apostates'  Stores — The 
Walker  Brothers — ^Brigham  refuses  a  Check  from  them  for  $500 — A  Bishop  told 
to  "  cut  away  " — ^Handed  over  to  the  Buffetings  of  Satan — The  Fight  with  Brig- 
ham— Fears  of  Violence — Gentile  Merchants  offer  to  sell  out  at  a  Great  Loss  and 
leave  the  City — ^Brigham's  Reply — The  Gentiles  and  Apostates  under  the  Ban — 
Zion's  Cooperative  Mercantile  Institution  organized — Trouble  among  the  Mor- 
mon Merchants — Ruin  of  the  Small  Traders — "  The  Seed  of  the  Prophet  Joseph" 
go  to  Zion — The  Reorganized  Church — "Young  Joseph" — Alexander  H.  and 
David  Hyrum  Smith  in  Utah — Brigham's  Jealousy — The  Sons  of  Joseph  meet 
with  Success — The  "  New  Movement" — The  Utah  Magazine — Wonderful  Revela- 
tions of  Messrs.  Godbe  and  Harrison — Voices  from  Heaven  against  Brigham — 
The  Beginning  of  the  Great  Apostacy — Godbe,  Harrison  and  Kelsey  expelled 
from  the  Church — The  Magazine  opens  its  Batteries  upon  the  Prophet — The  Gen- 
tiles and  Liberal  Mormons  encourage  the  "Rebels" — The  "  Reformers "  start 
a  Newspaper — They  preach  and  write  themselves  into  Spiritualism — The  Fet- 
ters burst  and  the  Gentile  Merchants  triumph — Brigham's  Power  waning — His 
Sceptre  broken,  622 

CHAPTER  LIV. 

BRIGHAM  YOUNG.— His  Father's  Family— His  Early  Life  and  Occupation— Brig- 
ham's Faith— The  "  Gift  of  Tongues "—" Brother  Brigham"  opposed  to  Mani- 
festations of  the  "  Gift"— His  Ideas  of  Unreasoning  Obedience— The  Prophet  at 
Home— The  "  Trustee  in  Trust"— The  Prophet's  Wives— His  Favourites— Brig- 
ham's Domestic  Life— His  Habits  and  Traits  of  Character— His  Hours  of  Business 
—The  Prophet  in  his  Office— Extraordinary  Influence  with  the  People— Unheard- 
of  Claims  to  Dictation  in  Secular  Affairs— Lovers  to  ask  Brigham's  Permission  to 
love— Troublesome  Elders  sent  on  Mission— Ordered  to  go  to  "  Dixie  "—Mission 
to  the  Indians— How  the  "  Lamanites  "  were  to  be  made  a  "  White  and  Delight- 
"  some  People"— Heber's  Hint  to  the  Missionaries,  and  how  they  took  it— Brig- 
ham on  his  Travels— The  "Royal  Blood  of  Young  "—Reception  of  the  Prophet 


CONTENTS. 


XV 


among  the  Saints — "The  Lion  of  the  Lord"  in  his  Glory — The  Saints  listen 
to  the  Prophet— His  Style  of  Preaching— The  Prophet's  Successor— Brigham 
the  Second — Founding  a  Dynasty — Nepotism  greater  than  Birthright  and  Priest- 
hood— The  Precedent  given  by  Brigham — George  A.  Smith,  Brigham's  Eightful 
Successor — Apostle  George  Q.  Cannon — A  Mission  to  Jerusalem — Influence  of 
the  Kailroad — Influx  of  Gentiles — Brigham's  Lost  Opportunities — Great  Wealth 
of  the  Prophet — How  Brigham  balanced  his  Account  with  the  Church — How  the 
Prophet  got  rich — The  Probable  Future  of  Mormonism  at  his  Death,  .      •  646 


CHAPTER  LY. 

THE  TEREITOEY  OF  UTAH.— Its  Boundaries  and  Character— The  Lakes— Super- 
ficial Area — The  Settlements — ^Population — ^Excess  of  Male  Inhabitants— Mules 
voting  for  Delegates  to  Congress  I — Getting  up"  Petitions — The  Militia— The 
Nauvoo  Legion — The  Federal  Governors — A  Stormy  Political  Meeting— Gov- 
ernor Shaffer's  Difficulties — Change  of  Officers — A  Proclamation — Eesolute  Con- 
duct of  the  Governor — His  Last  Official  Act — Conflict  between  Mormon  Officials 
and  Federal  Officers — Delegate  Hooper  justifies  Polygamy  in  Congress — Dr. 
Newman  discusses  Polygamy  with  Orson  Pratt — Appointment  of  Chief-Justice 
McKean — His  Legal  Decisions — The  Hawkins  Case — Decisions  reserved  by  the 
Supreme  Court — Brigham's  Anxiety  for  a  State  Government,      •      .      .  671 


CHAPTER  LYL 

SALT  LAKE  CITY. — ^Its  Situation  and  Beauty — Its  Eailway  Communication — 
Water  Supply — Great  and  Increasing  Improvement — The  Tabernacle — Brigham 
the  Architect  of  Zion — Inspiring  the  Prophet  with  an  Idea — The  Great  Organ 
— The  Tabernacle  Services — Eesults  of  the  Influx  of  Gentiles — Brigham's  Com- 
mercial Street — Christian  Churches  in  Utah — Their  Work  and  Influence — The 
Episcopal  Church — Christian  Schools — Brigham's  Opinion  of  Gentile  Instruc- 
tion—The Methodist  Teacher's  Difficulties— Polygamy  opposed  by  Mr.  Mc- 
Leod — The  Liberal  Institute — Lectures  in  Zion— Evidences  of  Prosperity — 
Progress  of  Civilization  in  Utah,  •      •      •      •  691 


CHAPTER  LYII. 

THE    MINES    OF  UTAH. 

THE  POTOSI  OF  THE  WEST.— Early  Anticipations  of  the  Treasures  of  Utah- 
Ore  discovered  in  the  Mountains — First  Discovery  of  Argentiferous  Galena — En- 
terprise of  General  P.  E.  Connor — The  United  States  Soldiers  "  prospect"  foi 
Mines — Mr.  Eli  B.  Kelsey  lectures  on  the  Wealth  of  Utah — Incorporation  of  the 
West  Jordan  Mining  Company — First  Smelting-Furnace  erected  at  Stockton — 
Eush  Valley  Smelting  Company  formed — Waiting  for  the  Eailroad — ^First  Ship- 
ments of  Ore — The  Utah  Central  Eailroad — Eich  Ores  in  Ophir  District— Silver- 
opolis — Valuable  Mines  in  East  Canon — Colonel  E.  D.  Buel's  Works  in  Cot- 
tonwood— Numerous  Furnaces  erected — Eesults  of  Inexperience — First  Mill  in 
Utah — Extraordinary  Success — Large  Shipments  of  Bullion  and  Ores — The  Emma 
Mine— Formation  of  Veins  of  Ore — The  Action  of  Water  and  Volcanic  Force — 
Statistics  of  the  Emma  Mine — Its  Immense  Value — Bonanzas — Extraordinary 
Dividends  to  Proprietors — Southern  Mines — True  Fissure-Veins — Their  Im- 
portance—Solfataric  Action— The  Mineral  Springs— The  Staples  of  the  Utah 


xvi 


CONTENTS. 


Mines — Silver  and  Lead— Gold  in  Bingham  Canon — Gold  in  Sevier  Eiver — 
Quartz  Mines — Gold  near  Ogden — Iron  and  Lead  Ores — Supply  of  Fuel — Gradual 
Improvements — Scarcity  of  Wood — ^Discoveries  of  Coal — Building  Material — 
Importance  of  a  Valid  "  Title'* — Development  of  Locations— Contested  Claims — 
Commissioner  Drummond's  Decision — The  Vast  Mineral  Resources  of  Utah — Im- 
portance of  the  Territory — Its  Beauty,  Wealth,  Capabilities,  and  Claims  to  At- 
tention,  *!0d 

APPENDIX,  Y35 

INDEX,  W 


ILLUSTEATIONS. 


rxQM 

1.  BRIGHAM  YOJJli^Q— Steel-plate  Engraving  [Frontispiece,] 

2.  JOSEPH  SMITH'S  FIRST  VISION   1 

3.  PREACHING  IN  THE  HIGHWAYS   2 

4.  DISCOVERY  OF  THE  GOLD  PLATES   19 

5.  MARTIN  HARRIS,  THE  PROPHET'S  SCRIBE   22 

6.  FAC  SIMILE  OF  A  PORTION  OF  THE  BOOK  OF  MORMON   23,  24 

7.  THE  FIRST  MORMON  BAPTISM   29 

8.  ORGANIZATION  OF  THE  MORMON  CHURCH   31,  32 

9.  TARRED  AND  FEATHERED   42 

10.  "THE  LORD^S"  ARMY  MARCHING  TO  THE  DELIVERANCE  OF  ZION...  53,54 

11.  THE  TEMPLE  AT  KIRTLAND,  OHIO   62  ' 

12.  THE  APOSTLE  HEBER  C.  KIMBALL   69 

13.  THE  PROPHET  BANKERS  ON  THE  WING   73 

14.  MORMON  TROUBLES  IN  MISSOURI  BEGIN   81 

15.  MASSACRE  OF  MORMONS  AT  HAUN'S  MILL   97,  98 

16.  THE  PROPHET'S  FLIGHT  FROM  MISSOURI   118 

17.  THE  HOME  OF  THE  SAINTS  IN  ILLINOIS   121,  122 

18.  LIEUT.-GEN.  JOSEPH  SMITH  (Prophet,  Seer,  and  Revelator)  131, 132 

19.  ORRIN  PORTER  ROCKWELL   141 

20.  THE  PROPHET  SURRENDERS  TO  THE  LAW   152 

21.  ASSASSINATION  OF  JOSEPH  SMITH   161,  162 

22.  THE  APOSTLE  TAYLOR  166 

23.  "THE  END"  168 

24.  "THE  ELECT  LAD Y "—MRS. ' EMMA  SMITH   1S8 

25.  SIDNEY  RIGDON  206 

26.  BURNING  MORMON  HOUSES   216 

27.  THE  EXODUS  FROM  NAUVOO  219,  220 

28.  RUINS  OF  THE  TEMPLE  226 

29.  THE  BATTALION  BALL  243 

30.  THE  PIONEERS   251,  252 

31.  MAP  OF  SALT  LAKE  VALLEY   257,  258 

32.  THE  BEGINNING  OF  THE  REFORMATION  293 

33.  REFORMING  A  HERETIC...   297 

34.  THE  HAND-CART  EMIGRANTS  IN  A  STORM   309,  310 

85.  PASSING  THROUGH  IOWA  315 


j-yiii  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

36.  •'CAME  TO  ME  AND  BEGGED  BREAD"     325 

37.  THE  OLD  MAN  JAMES   329 

38.  WHAT  OF  THE  PROMISES?   330 

39.  JOHN  CHISLETT   332 

40.  CROSSING  THE  PLATTE  RIVER   335 

41.  THE  UNITED  STATES  EXPEDITION  TO  UTAH   343,  344 

42.  BRIGHAM'S    DECLARATION  OF  INDEPENDENCE"   351 

43.  ECHO  CAJ^ON— THE  MORMON  DEFENCES   363 

44.  LIEUTENANT-GENERAL  D.  H.  WELLS   367 

45.  BURNING  GOVERNMENT  TRAINS   368 

46.  THE  CAMP  OF  DEATH   370 

47.  WINTER  SCENE— UNITED  STATES  TROOPS  HAULING  WOOD  378 

48.  TRIUMPHAL  MARCH  OF  UNITED   STATES   TROOPS   THROUGH  SALT 

LAKE  CITY   387,  388 

49.  THE  MOUNTAIN  MEADOWS  MASSACRE   425,  426 

50.  BROTHER  KANOSH,  THE  INDIAN  CHIEF  436 

51.  ROAD  FROM  FILLMORE  TO  MOUNTAIN  MEADOWS  [Map]  443 

52.  ORSON  HYDE,  PRESIDENT  OP  THE  TWELVE  APOSTLES  483 

531  THE  APOSTLE  ORSON  PRATT   497 

54.  DIAGRAM  OF  THE  CELESTIAL  KINGDOM   506 

55.  EGYPTIAN  HIEROGLYPHICS,  NO.  I  511,  512 

56.  "  "  NO.  II   514,  515 

57.  "  "  NO.  ni  517,  518 

58.  PLATES  FOUND  IN  KINDERHOOK,  OHIO   549,  550 

59.  SHOOTING  A  RIVAL  PROPHET   589,590 

60.  MAJOR-GENERAL  P.  EDWARD  CONNOR   608 

61.  ASSASSINATION  OF  DR.  J.  KING  ROBINSON   619 

62.  J.  ROBINSON  WALKER  624 

63.  JOSEPH  SMITH,  THE  PROPHET'S  SON   629 

64.  BRIGHAM  YOUNG  ON  HIS  TRAVELS..   647,  648 

65.  BRIGHAM  IfOUNG'S  HOME   651 

66.  AUTOGRAPH  LETTER  OF  BRIGHAM  YOUNG   655,  656 

67.  THE  APOSTLE  GEORGE  A.  SMITH  661 

68.  "  "         BRIGHAM  YOUNG,  JUNIOR  662 

69.  '\         "         GEORGE  Q.  CANNON  664 

70.  MAP  OF  UTAH  TERRITORY   669,  670 

71.  SALT  LAKE  CITY  ;   689,  690 

72.  THE  MORMON  TABERNACLE  695 

73.  THE  SALT  LAKE  TEMPLE   699,  700 

74  ST.  MARK'S  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH   703 

75.  THE  FIRST  NATIONAL  BANK  OF  UTAH   707 

76.  BINGHAM  CANON   709,  710 

77.  LITTLE  COTTONWOOD   717,718 

78.  THE  PIONEER  MILL   721,  722 

79.  THE  EMMA  MINE     725,  726 


IE"TEODUOTIOIT. 


"  Nothing  extenuate, 
Nor  set  down  aught  m  malice." 


The  purpose  of  the  Author  of  this  volume  is  to  issue  a  book 
that  will  be  of  interest  to  the  reading  public,  and  of  service  to 
the  people  of  whom  it  treats :  the  former  ask  for  such  informa- 
tion, and  the  latter  cannot  properly  object  to  being  understood 
as  they  really  are. 

In  addition  to  his  own  personal  experience,  the  works  that 
have  been  previously  written  on  Mormonism,  both  by  friends 
and  foes,  have  been  carefully  studied  and  collated.  The  con- 
tents of  this  book  may,  therefore,  be  regarded  as  an  impartial 
summary  of  what  can  be  said  respecting  the  faith  of  the  "  Mor- 
"  mon  Saints,"  by  one  who  had  the  fellowship  of  the  Church 
for  over  a  quarter  of  a  century,  who  occupied  a  public  position 
in  that  relationship,  enjoyed  familiar  intimacy  with  the  apos- 
tles and  leading  elders,  and  for  a  dozen  years  had  daily  inter- 
course with  Brigham  Young. 

The  Author  has  no  pet  theories  to  advance,  no  revelations 
to  announce,  no  personal  animosity  to  satisfy.  He  has  simply 
outgrown  the  past^  and  utterly  disbelieves  Brigham  Young's 
recent  claim  to  the  possession  of  "  a  Priesthood  that  is  Infal- 
"  lible,"  and  the  assumption  that  the  Mormon  Church  is  the 
exclusive  and  only  true  Church  of  Christ  upon  the  earth. 


XX 


INTRODUCTION. 


aad  membersliip  therein  the  only  passport  to  the  presence 
of  God. 

Having  contributed  both  by  tongue  and  pen,  from  the  ros- 
trum and  by  the  press,  with  the  best  years  of  his  life  and  with 
whatever  talents  he  possessed,  to  teach  the  Mormon  faith  while 
he  believed  it,  he  now  considers  it  due  equally  to  the  Mormons 
as  to  the  public  to  exhibit  what  that  earnest  people  have  ac- 
complished, and  thus  exemplify  the  ease  with  which  a  reli- 
giously-disposed community  may  naturally  mistake  the  legiti- 
mate results  of  united  faith  and  labour  for  the  special  mark  of 
Divine  guidance. 

The  change  which  the  Author  has  experienced  in  his  views 
of  Mormonism  has  not  been  the  work  of  a  day  or  a  year,  has 
not  resulted  from  any  personal  injury ;  neither  is  it  due  to  any 
special  gifts  or  miraculous  conversion.  There  are  to-day  thou- 
sands of  persons  in  the  Mormon  communion  in  Utah,  travelling 
in  the  same  direction,  without  that  living  faith  in  the  an- 
nounced mission  of  their  Church  which  they  once  possessed. 
They  still  cling  to  it  with  anxious  solicitude,  hoping  for  some 
deliverance ;  knowing  not  what  to  expect,  yet  realizing  that 
"something  must  come."  Hence  the  readiness  with  which 
many  have  listened  to  those  who  claim  to  have  received  new 
revelations  and  new  missions  among  themselves. 

While  the  tendency  of  the  age  has  been  to  accept  "  revealed 
"  truths  "  on  account  of  their  own  intrinsic  value  only,  and  not 
from  the  assumption  of  their  authority,  the  Mormon  Church 
has  travelled  in  the  very  opposite  direction,  and  has  resusci- 
tated the  Jewish  prophets  to  support  the  teachings  of  modern 
apostles. 

In  the  examination  of  Mormonism,  the  student  will  meet 
the  reproduction  of  nearly  every  principle,  doctrine  and  usage 
to  be  found  on  record  from  Genesis  to  Eevelation— if  not  in 
practice,  at  least  in  acknowledgment ;  and  where  the  practice 


INTRODUCTION. 


xxi 


is  in  abeyance,  it  is  not  its  wrong  but  its  expediency  that  fur- 
nishes the  justification  of  its  momentary  neglect. 

Before  the  Emancipation  Proclamation  of  President  Lin- 
coln, slavery  as  well  as  polygamy  existed  in  Utah.  The  na- 
tion,  by  the  stern  arbitrament  of  the  sword,  settled  the  one,  and 
the  other  is  now  in  controversy.  Both  institutions,  in  the 
Mormon  faith,  are  ordinances  of  God. 

No  antiquity,  however,  is  respected  by  the  Mormon  teach- 
er, unless  it  is  harmonious  with  the  inspirations  of  the  modern 
priesthood.  This  is  exemplified  in  the  unceasing  use  of  the 
Old  Testament  in  support  of  polygamy,  the  "Blood  Atone- 
"  ment,"  [i.  e.,  shedding  of  the  saintly  sinner's  blood  as  an 
atonement  for  adultery  or  apostacy]  and  kindred  teaching, 
while  the  New  Testament  is  unceremoniously  set  aside  when 
it  militates  against  the  establishment  of  "  a  literal  kingdom  of 
"  God  "  upon  the  earth. 

The  breathings  of  every  anguish-burthen ed  soul  among  the 
Hebrews,  in  its  lonMno;  for  the  restoration  of  monarchv  and 
glory  to  Israel,  are  accepted  as  Divine  inspiration  and  revela- 
tion pointing  directly  to  the  times  in  which  we  live.  That 
disturbing  dream  of  the  King  of  Babylon,  interpreted  by 
Daniel,  has  been  a  perennial  fountain  of  living  waters  to  the 
Mormon  preacher.  The  anxious  monarch  and  the  heaven-gift- 
ed interpreter  may  not  have  anticipated  in  that  hour  of  solici- 
tude in  the  land  of  Shinar,  that  "  the  stone  cut  out  of  the 
"  mountains  without  hands,"  which  was  to  "  break  in  pieces 
"  the  iron,  the  brass,  the  clay,  the  silver,  and  the  gold  "  of  the 
"  great  image  "  of  the  king's  dream,  was  to  find  its  fulfilment 
in  the  discovery  of  the  stone  box  containing  the  plates  of  the 
Book  of  Mormon,  by  Joseph  Smith,  in  western  New  York,  in 
the  year  of  grace  1820 !  It  requires  considerable  faith  to  ac- 
cept the  statement  that  the  migrations  of  the  Mormons  from 
Fayette  County,  New  York,  to  Kirtland,  Ohio ;  thence  to  Jack- 
son County,  Missouri ;  to  Nauvoo,  Illinois ;  on  to  the  Eocky 


^y--  INTRODUCTION. 

Mountains  ;  spreading  over  the  Great  Basin ;  and  the  Church 
sending  thence  its  missionaries  to  the  nations,  was  the  rolling 
forth  of  tlie  stone "  of  prophecy,  which  was  to  "  become  a 
"  great  -mountain  and  fill  the  whole  earth."  ^ 

The  dim  light  of  a  far  distant  past,  added  to  their  own 
revelations,  preserves  among  the  Mormons  a  perpetual  conflict 
between  barbarism  and  civilization,  for  the  people  are,  in  head 
and  heart,  far  in  advance,  of  their  religious  teachings.  Hence 
the  frequent  "  apostacy." 

No  faith  could  well  be  more  liberal  than  written  Mormon- 
ism.  In  the  beginning  of  its  mission  it  was  a  beautiful  ideal 
to  those  thoroughly  imbued  with  its  inspiration ;  yet  no  pro- 
fessors of  religion  in  the  nineteenth  century  could  be  more  bit- 
terly bigoted  than  the  rigidly  orthodox  and  ignorant  among 
the  Mormons  to-day.  Without  intending  it,  probably,  and, 
it  may  be,  even  without  realizing  it,  as  others  do  who  differ 
from  them,  their  profession  and  their  practice  have  been  the 
very  antipodes  of  each  other.  In  moments  of  creed-writing 
they  are  liberal  and  broadly  cosmopolitan  in  sentiment,  warmly 
inviting  to  '^fair  freedom's  feast,"  away  up  in  the  Eocky 
Mountains — 

"  Christian  sects  and  pagan, 
Pope,  and  Protestant,  and  Priest, 
Worshippers  of  God  or  Dagon.t " 

But  when  once  the  Plains  have  been  traversed,  there  the 
reception  of,  and  intercourse  with,  the  religious  stranger  have 
been  like  the  chilling  breezes  of  the  frigid  zone.  After  ail,  this 
very  paradox  is  harmonious  and  consistent  even  in  its  contra- 
dictions. The  written  invitation  is  the  breathing  of  their  souls' 
best  and  divinest  impulses— the  Deity  of  their  nature  recogniz- 
ing one  common  parentage  in  the  family  of  man,  reaching 
forth  the  hand  of  fellowship  to  humanity  everywhere;  but,  in 
the  practical  part,  in  intercourse  with  mankind,  it  is  the  tram- 

*  Divine  Authenticity^  pp.  85-6.  f  Hymn  Book,  page  103. 


INTRODUCTION. 


XXll] 


pled  worm  still  in  agony,  the  remembrance  of  "  persecutions  " 
that  chills  every  forward,  generous  impulse  and  withers  the 
soul  with  the  baneful  teaching  that  "he  that  is  not  for  us  is 
"  against  us." 

Through  the  first  twenty  years  of  their  occupancy  of  the 
Territory  of  Utah,  the  advanced  and  liberal  minds  among  them 
hoped  for  a  change  from  the  ostracizing  teachings  of  the  Taber- 
nacle, but  it  was  almost  hoping  against  hope.  A  brighter 
day,  however,  is  dawning,  when  the  barriers  that  have  forbid- 
den intercourse  with  the  rest  of  the  world,  because  of  differ- 
ences of  faith,  will  be  gently  lowered  and  a  better  understand- 
ing prevail  between  the  favoured  Saints  and  the  unbelieving 
Gentiles,  and  in  some  respects  the  former  will  be  the  greater 
gainers  by  the  change.  "  ITo  feud,"  says  the  shrewd  and  witty 
Sydney  Smith,  "  can  withstand  social  intercourse." 

Throughout  this  work  there  will  be  found  no  disposition  to 
pander  to  the  charge  of  "wilful  imposture"  against  Joseph 
Smith  or  Brigham  Young.  The  facts  of  their  history,  to  the 
Author's  mind,  do  not  warrant  that  conclusion.  Men  who 
publicly  utter  predictions  which  time  must  verify  or  prove 
false  within  the  scope  of  their  own  natural  lives,  are  entitled 
to  the  credit  of  honestly  believing  in  their  own  mission.  It  is 
safe  and  sound  philosophy  to  admit  that  men  can  be,  and  are 
frequently  as  zealous  in  the  propagation  of  an  error  as  of  a 
truth ;  or  what  shall  be  said  of  the  great  "  army  of  martyrs," 
of  whom  not  one  in  a  thousand  ever  reached  the  stake,  the 
rack,  or  the  guillotine  for  an  absolute  verity  ? 

"Whatever  judgment  may  be  passed  upon  the  faith  and 
personal  lives  of  the  Mormon  Prophet  and  his  successor,  there 
will  be  a  general  recognition  of  a  divine  purpose  in  their  his- 
tory. Under  their  leadership  the  Mormon  people  have  aided 
to  conquer  the  western  desert  and  to  transform  a  barren  and 
desolate  region  of  a  hitherto  "  unknown  country  "  into  a  land 
that  seems  destined  at  no  distant  day  to  teem  with  millions  of 


j^xiv  INTRODUCTION. 

human  beings,  and  which  promises  to  stand  preeminent  among 
the  conquests  of  the  republic.  It  is  doubtful  whether  any  col- 
lective body  of  other  citizens — unmoved  by  religious  impulses 
— would  ever  have  traversed  the  sandy  desert  and  sage-plains, 
and  have  lived  an  age  of  martyrdom  in  reclaiming  them,  as  the 
Mormons  have  in  Utah.  But  this  has  been  accomplished,  and 
it  was  accomplished  by  faith.  That  was  the  Providence  of  the 
Saints,  and  it  must  be  conceded  that  as  a  means  subservient  to 
an  end,  the  Mormon  element  has  been  used  in  the  Eocky 
Mountain  region  by  the  Almighty  Euler  for  developing  the 
best  interests  of  the  nation,  and  for  the  benefit  of  the  world  at 
large. 

Should  this  work  contribute  to  encourage  the  feeble,  doubt- 
ing Mormons  to  persevere  in  the  domain  of  thought,  to  culti- 
vate the  reflex  of  the  Deity  within  their  own  humanity,  to 
trust  more  to  the  whisperings  of  the  "  still,  small  voice  "  than 
to  the  dogmas  of  men  ;  and  thus  aid  the  downcast,  sorrowing, 
and  oppressed,  to  reach  the  peace  and  happiness  of  true  liberty 
and  manly  independence,  the  Author  will  feel  that  his  labour 
has  not  been  in  vain. 

It  will  be  a  matter  of  sincere  regret,  if,  in  the  following 
pages,  any  statement  has  been  made  that  is  incorrect  in  fact  or 
unfair  in  inference ;  but  eiTors — should  there  be  any — to  which 
attention  may  be  called,  will  be  carefully  eliminated  from  a 
future  edition. 


INCEPTION    OF  MORMONISM— JOSEPH    SMITH'S   FIRST  VISION. 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


CHAPTER  I. 

MOKMONISM  EXPLAINED.— The  First  Faith  Biblical— Spiritual  Enthusiasm  ol 
the  Elders — Establishment  of  a  Literal  Kingdom  predicted — Polygamy  not  in 
the  Origianl  Programme — Mormon  Errors  attributabls  to  the  System  and  Lead- 
ers— Argument  of  the  Miraculous  Power  of  Healing — Difficulty  experienced  in 
leaving  the  Mormon  Church — Assumption  of  Infallible  Priesthood — ^Mormonism 
summed  up. 

The  faith  of  tlie  Latter-Day  Saints  was  in  the  beginning 
strictly  confined  to  Biblical  doctrines,  and  the  preaching  of  the 
first  elders  was  something  like  a  resuscitation  of  the  dispensa- 
tion committed  to  the  apostolic  fishermen  of  Galilee.  With 
the  acceptance  of  what  they  deemed  the  new  revelation  of 
Christ,  there  was  no  sacrifice  too  great  to  make,  and  no  self- 
abnegation  with  which  they  would  not  strive  to  adorn  their 
lives.  Primitive  Mormonism  was  to  the  youthful  disciples  the 
fulness  of  the  everlasting  gospel,  with  all  the  blessings,  gifts 
and  powers  enjoyed  by  the  early  Christian  Church,  and  all  the 
promises  of  glory  and  honour  in  the  world  to  come  that  in- 
spired the  first  disciples  of  Christ. 

The  first  elders  were  peculiarly  adapted  for  the  singular 
work  which  they  had  to  perform.  They  were  earnest,  fiercely 
enthusiastic,  and  believers  in  everything  that  had  ever  been 
written  about  "  visions,"  "  dreams,"  "  the  ministering  of  an- 
^'gels,"  gifts  of  the  spirit,  tongues,  and  interpretation  of 
tongues,"  "  healings,"  and  "  miracles,"  They  wandered 
"  without  purse  or  scrip  "  from  village  to  village  and  from  city 
to  city,  preaching  in  the  public  highways,  at  the  firesides  or  in 
the  pulpits — wherever  they  had  opportunity — testifying  and 
singing : 


2 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


"  The  Spirit  of  God  like  a  fire  is  burning ! 

The  Latter-day  glory  begins  to  come  forth ; 
The  visions  and  blessings  of  old  are  returning, 

The  Angels  are  coming  to  visit  the  earth. 
We'll  sing  and  we'll  shout  with  the  armies  of  heaven 

Hosannah,  hosannah  to  God  and  the  Lamb ! 
Let  glory  to  them  in  the  highest  be  given, 

Henceforth  and  for  ever :  Amen  and  Amen !  "  * 

Half  a  dozen  sucli  verses  as  these  inspired  with  sentiments 
that  ranged  from  Adam  to  the  time  when  "  Jesus  descends 
"  with  his  chariots  of  fire,"  sung  with  stentorian  lungs,  threw 

over  their  audiences 
an  influence  such  as 
they  had  never  before 
experienced.  "  The 
"  work  was  of  God." 
The  barren,  specula- 
tive, carefully  pre- 
pared sermons  of  fifty 
weeks  in  the  year 
chilled  in  the  pres- 
ence of  the  energy 
and  demonstration  of 
the  Mormon  elders ; 
the  latter  had  no  dead  issues  to  deal  with ;  their  Prophet  was  a 
live  subject.  In  this  manner  Mormonism  was  first  announced. 
It  was  the  feeling  of  the  soul,  and  not  the  reasoning  of  the  mind. 
It  was  robust  believing,  not  calm,  intellectual  understanding ; 
and  thus  by  natural  sequence  "  the  number  of  tlie  disciples 
"  grew  and  multiplied."  It  was  an  emotional  faith  in  both 
speaker  and  hearer.  They  felt  that  God  was  with  them,  and 
"  feeling"  at  such  moments  sets  all  argument  at  rest. 

The  founder  of  Mormonism  was  naturally  very  impressible, 
and  at  an  early  age  conceived  the  idea  that  he  was  preemi- 
nently the  subject  of  ancient  prediction.f    He  soon  passed 

*  Hymn  Book,  p.  268.  It  is  claimed  that  this  effusion  was  given  by  "  the  gift 
"  of  tongues,"  then  translated  by  one  of  the  elders,  by  the  "gift  of  interpretation," 
into  English. 

t  The  student  of  Mormonism  will  be  struck  with  the  similarity  of  experience 
and  claims  of  Joseph  Smith  and  Mohammed.    Syed  Ahmed  Khan  Bahador,  a  Mo- 


Preaching  in  the  Highways. 


MORMONISM  EXPLAINED. 


3 


from  faith  to  positive  assertion,  and  the  first  men  of  talent  who 
became  converts — such  as  Oliver  Cowdery,  Parley  P.  Pratt, 
Sidney  Eigdon,  Orson  Pratt,  and  other  prominent  elders — 
readily  furnished  him  with  the  confirmation  of  his  calling. 
These  elders  had  nearly  all  been  preachers,  teachers,  or  exhort- 
ers,  and  they  were  not  slow  to  discover  that  the  Old  Testa- 
ment abounded  with,  to  them,  evidences  of  prediction  about 
America,  Joseph  Smith,  the  Book  of  Mormon,  and  the  reign 
of  the  Saints  on  earth.  The  Bible,  that  before  was  a  sealed 
book,  suddenly  opened  with  living  truths  of  the  closest  personal 
application  to  the  new  disciples  and  their  destiny.  Every  verse 
from  Genesis  to  Revelation  was  scanned  with  microscopic  scru- 
tiny for  evidence  relative  to  the  new  faith,  and,  with  the  gene- 
ral reverence  of  Christendom  for  the  Bi^^le  and  the  ready  cre- 
dence accorded  to  chapter  and  verse,  the  Mormon  elders  were 
astonishingly  successful  with  the  young  and  piously  inclined 
of  the  labouring  and  mechanical  classes,  although  their  teach- 
ings were  not  so  readily  accepted  by  the  more  intellectual  and 
better  taught. 

From  the  preaching  of  faith  in  Christ,  repentance,  baptism, 
and  the  gifts  of  the  Spirit  as  enjoyed  by  the  primitive  Christian 
Church,  it  was  an  easy  step  for  the  young  believer  to  accept 
Joseph  Smith's  statement  that  it  had  been  revealed  to  him 
that  "  the  set  time  to  restore  the  kingdom  to  Israel  "  had  come, 
and  that  the  temporal  dominion  of  the  world  by  an  inspired 
prophet  was  not  only  a  proper  thing,  but  was  the  consistent 
sequence  of  that  prophet  being  chosen  as  the  recognized  medi- 
um between  the  heavens  and  the  earth.  It  had  been  predicted 
that  Christ  should  some  day  return  to  earth  in  power  and 
great  glory  to  reign  a  thousand  years ;  hence  the  necessity  of 
the  Saints  gathering  together  to  prepare  for  the  day  of  his  com- 
ing ;  and  in  this  "  gathering  "  was  laid,  by  the  Prophet,  the  first 
stepping  stone  to  worldly  power.* 

hammedan  writer,  in  a  series  of  Essays  recently  published  in  London,  treats  of  the 
prophecies  concerning  the  Arabian  Prophet,  to  be  found  in  the  Old  and  New  Testa- 
ments, precisely  as  Orson  Pratt  apphes  them  to  the  American  Prophet. 

*  As  early  as  the  second  year  of  the  Church,  some  of  the  leading  elders  of  Zion 
(in  Missouri)  were  "  accusing  Brother  Joseph  in  rather  an  indirect  way  of  seeking 
SL^ter  monarchical  power  and  authority.''^    Vide  Orson  Hyde  and  Hyrum  Smith's 
Epistle  to  "  the  bishop,  his  councillors,  and  the  inhabitants  of  Zion." 


4 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


As  the  number  of  believers  increased,  the  establishment  of 
the  kingdom  of  God  as  a  temporal  and  political  power  became 
a  subject  of  earnest  discourse,  and  from  the  announcement  of 
this  hteral  kingdom  up  to  the  present  moment  there  has  been 
an  unceasing  warfare  between  the  Saints  and  the  Gentiles,  wher- 
ever they  have  existed  together,  for  local  supremacy.  All  that 
follows  in  the  history  of  Mormonism  after  the  enunciation  of 
temporal  sovereignty  is  but  the  working  out  of  the  Prophet's 
conceptions  of  his  mission  which  grew  with  his  years  and 
increased  with  the  success  of  the  preaching  of  the  faith.  How 
far  his  later  teachings  and  actions,  or  those  of  his  successor, 
have  been  in  harmony  with  the  original  platform,  may  well  be 
questioned.  Let  the  student  of  history  determine  for  himself 
whether  there  can  be  found  in  connection  with  the  Mormon 
movement  any  defined  purpose  of  the  Ruler  of  the  Universe, 
or  whether  it  is  aught  else  than  one  of  those  ten  thousand  mys- 
terious providences  which  have  had  a  work  to  perform  in  hu- 
man development,  and  which,  after  performing  that  work,  have 
passed  away,  leaving  their  impress  upon  the  history  of  the  world. 

The  reader  will  readily  perceive  from  the  following  chap- 
ters that  Mormonism  has  contained  within  itself  the  elements 
of  a  sincere  faith,  and  has  thereby  captivated  the  simple,  in- 
quiring, religiously-traditioned  minds  of  a  certain  class  of  per- 
sons ;  has  held  them  for  a  time  in  the  expectancy  of  greater 
and  progressive  truths ;  and  that  the  abandonment  of  the  sys- 
tem by  many  of  its  most  devoted  adherents  has  been  but  the 
inevitable  result  of  growth  of  intellect  and  the  acceptance  of 
broader  and  more  liberal  views  of  the  purposes  of  a  beneficent 
Deity. 

The  issues  which  have  arisen  in  Mormonism  of  late  years, 
and  which  have  given  to  it  the  materialistic  character  that  it 
now  bears,  were  not  anticipated  by  the  early  disciples.  The 
temporal,  patriarchal  government  of  Utah  is  a  disappointment, 
not  a  triumph,  for  long  ere  this — according  to  their  teachings 
— the  wicked  should  have  been  destroyed  from  off  the  face  of 
the  earth,  the  elements  should  have  melted  with  fervent  heat, 
the  heavens  should  have  been  rolled  up  like  a  scroll,  and  the 
elect  should  have  been  far  away  up  in  the  clouds. 

The  Apostle  Parley  P.  Pratt,  the  most  eloquent  and  forcible 


MORMONISM  EXPLAINED. 


5 


preacher  of  the  Mormon  Church,  over  thirty  years  ago,  in  his 
controversy  with  La  Roy  Sunderland,  editor  of  Zion^s  Watch- 
man^ tlien  published  in  New  York,  uttered  the  following  pre- 
diction : — "  Within  ten  years  from  now  (1838),  the  people  of 
"  this  country  who  are  not  Mormons,  will  be  entirely  subdued 
"  by  the  Latter-Day  Saints  or  swept  from  the  face  of  the  earth ; 
"  and  if  this  prediction  fails,  then  you  may  know  that  the  Book 
"  of  Mormon  i-s  not  true."  During  that  controversy.  Parley 
was  evidently  annoyed  at  Mr.  Sunderland,  and,  regarding  his 
own  indignation  as  the  inspiration  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  he  pre- 
dicted that  "within  two  years.  La  Eoy  Sunderland  will  be 
"  struck  dumb  and  incapacitated  from  speaking  a  loud  word." 
At  a  later  date,  in  taking  farewell  of  New  York,  he  penned  a 
"Lamentation"  for  her  citizens.  In  that  effusion  he  tells  the 
New-Yorkers  :  "  When  the  Union  is  severed,  when  this  mighty 
"  city  shall  crumble  to  ruin  and  sink  as  a  millstone,  the  mer- 
"  chants  undoing,"  &c.,  to  "  sing  this  lamentation  and  think 
upon  me." 

Parley  w^s  a  sincere,  good  meaning  man,  who  honoured 
extensively  the  institution  of  polygamy,  and  in  adding  to  his 
family  circle  he  aroused  the  wrath  of  an  outraged  hnsband, 
who  pursued  and  killed  him  in  Arkansas,  in  1856;  but  the 
Union  is  not  severed.  New  York  stands  where  it  did,  with  no 
.particular  signs  of  the  "millstone,"  and  Mr.  La  Roy  Sunder- 
land still  lives  in  Massachusetts,  a  very  forcible  speaker  as  well 
as  writer.  Mormon  history  abounds  with  innumerable  predic- 
tions equally  veracious.^ 

*  The  following  is  a  specimen : — 

"  A  Prophecy  ;  or  an  extract  from  the  Word  of  the  Lord  concerning  New  York, 
Albany,  and  Boston,  given  on  the  23rd  day  of  September,  1832. 

"  Let  the  Bishop  "  (Newel  K.  Whitney)  "  go  into  the  City  of  New  York,  and 
also  to  the  City  of  Albany,  and  also  to  the  City  of  Boston,  and  warn  the  people  of 
those  cities  with  the  sound  of  the  Gospel,  with  a  loud  voice,  of  the  desolation  and 
utter  abolishment  which  awaits  them  if  they  do  reject  these  things ;  for,  if  they  do 
reject  these  things,  the  hour  of  their  judgment  is  nigh,  and  their  house  shall  be  left 
unto  them  desolate." 

Sixteen  years  later,  the  Millennial  Star^  September  15,  1848,  published  the  fore- 
going prophecy,  supplementing  it  with  a  lengthy  extract  from  the  Albany  Express 
of  August  I'Zth,  giving  an  account  of  a  "  destructive  fire  in  that  city.  The  Apos- 
tle-Editor of  the  Star — Orson  Pratt — doubtless  felt  gratified  at  being  able  to  help 
the  Lord  "  a  little  to  the  verification  of  the  prediction.  Fires  in  great  cities  and 
in  small  ones  are  accidents  of  daily  occurrence  all  over  the  world,  and  just  as  much 


6 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


The  polygamic  faith  contended  for  to-day  was  not  in  the 
original  programme,  neither  has  it  contributed  to  create  the 
power  that  now  reigns  in  Utah.  It  was  the  monogamic  spirit- 
ual life  and  understanding  of  primitive  Christianity  that  built 
up  the  organization  which  gave  power  and  influence  to  Joseph 
Smith.  It  was  the  hearer's  faith  in  Peter  of  Galilee,  more 
than  in  Joseph  of  New  York,  that  induced  thousands  of  profess- 
ing Christians  to  add  the  new  prophet  to  their  faith,  and  to 
accept  his  revelations.  It  was  their  confidence  that  the  Holy 
Ghost  had  been  poured  out  upon  disciples  in  Judea,  eighteen 
hundred  years  before,  which  made  the  promises  in  America 
possible  of  belief,  and  acceptable  in  the  nineteenth  century,  and 
it  is  this  reduplication  of  faith  in  the  disciples  to-day  in  Utah 
and  throughout  the  world,  and  not  the  assumed  genius  or  abil- 
ity, with  which  he  is  generally  credited,  which  clothes  Brigham 
Young  with  that  unchallenged  authority  which  is  a  marvel  to 
all  outside  the  Church. 

The  Mormon  organization  is  thorough  and  complete.  It 
permeates  every  position  and  condition  of  life,  and  controls 
and  governs  everything  from  the  cradle  to  the  grave.  It  is  a 
combination  of  iron  military  rule  and  Jesuitical  penetration 
and  perseverance,  and  as  such  in  course  of  time  it  became  in- 
tolerable to  the  very  men  who  made  it.  The  leading  elders, 
the  witnesses,"  and  the  first  apostles  have  almost  all  aposta-* 
tized  from  the  more  recent  doctrines  of  Joseph  and  Brigham, 
while  they  still  cling  to  the  original  faith  and  believe  in  the 
ministering  of  angels,  &c.  It  is  this  deeply  rooted  conviction 
of  heavenly  manifestations  and  their  own  phenomenal  experi- 
ence, that  has  held  and  now  holds  the  people  together,  and  not 
the  personal  influence  of  Joseph  Smith,  and  still  less  that  of 
his  successor. 

There  is  much  in  the  first  announcement  of  Mormonism, 
and  its  claim  to  divine  origin  through  revelation,  that  may  well 
be  questioned ;  but  there  is  little  in  the  early  faith  which  the 
Bible  behever  can  easily  assail  from  that  standpoint.    The  dif- 

the  vengeance  of  "  the  Lord  "  as  that  in  Albany  for  rejecting  Newel  K.  Whitney's 
mission ;  but  on  such  predictions  and  their  fulfilment  have  the  Mormons  been  fed 
by  the  modem  apostles.  Nothing  was  said  by  the  Prophet  about  the  Chicago  fire. 
With  such  a  terrible  conflagration  in  fulfilment  of  "  the  V^ord  of  the  Lord,"  Mor- 
monism  might  have  had  a  fresh  lease  of  life. 


MORMONISM  EXPLAINED. 


7 


ficulty  which  controversialists  have  experienced  when  in  argu- 
ment with  Mormon  casuists  has  been  their  readiness  to  admit 
all  that  prophets  and  apostles  have  ever  said,  while  they  tie 
themselves  to  none.  In  handling  the  revelations  of  modern 
science  and  discovery  they  are  never  surprised.  They  wiUingly 
allow  all  that  geology  may  establish,  and  if  that  hurts  Moses 
or  any  one  else  it  is  nothing  to  them  ; — when  science  is  positive, 
the  record  has  to  yield.  Their  faith,  borrowed  or  adopted  from 
the  ancients,  is  held  with  a  loose  hand,  and  can  be  parted  with 
at  any  time ;  but  their  own  faith  proper,  that  which  is  given 
through  "  the  living  oracles,"  can  never  be  surrendered.  No 
authority  can  be  accepted,  or  even  doubtfully  entertained,  that 
disputes  Joseph  Smith.  To  the  believing  Mormons,  he  was 
"  the  end  to  all  controversy,"  and  this  has  not  been  forgotten 
in  the  inheritance  claimed  by  his  successor. 

The  Mormons  as  a  people  are  not  justly  chargeable  with 
the  wrong-doing  which  has  been  ascribed  to  them.  There  are 
bad  men  among  them — dangerously  bad  men — who  have  com- 
mitted outrages  and  damning  deeds  which  would  disgrace  any 
community.  But  those  deeds  were  perpetrated  by  the  few ;  the 
masses  were  sincere  and  devoted  to  their  conceptions  of  right 
and  truth,  as  the  whole  course  of  their  lives  and  eventful  his- 
tory abundantly  proves.  This  has  been  the  united  testimony 
of  all  the  "  Gentiles  "  who  have  lived  among  them.  The  errors 
of  the  past  life  of  the  people,  whether  in  their  treatment  of 
apostates  or  in  their  hostility  to  the  nation,  are  attributable 
to  the  system  and  to  the  men  who  direct  the  public  mind. 
Men  and  women  who,  for  a  religious  faith,  voluntarily  abandon 
the  homes  of  childhood,  and  rend  asunder  the  hallowed  ties  of 
family  and  friends — as  Mormon  converts  do  in  all  parts  of  the 
earth — traversing  oceans  and  plains,  and  suffering  privations 
incident  to  creating  new  homes  in  a  barren  waste,  are  not  per- 
sons devoid  of  the  qualities  of  good  citizens. 

It  was  the  people's  love  of  religious  truth  while  associated 
with  other  churches,  that  induced  them  to  listen  to  the  Mor- 
mon elders  when  they  proclaimed  the  restoration  of  the  primi- 
tive Gospel  in  all  its  purity  and  power,  with  a  Church  organi- 
zation of  Patriarchs,  Apostles,  Prophets,  Evangelists,  Pastors, 
Teachers  and  Deacons..   This  harmony  in  organization — the 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


counterpart  of  primitive  Christianity — binds  them  still  to  Mor- 
raonism,  in  spite  of  the  extravagances  of  their  leaders  against 
which  their  early  teachings  and  innate  sense  of  right  revolt. 
To  the  mass  of  the  Mormon  people  it  is  no  simple  matter  to  meet 
in  argument  their  own  teachers — men  who  have  seldom,  if  ever, 
been  vanquished  in  discussion  when  met  by  the  most  talented 
ministers  of  other  religions.  When  to  this  difficulty  is  added 
the  people's  own  personal  experience  of  the  power  of  healing 
in  the  Church,  something  more  than  an  opponent's  denuncia- 
tion is  required  to  deliver  them  from  the  thraldom  of  an  un- 
questioning faith. 

The  educated  mind  takes  within  its  range  of  thoughts 
causes  and  effects,  and  discriminates  between  w^hat  is  general 
and  what  is  special  and  personal,  but,  among  the  untaught 
masses,  ninety-nine  in  a  hundred  rely  upon  their  own  experi- 
ence alone.  Was  I  not  healed  by  the  anointing  of  oil,  the 
"laying  on  of  hands  and  the  prayer  of  faith?  "  "  Did  I  not 
"  see  my  mother  carried  to  the  waters  of  baptism  a  poor  de- 
"  crepit  invalid,  and  when  she  had  been  immersed  for  the  re- 
"  mission  of  sins  she  walked  home,  and  has  been  well  ever 
"  since  ?  "  "  Was  not  my  father  deaf,  and  did  he  not  get  his 
"  hearing  by  the  prayers  of  the  elders  ?  "  "  My  darling  child 
"  was  brought  from  death  unto  life  by  the  prayer  of  faith." 
The  unscripturalness  of  Brigham's  "  Adam  Deity,"  the  despot- 
ism of  an  "  infallible  Priesthood,"  and  the  evidence  of  a  thou- 
sand outrages  and  murders  are  nothing  to  minds  that  cling  to 
the  personal  reminiscence  of  miracles.  The  only  hope,  there- 
fore, is  in  the  education  of  the  people  to  the  realization  that 
those  phenomenal  manifestations  of  healing,  the  influences  of 
which  they  have  personally  experienced,  are  not  the  specialty 
of  the  Mormon  Church,  but  are  to  be  found  to  some  extent 
everywhere,  in  all  churches,  and  even  among  persons  unassoci- 
ated  with  any  religious  creed;  that  these  manifestations  which 
the  Mormon  leaders  have  claimed  as  exclusive  proofs  of  the 
divinity  of  their  mission  are  but  the  result  of  natural  causes, 
conditions  and  circumstances,  !ind  of  this  fact  the  Mormon 
Church  furnishes  the  most  abundant  evidence. 

While  healing  the  sick,  through  the  laying  on  of  hands  by 
the  elders,  is  a  common  experience  in  every  part  of  the  world 


MORMONISM  EXPLAINED. 


9 


where  the  missionaries  have  travelled,  it  is  equally  true  that 
for  one  case  of  instantaneous  healing  of  that  character  which 
is  cited  as  miraculous  by  the  Mormon  writers,  there  have  been 
hundreds  of  instances  of  the  sick  being  administered  to  in  the 
same  way,  without  any  beneficial  results  whatever,  and  they 
have  been  left  to  recover  by  the  recuperative  power  of  nature, 
.  or  the  maladies  have  yielded  to  ordinary  medical  treatment 
which  the  Church  had  actually  forbidden.  This  ''gift  of  heal- 
"  ing "  has  also  been  experienced  more  in  Europe  than  in 
America,  for  the  young  Saints  in  Europe  have  more  faith  than 
the  older  Saints  in  the  very  bosom  of  the  Church.  Their 
spiritual  nature  is  worked  up  to  the  greatest  intensity,  and 
they  are  always  prepared  to  see  angels,  behold  visions,  dream 
dreams,  speak  in  tongues  and  prophesy.  A  large  portion  of 
their  time  in  foreign  countries  is  consumed  in  "  rejoicing  to- 
"  gether,"  and  "  building  each  other  up,"  by  glowing  testi- 
monies of  their  experience ;  but  when  they  arrive  in  Utah  they 
^  soon  discover  that  another  condition  of  afiairs  exists  there.  The 
hard  facts  of  a  hard  life  confront  them,  and  the  contemplation 
of  heavenly  things  has  to  give  place  to  the  arduous  labours  for 
the  necessaries  of  existence.  Many,  not  appreciating  the  true 
causes  of  this  change  in  their  spiritual  experience,  become  dis- 
contented, murmur,  and  apostatize,  and  those  who  have  been 
the  most  favoured,  usually  become  the  most  dejected  and  God- 
forsaken. The  ignorant  teacher  who  visits  the  unfortunate, 
disappointed,  but  once  gifted  Saint,  renders  his  experience  still 
worse  by  stating  in  reference  to  the  change  which  he  cannot 
explain,  that  "  the  Lord  first  greatly  blessed  him  in  order  to 
"leave  him  without  excuse  for  backsliding  so  that  He  could 
"  the  better  damn  him  when  he  apostatized." 

The  greatest  dispensation  of  spiritual  power  experienced  in 
the  Mormon  Church  fell  upon  the  British  Saints  during  the 
Presidency  of  the  apostle  Orson  Pratt,  from  1848  to  1851. 
The  other  apostles  are  more  secular  than  religious,  and  have  a 
great  deal  more  to  do  with  this  world's  affairs  than  with  the 
hopes  of  the  next — they  have  all  large  families  to  provide  for. 
Orson  also  has  many  wives,  but  his  better  education  and  emi- 
nent ability  as  a  writer  and  reasoner  have  preserved  him  more 
a  missionary  than  a  farmer;  he  is,  emphatically,  the  gospel- 


10 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


apostle  of  the  Twelve.  During  his  mission  to  Europe,  his  pen 
furnished  the  first  logical  arguments  in  favour  of  Mormonism, 
and  his  influence  spread  like  a  consuming  fire  among  the 
Saints  throughout  the  Old  World.  He  aroused  the  ambition 
and  excited  the  zeal  of  young  and  old  to  spread  abroad 
the  new  faith,  and,  armed  as  they  were  with  his  arguments, 
they  scoured  the  country  and  invited  discussion  wherever  they 
went.  They  penetrated  the  aisles  of  the  cathedrals,  ascended 
the  pulpits  of  the  meeting-houses,  visited  the  houses  of  the  big- 
oted, and  stormed  the  haunts  of  vice  and  woe  with  their  tracts 
and  pamphlets.  It  was  a  grand  revival  of  the  mission  into  the 
highways  and  hedges,  arousing  the  sinner  to  come  to  the  great 
marriage  feast. 

Controversy  met  these  zealous  missionaries,  and  often  ston- 
ing, buffeting,  and  even  imprisonment  followed.  But  the 
Saints  rejoiced  the  more,  glorying  in  tribulation,  and,  as  a 
natural  consequence,  they  grew  immensely  in  spiritual  power. 

Mormonism  in  England,  Scotland,  and  Wales,  was  a  grand 
triumph,  and  was  fast  ripening  for  a  vigorous  campaign  in 
continental  Europe.  There  is  no  page  of  religious  history 
which  more  proudly  tells  its  story  than  that  which  relates  this 
peculiar  phase  of  Mormon  experience.  The  excitement  was 
contagious,  even  aflfecting  persons  in  the  higher  ranks  of  social 
life,  and  the  result  was  a  grand  outpouring  of  spiritual  and  mi- 
raculous healing  power  of  the  most  astonishing  description. 
Miracles  were  heard  of  everywhere ;  and  numerous  competent 
and  most  reliable  witnesses  bore  testimony  to  their  genuine- 
ness. 

In  whatever  light  this  "  healing  power  "  may  be  regarded, 
it  was  at  the  time  a  grand  reality  of  the  European  mission,  but 
it  has,  in  a  great  measure,  passed  away  under  the  withering 
teachings  of  the  polygamous  era  among  the  Saints  in  Zion. 
With  the  preaching  of  the  simple  word,  the  elders  were  pow- 
erful, the  Saints  were  zealous,  the  public  listened,  the  spirit 
ran  from  heart  to  heart,  and  miracles  were  common.  But  the 
cold  logic  of  argument  labouring  to  engraft  a  relic  of  barbarism 
upon  an  age  of  the  highest  civilization,  quenched  the  spirit  and 
choked  the  zeal  which  accomplished  those  wonders  of  Mormon 
history. 


MORMONISM  EXPLAINED. 


11 


Up  to  the  introduction  of  polygamy,  Mornionism  was  solely 
a  "  Bible-Gospel "  in  Europe,  and  differed  so  widely  from  the 
kingdom-building  scheme  of  Utah,  that  tlie  very  sons  of  the 
apostles  and  prophets  testify,  on  their  return  to  Utah  from 
European  missions,  that  they  never  knew  what  Mormonism 
was,  nor  the  power  of  God,  till  they  went  abroad  to  preach. 
This  is  a  common  admission,  and  a  damaging  testimony  against 
Zion ;  but  it  tells  a  great  truth,  and  confirms  the  assertion  that 
it  is  especially  the  British  mission,  with  latterly  the  Scandina- 
vian, that  has  built  up  Utah.  It  is  the  remembrance  of  their 
first  love's  joy  in  the  Church  in  the  Old  "World  that  preserves 
many  of  the  Saints  now  in  their  dreary  fellowship  in  the  Church 
of  the  New  World. 

It  is  not  an  easy  thing  to  break  away  from  a  life-long  hope 
and  such  early  joyous  experiences  as  most  of  them  had  in  the 
beginning.  It  is  not  courage  that  is  lacking.  It  is,  in  fact, 
easier  to  meet  death  than  to  live  this  life  of  anxiety  and  trouble ; 
but  believers  dread  to  assume  the  responsibility  of  breaking  off 
from  shepherds  whom  once  they  almost  idolized,  and  making 
the  things  of  eternity  a  matter  between  themselves  and  their 
Maker.  Even  among  the  greatest  intellects,  few  have  been 
able  to  leave  the  Church,  though  groaning  under  it  for  years, 
until  some  experience  brought  with  it  an  issue  that  demanded 
the  assertion  of  a  personal  right  or  a  disputed  truth  at  the  ex- 
pence  of  fellowship.  The  greatest  of  their  apostles,  Orson 
Pratt,  has  been  a  living  martyr  for  years,  and  has  suffered  in- 
dignities which  manhood  would  never  endure  outside  of  the 
Mormon  communion,  and  all  this  from  fear  of  doing  a  greater 
wrong  by  leaving  the  Church  in  which  he  had  spent  a  long  life 
of  usefulness.  This  consciousness  of  another's  scrupulous  fideli- 
ty apparently  emboldens  Brigham  Young  to  test  every  man  to 
his  utmost  endurance  who  breathes  an  independent  thought. 

Summed  up,  Mormonism  demands  perfect  submission — total 
dethronement  of  individuality — blind  obedience.  There  is  no 
middle  path.  The  crowning  error  of  Brigham  Young  is  the 
claim  to  a  Priesthood  that  is  infallible."  No  man  at  the 
head  of  a  people  ever  required  it  less.  His  errors  before  thatj 
were  all  overlooked — "  to  err  is  human."  It  mattered  not 
what  he  said  or  did,  the  people  hastened  to  excuse  him,  as  an- 


12 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


other  in  liis  place  might  be  no  better  and  might  do  worse ;  bnt 
the  assertion  of  Infallibility  was  the  "  vaulting  ambition  that 
"  o'erleaps  itself."  Its  assertion  strips  the  people  of  human 
charity  towards  him.  In  his  counsellings  and  teachings  they  are 
now  required  to  see  the  authority  of  God,  failing  which  they  are 
"  in  darkness."  He  recognizes  no  right  of  thought  diverging 
from  his  own,  and  this  principle,  carried  to  its  legitimate  extent, 
makes,  in  fact,  one  great  something  over  a  community  of  non 
entities.  With  liberty  of  thought  and  expression  protected, 
Mormonism  could  have  lived  on,  correcting  its  errors  as  it  out- 
grew them,  but  with  the  assumption  of  an  Infallible  Priesthood 
its  work  has  seen  the  beginning  of  the  end. 


CHAPTEE  II. 

THE  MOEmON  PEOPHET— His  Early  Life— His  Visions— His  Personal  Charac- 
teristics— An  Angel  Ke veals  to  him  tlie  Golden  Plates— His  Mission  Announced 
—The  Story  of  the  Stone  Box. 

It  is  not  the  design  of  the  Author  to  present  in  this  place 
an  extended  biography  of  J oseph  Smith,  but  a  brief  sketch  of 
his  career  may  be  appropriately  commenced  at  that  period  of 
his  life  when  he  claims  to  have  become  an  object  of  interest  to 
the  heavenly  world.  Of  his  ancestry,  little  is  known  beyond 
the  fact  that  this  branch  of  the  Smith  family  is  of  Scotch  ex- 
traction, and  reached  the  New  World  in  the  beginning  of  the 
eighteenth  century.  Joseph  himself  was  born  December  23d, 
1805,  in  Sharon,  Windsor  County,  Vermont,  and  was  one  of  a 
family  of  six  sons  and  three  daughters.  When  he  was  ten 
years  of  age,  the  family  removed  to  Palmyra,  Ontario  County 
(now  Wayne),  N"ew  York,  and  thence,  four  years  later,  to  Man- 
chester, in  the  same  county,  and  at  this  place,  eighteen  months 
afterwards,  the  Mahomet  of  the  West,  as  he  has  appropriately 
been  called,  began  his  career  as  the  originator  of  the  new  re- 
ligion. 

Of  young  Smith's  personal  appearance  and  life  preceding 
this  time,  there  is  little  to  be  said.  In  manhood  he  was  very 
handsomely  formed,  tall,  and  athletic.  In  his  fifteenth  year — 
the  commencement  of  his  religious  experience— he  was  doubt- 
less much  like  any  other  farm  youth  of  very  limited  education, 
and  remarkable  for  nothing,  either  good  or  bad.  In  his  family 
he  was  considered  a  '^good  boy,"  and  throughout  his  chequered 
career  no  one  ever  charged  him  with  lacking  that  native 
frankness  of  soul  which  generally  characterizes  the  country 
youth.    The  charges  afterwards  made  against  him,  of  being 


14 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


"  an  indolent,  worthless  young  vagabond,"  are,  in  all  probabil- 
ity, somewhat  exaggerated,  for  it  is  hardly  possible  that  the  vast 
energy  and  benevolence  of  his  after  life  could  have  developed 
from  any  such  roots. 

After  Joseph's  announcement  of  his  prophetic  mission,  the 
neighbours  of  his  parents  who  were  opposed  to  his  claims  re- 
membered, with  wonderful  facility,  that  the  Smith  family  had 
always  been  "  dreamers  and  visionary  persons,"  and  applied 
these  terms  in  their  most  offensive  meaning.  In  a  work  pub- 
lished after  Joseph's  death,^  his  mother  tells  her  story  in  an 
artless,  guileless  way,  and  narrates  the  incidents  of  his  boy- 
hood as  a  loving,  tender  mother  alone  can  speak  of  a  darling 
son.  Her  recital  leads  to  the  conclusion  that  his  progenitors 
had  been  highly  favoured,  and  that  the  heavens  had  showered 
upon  him  their  highest  honours  and  choicest  gifts.  Whatever 
may  be  thought  of  the  claims  of  the  Smith  family  to  miracu- 
lous powers,  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  modern  prophet 
came  of  a  stock  which  transmitted  to  him  moral,  mental,  and 
religious  qualities,  well  adapted  to  the  after-work  of  his  life. 
With  such  predisposition  and  support  in  his  father's  family, 
and  from  the  impulses  of  his  own  singular  nature,  f  he  was 
fairly  prepared  for  the  "  ministering  of  angels,"  witli  which 
the  history  of  his  religious  life  begins. 

He  relates  in  his  autobiography  how,  introductory  to  his 
first  vision,  his  mind  had  been  prepared,  by  the  accidental  read- 
ing of  a  portion  of  the  New  Testament  during  the  excitement 
of  a  revival,  to  ask  for  heavenly  wisdom,  with  the  expectation 
of  receiving  an  answer.  This  revival  commenced  with  the 
Methodists  and  extended  to  other  denominations,  and  a  time 
of  general  conversion  ensued.  While  the  Methodists,  Presby- 
terians, and  Baptists  made  a  general  rush  among  the  sinners, 
and  preached  to  them  only  Christ  and  Him  crucified,  there  was 
harmony ;  but  when  the  converts  began  to  choose  churches^ 
discussion  arose  upon  the  relative  superiority  of  the  creeds  of 
these  denominations,  and  the  confusion  of  claims  perplexed  the 

*  Biographical  Sketches  of  Joseph  Smithy  the  Frophei^  and  his  progenitors  for 
many  generations.    By  Lucy  Smith,  mother  of  the  Prophet. 

\  Before  the  dissenting  Mormons  asserted  that  Joseph  was  "  nothing  more  than 
"  a  highly  developed  medium,"  in  the  spiritualistic  sense  of  the  word,  Brigham  Young 
was  in  the  habit  of  saying  of  Joseph  that  "  he  was  a  natural-horn  seerj*'' 


JOSEPH'S  FIRST  VISION. 


15 


youthful  prophet,  as  it  has  many  others  before  ard  since.  His 
mother,  two  brothers,  and  a  sister  were  "  proselyted  "  to  the 
Presbyterian  Church,  but  he  experienced  in  his  deep  and  of- 
"  ten  pungent  feelings  "  partiality  for  tlie  "  Methodist  sect."  ^ 
He  was  greatly  excited,  and  in  the  midst  of  this  war  of  words 
and  tumult  of  opinions,  his  mind  by  some  influence  was  direct- 
ed to  that  Scripture  which  saith  :  If  any  of  you  lack  wisdom, 
"  let  him  ask  of  God  that  giveth  unto  all  men  liberally  and  up- 
"braideth  none,  and  it  shall  be  given  him."  This  admonition 
was  peculiarly  encouraging  to  one  in  his  situation,  and  he  re- 
solved to  test  it  practically.  For  this  purpose  he  retired  to  a 
solitary  place  in  the  woods,  and  the  following  is  his  statement 
of  what  then  occurred  : 

"  After  I  had  retired  into  the  place  where  I  had  previously  designed  to 
go,  having  looked  around  me  and  finding  myself  alone,  I  kneeled  down 
and  began  to  offer  up  the  desires  of  my  heart  to  God.  I  had  scarcely 
done  so,  when  I  was  seized  upon  by  some  power  which  ei^tirely  overcame 
me,  and  had  such  astonishing  influence  over  me  as  to  bind  my  tongue  so 
that  I  could  not  speak.  Thick  darkness  gathered  around  me,  and  it 
seemed  to  me  for  a  time  as  if  I  were  doomed  to  sudden  destruction.  But 
exerting  all  my  powers  to  call  upon  God  to  deliver  me  out  of  the  power 
of  this  enemy  which  had  seized  upon  me,  and  at  the  very  moment  when  I 
was  ready  to  sink  into  despair  and  abandon  myself  to  destruction,  not  to 
an  imaginary  ruin,  but  to  the  power  of  some  actual  being  from  the  unseen 
world,  who  had  such  a  marvellous  power  as  I  had  never  before  felt  in  any 
being.  Just  at  this  moment  of  great  alarm,  I  saw  a  pillar  of  light  exactly 
over  my  head,  above  the  brightness  of  the  sun,  which  descended  gradually 
until  it  fell  upon  me.  It  no  sooner  appeared  than  I  found  myself  delivered 
from  the  power  of  the  enemy  which  had  held  me  bound.  When  the  light 
rested  upon  me,  I  saw  two  personages,  whose  brightness  and  glory  defy  all 
description,  standing  above  me  in  the  air.  One  of  them  spake  unto  me, 
calling  me  by  name,  and  said  (pointing  to  the  other),  '  This  is  my  be- 
loved Son  ;  hear  Him  ! 

The  original  purpose  of  the  boj^'s  prayer  being  to  learn 
which  of  the  sects  he  should  join — for  up  to  that  time  his  mind 
had  not  embraced  a  wider  range  of  freedom — as  soon  as  he 
was  able  to  speak  he  made  the  inquiry  with  the  following 
results : 

*  The  historian  has  recorded  that,  in  1814,  when  he  was  only  nine  years  of  age, 
"  he  was  powerfully  awakened  by  the  preaching  of  a  Mr.  Laue,  an  earnest  Metho- 
"  dist  preacher." 


16 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


"I  was  answered  that  I  must  join  none  of  them,  for  they  were  all 
wrong,  and  the  personage  who  addressed  me  said  that  all  their  creeds 
were  an  abomination  in  his  sight;  that  those  professors  were  all  cor- 
rupt, they  draw  near  to  me  with  their  lips,  but  their  hearts  are  far  from 
me  ;  they  teach  for  doctrine  the  commandments  of  men,  having  a  form  of 
godliness,  but  they  deny  the  power  thereof.  He  again  forbade  me  to  join 
with  any  of  them :  and  many  other  things  did  he  say  unto  me  which  I 
cannot  write  at  this  time.  When  I  came  to  myself  again  I  found  myself 
lying  on  my  back  looking  up  into  heaven.''  * 

From  this  period  he  relates  that  he  became  the  subject  of 
the  hottest  persecution  and  reviling ;  but  he  continued  to  tell 
what  he  had  seen  and  what  had  been  told  him,  taking  comfort 
and  encouragement  from  the  similarity  of  his  experience  with 
that  of  St.  Paul,  who  "  saw  a  light  and  heard  a  voice,"  though 
few  believed  his  testimony.  He  continued  at  his  farm  work, 
and  on  the  evening  of  September  21,  1823,  three  years  after 
his  first  vision,  he  received  another  and  more  important  com- 
munication."^ 

"  During  the  space  of  time  which  intervened  between  the  time  I  had 
the  vision,  and  the  year  1823,  having  been  forbidden  to  join  any  of  the 
religious  sects  of  the  day,  and  being  of  very  tender  years  and  persecuted 
by  those  who  ought  to  have  been  my  friends  and  to  have  treated  me  kind- 
ly, and  if  they  supposed  me  to  be  deluded  to  have  endeavoured  in  a  proper 
and  affectionate  manner  to  have  reclaimed  me,  I  was  left  to  all  kinds  of 
temptations,  and  mingling  with  all  kinds  of  society,  I  frequently  fell  into 
many  foolish  errors,  and  displayed  the  weakness  of  youth  and  the  corrup- 
tions of  human  nature,  which  I  am  sorry  to  say  led  me  into  divers  temp- 
tations, to  the  gratification  of  many  appetites  offensive  in  the  sight  of  God. 
In  consequence  of  these  things  I  often  felt  condemned  for  my  weakness 
and  imperfections ;  when  on  the  evening  of  the  above-mentioned  21st  Sep- 
tember, after  I  had  retired  to  my  bed  for  the  night,  I  betook  myself  to 
prayer  and  supplication  to  Almighty  God  for  forgiveness  of  all  my  sins 
and  follies,  and  also  for  a  manifestation  to  me  that  I  might  know  of  my 
state  and  standing  before  him ;  for  I  had  full  confidence  in  obtaining  a  di- 
vine manifestation,  as  I  had  previously  had  one. 

"  While  I  was  thus  in  the  act  of  calling  upon  God,  I  discovered  a  light 
appearing  in  the  room,  which  continued  to  increase  until  the  room  was 
lighter  than  at  noonday,  when  immediately  a  personage  appeared  at  my 
bedside  standing  in  the  air,  for  his  feet  did  not  touch  the  floor.    He  had 

*  His  unconsciousness  during  the  reported  interview,  and  the  position  in  which  he 
found  himself  on  awaking,  closely  resemble  the  condition  of  those  subject  to  trances 
amdng  the  Methodists  and  Spiritualists,  but  which  phenomena  appear  to  have  been 
unknown  to  Joseph  at  that  time. 


THE  ANGEKS  STORY.  17 

on  a  loose  robe  of  most  exquisite  whiteness.  It  was  a  whiteness  beyond 
anything  earthly  I  had  ever  seen ;  nor  do  I  believe  that  any  earthly  thing 
could  ever  be  made  to  appear  so  exceedingly  white  and  brilliant ;  his 
hands  were  naked  and  his  arms  also,  a  little  above  the  wrist ;  so  also  were 
bis  feet  naked  as  were  his  legs,  a  little  above  the  ankles.  His  head  and 
neck  were  also  bare.  I  could  discover  that  he  had  no  other  clothing  on 
but  this  robe,  as  it  was  open,  so  that  I  could  see  into  his  bosom. 

"  Not  only  was  his  robe  exceedingly  white,  but  his  whole  person  was 
glorious  beyond  description,  and  his  countenance  truly  like  lightning. 
The  room  was  exceedingly  light,  but  not  so  very  bright  as  immediately 
around  his  person.  When  I  first  looked  upon  him  I  was  afraid,  hv^  the 
fear  soon  left  me.  He  called  me  by  name  and  said  unto  me  that  he  was 
a  messenger  sent  from  the  presence  of  God  to  me,  and  that  his  name  was 
Nephi ;  *  that  God  had  a  work  for  me  to  do  and  that  my  name  should  be 
had  for  good  and  evil  among  all  nations,  kindreds,  and  tongues  ;  or  that 
it  should  be  both  good  and  evil  spoken  of  among  all  people.  He  said 
there  was  a  book  deposited,  written  upon  gold  plates  giving  an  account 
of  the  former  inhabitants  of  this  continent  and  the  source  from  whence 
they  sprang.  He  also  said  that  the  fulness  of  the  everlasting  Gospel  was 
contained  in  it,  as  delivered  by  the  Saviour  to  the  ancient  inhabitants. 
Also  that  there  were  two  stones  in  silver  bows  (and  these  stones,  fastened 
to  a  breastplate,  constituted  what  is  called  the  TJrim  and  Thummim)  de- 
posited with  the  plates,  and  the  possession  and  use  of  these  stones  was 
what  constituted  seers  in  ancient  or  former  times  and  that  God  had  pre- 
pared them  for  the  purpose  of  translating  the  book. 

"  After  telling  me  these  things,  he  commenced  quoting  the  prophecies 
of  the  Old  Testament.  He  first  quoted  part  of  the  third  chapter  of  Mala- 
chi,  and  he  quoted  also  the  fourth  or  last  chapter  of  the  same  prophecy, 
though  with  a  little  variation  from  the  way  it  reads  in  our  Bibles.  Instead 
of  quoting  the  first  verse  as  it  reads  in  our  books,  he  quoted  it  thus : 
*For  behold  the  day  cometh  that  shall  burn  as  an  oven,  and  all  the  proud, 
yea,  and  all  that  do  wickedly,  shall  burn  as  stubble,  for  they  that  come 
shall  burn  them,  saith  the  Lord  of  Hosts,  that  it  shall  leave  them  neither 
root  nor  branch ; '  and  again  he  quoted  the  fifth  verse,  thus  :  *  Behold  I 
will  reveal  unto  you  the  Priesthood  by  the  hand  of  Elijah  the  Prophet, 
before  the  coming  of  the  great  and  dreadful  day  of  the  Lord.'  He  also 
quoted  the  next  verse  difierently :  '  And  he  shall  plant  in  the  hearts  of 
the  children,  the  promises  made  to  the  fathers,  and  the  hearts  of  the  chil- 
dren shall  turn  to  their  fathers ;  if  it  were  not  so,  the  whole  earth  would 
be  utterly  wasted  at  His  coming.' 

"  In  addition  to  these  he  quoted  the  eleventh  chapter  of  Isaiah,  saying 
that  it  was  about  to  be  fulfilled.  He  quoted  also  the  3rd  chapter  of  Acts, 
verses  22  and  23,  precisely  as  they  stand  in  our  New  Testament.    He  said 

*  This  should  read,  Moroni.  In  the  "  Book  of  Doctrine  and  Covenants,"  page  321, 
it  is  so  stated.    Moroni  was  the  gentleman  who  is  said  to  have  "  hid  up  "  the  plates, 
and  it  is  very  proper  that  he  should  reveal  them. 
2 


IQ  THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 

that  that  Prophet  was  Christ,  but  the  day  had  not  yet  come  when  Hhey 
who  would  not  hear  his  voice  should  be  cut  off  from  among  the  people,' 
but  soon  would  come. 

"  He  also  quoted  the  second  chapter  of  Joel,  from  the  28th  to  the  last 
verse.  He  also  said  that  this  was  not  yet  fulfilled,  but  was  soon  to  be. 
And  he  further  stated  the  fulness  of  the  Gentiles  was  soon  to  come  in.  He 
quoted  many  other  passages  of  Scripture,  and  offered  many  explanations 
which  cannot  be  mentioned  here.  Again,  he  told  me  that  when  I  had  got 
those  plates  of  which  he  had  spoken  (for  the  time  that  they  should  be  ob- 
tained was  not  yet  fulfilled),  I  should  not  show  them  to  any  person,  nei- 
thei;^the  breastplate  with  the  Urim  and  Thummim,  only  to  those  to  whom 
I  should  be  commanded  to  show  them ;  if  I  did,  1  should  be  destroyed. 
While  he  was  conversing  with  me  about  the  plates,  the  vision  was  opened 
to  my  mind  that  I  should  see  the  place  where  they  were  deposited,  and 
that  so  clearly  and  distinctly  that  I  knew  it  again  when  I  visited  it." 

After  this,  the  light  in  the  room  immediately  began  to  en- 
circle the  person  of  the  angel,  and  "  a  conduit  opened  right  up 
"  into  heaven,  and  the  angel  ascended  until  he  entirely  disap- 
"  peared." 

Twice  more  during  the  night  the  messenger  appeared  in 
the  same  manner,  and  rehearsed  the  same  things,  adding  at  the 
third  visit  a  caution  to  the  effect  that  Satan,  on  account  of 
father  Smith's  indigent  circumstances,  would  tempt  the  son 
to  get  the  plates  for  mercenary  purposes,  but  that  no  other  ob- 
ject than  the  glory  of  God  was  to  be  entertained  in  obtaining 
them,  and  that  if  he  were  influenced  by  any  other  motive  than 
a  desire  to  build  up  the  kingdom,  they  could  not  be  obtained 
at  all.  These  interviews  would  appear  to  have  continued 
through  the  whole  night,  and  at  daybreak  Joseph  arose  and 
went  to  his  labour,  but  was  so  exhausted  and  unwell  that  his 
father  insisted  on  his  returning  home.  In  essaying  to  do  so, 
he  attempted  to  cross  a  fence,  but  his  strength  failed  him  ;  he 
fell  helpless  to  the  ground,  and  for  a  time  was  perfectly  uncon- 
scious. The  first  thing  which  he  recollected  was  hearing  his 
name  called,  when  he  looked  up  and  beheld  the  same  messenger 
standing  over  his  head,  surrounded  by  light  as  before.  All 
that  had  been  related  during  the  night  was  again  told  him, 
w^ith  the  instruction  to  tell  his  father  of  the  vision  and  the 
commandments  that  he  had  received.  He  returned  and  did  so, 
and  his  father  replied  that  it  was  of  God,  and  bade  him  go  and 
do  as  directed  by  the  messenger.   Joseph  immediately  repaired 


FINDING  THE  GOLD  PLATES. 


19 


to  the  locality  where  he  had  been  told  the  plates  were  deposited, 
and  from  the  distinctness  of  the  night's  vision,  he  at  once 
recognized  their  place  of  concealment. 


Discovery  of  the  Gold  Plates. 


Of  his  first  view  of  the  record,  he  says : 

"  Convenient  to  the  village  of  Manchester,  Ontario  County,  New  York, 
stands  a  hill  of  considerable  size,  and  the  most  elevated  of  any  in  the 
neighbourhood.  On  the  west  side  of  this  hill,  not  far  from  the  top,  under 
a  stone  of  considerable  size,  lay  the  plates  deposited  in  a  stone  box  ;  this 
stone  was  thick  and  rounded  in  the  middle  on  the  upper  side,  and  thinner 
towards  the  edges,  so  that  the  middle  part  of  it  was  visible  above  the 
ground,  but  the  edge  all  round  was  covered  with  earth.  Having  removed 
the  earth  and  obtained  a  lever,  which  I  got  fixed  under  the  edge  of  the 
stone,  and  with  a  little  exertion  raised  it  up,  I  looked  in,  and  there,  in- 
deed, did  I  behold  the  plates,  the  Urim  and  Thummim,  and  breastplate, 
as  stated  by  the  messenger.  The  box  in  which  they  lay  was  formed  by 
laying  stones  together  in  some  kind  of  cement.  In  the  bottom  of  the  box 
were  laid  two  stones  crossways  of  the  box,  and  on  these  stones  lay  the 
plates  and  the  other  things  with  them.  I  made  an  attempt  to  take  them 
out,  but  was  forbidden  by  the  messenger.  I  was  again  informed  that  the 
time  for  bringing  them  out  had  not  yet  arrived,  neither  would  until  four 
years  from  that  time ;  but  he  told  me  that  I  should  come  to  that  place 
precisely  in  one  year  from  that  time,  and  that  he  would  there  meet  with 
me,  and  that  I  should  continue  to  do  so  until  the  time  should  come  for 
obtaining  the  plates." 

The  autobiography  is  not  so  explicit  concerning  this  point 
of  the  Prophet's  history  as  the  early  writings  of  the  first  disci- 


20 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


pies.  Ill  the  latter,  the  Prince  of  Darkness  is  introduced  at 
the  critical  moment,  surrounded  by  an  innumerable  train  of  his 
associates,  who  are  made  to  pass  in  review  before  the  boy,  so 
that  he  might  become  acquainted  with  them.  A  renewal  of 
the  "  old  dispensation  "  would  have  been  incomplete  without 
the  "  wicked  one." 

At  the  end  of  each  year,  in  obedience  to  the  instructions 
received,  he  went  to  this  place,  met  with  the  same  messenger, 
and  from  him  received  further  information  touching  "  the 
"  Lord's  purposes  in  the  last  days,"  and  in  what  manner  His 
kingdom  was  to  be  constituted. 


CHAPTEK  111. 


THE  GOLD  PLATES.— Joseph  translates  the  "  Keformed  Egyptian  "—Martin  Har 
ris  acts  as  Scribe — Professor  Anthon  pronounces  the  characters  and  translation 
"a  hoax" — A  prediction  of  Isaiah  fulfilled— Satan  and  Mrs.  Harris  bring  the 
Prophet  into  great  trouble— Oliver  Cowdery  replaces  Harris— John  the  Baptist 
ordains  Smith  and  Cowdery — They  baptize  each  other,  prophesy  and  rejoice— 
Witnesses  are  chosen  to  testify  to  the  Book  of  Mormon. 

Forced  to  earn  his  bread  by  manual  labour,  Joseph  "  hired," 
in  October,  1825,  to  an  old  gentleman  who  lived  in  Chenango 
county.  New  York,  who  for  a  month  employed  him  along  with 
other  men  to  "prospect"  for  a  silver  mine  which  the  Spaniards 
were  reported  to  have  once  worked  in  Harmony,  Susquehanna 
county,  Pennsylvania.  From  this  originated  the  story  of  the 
Prophet  being  a  money  digger. 

During  this  service  he  boarded  at  the  house  of  a  Mr.  Isaac 
Hale,  and  won  the  affections  of  his  daughter  Emma,  whom 
he  married  on  the  18th  of  January,  1827,  and  who  in  course  of 
time  was  designated  in  revelation  as  "  The  Elect  Lady"*  of 
the  Church.  As  the  Hale  family  were  opposed  to  the  union, 
Joseph  and  his  young  bride  betook  themselves  to  his  father's 
residence  in  New  York. 

The  same  year,  on  the  22nd  of  September,  the  time  ap- 
pointed having  arrived,  Joseph  presented  himself  at  the  usual 

*  Mrs.  Smith  had  an  extraordinary  influence  over  Joseph.  She  was  to  him 
what  Cadijah  was  to  Mohammed.  Whjn  Ayesha,  a  youthful  beauty  of  his  harem, 
suggested  that  Allah  had  given  the  Arabian  Prophet  a  better  wife  instead  of  Cadi- 
jah;  in  the  mingled  passions  of  grief  for  her  loss,  affection  for  the  wife  of  his  youth, 
and  indignation  at  the  insinuation  of  a  better,  his  manly  soul  exclaimed  : — "  Never 
"  did  God  give  me  a  better  I  When  I  was  poor,  she  enriched  me  ;  when  I  was  pro- 
"  nounced  a  liar,  she  believed  in  me  ;  when  I  was  opposed  by  all  the  world,  she  re- 
"  mained  true  to  me."  Till  polygamy  came,  the  same  might  be  said  of  Emma 
Smith.  She  was  Cadijah  to  Joseph,  and  he  loved  her  as  intensely  as  did  the  Arabian 
his  faithful  wife. 


22 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


meeting-place,  and  from  the  hands  of  the  angel  received  the 
plates,  with  the  charge  that  he  was  now  responsible  for  them, 
and  if  by  any  carelessness  he  permitted  them  to  be  taken  from 
him  he  should  be  cut  off ;  but  if  he  did  his  best  to  preserve 
tliem  till  the  messenger  should  call  for  them,"^  he  should  be 
favoured  with  the  Divine  blessing  and  protection. 

Joseph's  former  troubles  were  as  nothing  to  what  followed 
after  he  obtained  possession  of  the  plates.  In  his  autobiog- 
raphy he  says :  Multitudes  were  on  the  alert  continually  to 
get  them  from  me  if  possible,"  but  he  succeeded  in  maintain- 
ing possession.  Embarrassments  increasing,  and  the  bride's 
family  being  more  favourably  disposed,  the  young  folks  re- 
turned to  her  father's  home,  carrying  with  them  the  plates. 
They  were  assisted  by  one  Martin  Harris,  who  from  this  time 
occupies  an  important  position  in  the  development  of  the  new 
faith,  and  becomes  one  of  the  "  witnesses  "  to  the  Book  of 
Mormon. 


Martin  Harris,  the  Prophef  s  Scribe. 


During  the  winter  of  1827-8,  Joseph  copied  a  number 
of  the  engravings  and  translated  them  by  means  of  the  TJrim 
and  Thummim,  and  this  copy  and  translation  he  placed  in  the 

*  To  the  Mormons  it  appeared  right  enough  that  the  angel  should  retake  pos- 
session of  the  plates  after  Joseph  had  translated  the  portion  entrusted  to  him. 
Others  have  taken  a  rather  different  view  of  the  transaction. 


So 


I 


3a: 


O 


o 


^  m 


o 


O 

o 


o 


O  Oh 

m 


d 


o 

;=< 
o 

O 


THE  GOLD  PLATES. 


25 


hands  of  Harris  to  take  to  New  York  city  for  the  purpose  of 
subjecting  them  to  scientific  scrutiny.  It  is  probable  that  he 
was  induced  to  take  this  step  on  account  of  a  desire  to  that 
effect  expressed  by  Harris,  from  whom  he  had  already  proposed 
to  borrow  funds  for  the  publication  of  the  volume  when  com- 
pleted. Be  this  as  it  may,  the  circumstance  was  afterwards 
adduced  as  the  fulfilment  of  a  prophecy  of  Isaiah.-^  The  ac- 
count which  Harris  himself  gives  of  his  visit  to  New  York  is  as 
follows.  He  called,  he  says,  upon  Professor  Anthon,  a  cele- 
brated linguist,  who,  after  examining  the  transcript  of  the  char- 
acters, stated  that  they  were  Egyptian,  and  were  correctly 
translated.  The  untranslated  copy  from  the  plates  was  said 
by  the  Professor  to  be  Egyptian,  Chaldee,  Assyrian,  and  Ara- 
bic, and  that  the  characters  of  those  languages  were  truly  ren- 
dered. He  gave  Harris  a  certificate  to  this  effect,  assuring  all 
who  might  be  interested  in  the  matter,  that  the  characters 
were  genuine  and  the  translation  correct ;  but  on  hearing  that 
young  Smith  claimed  to  have  received  the  plates  through  the 
ministration  of  an  angel,  he  took  back  the  certificate  and  tore 
it  in  pieces,  as  he  regarded  the  whole  affair  as  an  attempt  to 
cheat  Harris  of  the  money  which  he  proposed  to  raise  from  the 
mortgage  of  his  farm,  for  the  publication  of  the  book. 

Twelve  years  subsequently.  Professor  Anthon  published  a 
very  different  account  of  this  interview.  He  represented  the 
characters  as  a  singular  medley  of  "  Greek,  Hebrew,  and  all 
"  sorts  of  letters,  more  or  less  distorted  either  through  unskilful- 
"  ness  or  design,  and  intermingled  with  sundry  delineations  of 
"  half-moons,  stars,  and  other  natural  objects,  the  whole  end- 
ing  in  a  rude  representation  of  the  Mexican  zodiac."  The 
more  the  man  of  literature  denounced  the  affair  as  a  mere 
hoax,  the  more  the  Mormon  writers  saw  the  actual  fulfilment 
of  the  prophecy  and  believed  that  the  Book  of  Mormon,  the 
Professor,  Martin  Harris,  and  all  this  controversy,  were  the  sub- 
jects of  Hebrew  inspiration. 

Notwithstanding  the  temporary  financial  aid  which  was 
rendered  to  Joseph  by  Martin,  and  the  fulfilment  of  proph- 
ecy in  the  person  of  that  worthy,  human  weakness  was  destined 
to  interfere  and  the  purposes  of  the  heavens  to  be  somewhat 

*  Isa.  xxix. 


26  THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 

disarranged  by  his  instrumentality,  much  to  the  chagrin  of 
Joseph,  and  the  subsequent  annoyance  of  the  disciples  of  Mor- 
monism. 

In  the  autobiography  published  in  the  ''Pearl  of  Great 
Price,"  no  mention  is  made  of  this  trouble,  and  the  unsophis- 
ticated reader  would  naturally  suppose  that  "  the  Lord  "  had 
wisely  chosen  fitting  instruments  for  His  work  and  that  His 
purposes  had  been  attained,  when  it  is  stated  that  "  two  days 
"after  the  arrival  of  Mr.  Cowdery  (being  the  17th  day  of 
"  April)  I  commenced  to  translate  the  Book  of  Mormon,  and 
"  he  commenced  to  write  for  me."  This,  however,  is  not  the 
whole  truth,  but  it  is  here  noticed  as  one  of  the  bad  features  of 
modern  revelation.  Some  one  is  for  ever  trying  to  make  the 
relations  between  the  heavens  and  the  earth  better  than  they 
actually  are. 

Preceding  the  advent  of  Oliver  Cowdery,  Martin  Harris 
was  Joseph's  scribe  while  he  was  translating  the  plates.  The 
spouse  of  Harris  was  undeveloped  in  her  spiritual  nature  in 
the  Mormon  sense,  and,  seeing  her  husband  devoting  much  of 
his  time  and  not  a  little  of  his  money  in  aid  of  the  work,  she 
resolved  to  have  some  satisfaction.  Martin,  willing  to  meet 
the  demands  of  his  wife  and  her  abettors,  importuned  Joseph 
for  permission  to  exhibit  the  translation.  "  The  Lord  "  warned 
Joseph  of  Martin's  weakness,  and  the  latter  was  strenuously 
resisted  for  a  time.  But  Satan,  ever  ready  to  take  advantage 
of  a  woman's  w^eakness,  was  powerful  with  Mrs.  Harris,  and 
116  pages  of  the  translation  of  the  honafide  Book  of  Mormon 
were  at  length  obtained  from  Joseph  under  the  most  sacred 
pledge  of  faithful  preservation  and  restoration. 

The  manuscript,  once  out  of  the  hands  of  the  youthful 
Prophet,  was  gone  for  ever,  and  the  difiiculty  was  to  replace  it. 
J oseph  was  terribly  humiliated,  suffered  intensely,  and  lost  the 
"  gift "  by  which  he  had  been  able  to  translate,  and  in  this 
way  the  work  was  suspended  from  July,  1828,  till  the  appear- 
ance of  Cowdery,  as  stated,  in  1829.  Thus,  through  the  strat- 
egy of  the  devil,  all  this  important  history  was  lost,  besides 
nearly  eighteen  months  of  valuable  time,  from  December,  1827, 
when  Harris  first  began  his  work  as  copyist.  But  Satan  had 
still  greater  affliction  in  store  for  the  young  Prophet. 


MRS.  HARRIS  AND  THE  DEVIL, 


21 


The  ablest  scholars  can  rarely  make  two  translations  pre- 
cisely alike  from  any  foreign  language,  for  the  idiomatic  ex- 
pressions of  one  tongue  often  find  several  equivalents  in  an- 
other, and  when  the  translation  has  been  made  from  hieroglyph- 
ics, in  which  a  sign  represents  a  sentence  or  a  paragraph,  the 
diflSculty  of  obtaining  two  perfectly  similar  translations  is  pro- 
portionately increased.  Joseph  understood  this.  His  soul  was 
sick,  and  "  the  Lord,"  ever  ready  to  aid  the  penitent,  came  to  his 
assistance,  denounced  Martin  Harris  as  ^'a  wicked  man,"  and 
revealed  to  the  Prophet  how  the  difficulty  could  be  obviated. 

In  the  revelation  which  he  then  received,^  Joseph  was  in- 
formed that  Satan  had  inspired  Martin  Harris  and  his  friends 
to  get  possession  of  the  manuscript,  and  that  they  had  deter- 
mined that,  if  his  second  translation  differed  from  theirs,  they 
would  expose  him,  and  say  that  he  was  an  impostor  and  had 
only  pretended  to  translate,  and,  should  he  make  a  perfect  du- 
plicate of  the  first,  they  would  alter  their  copy,  and  so  make 
him  contradict  himself.  To  circumvent  all  this,  Joseph  was 
instructed  that  among  the  plates  a  "  Book  of  JSTeplii  "  existed, 
and  that  that  would  serve  the  purpose  equally  as  well  as  the 
lost  manuscript.  Joseph  obeyed  the  heavenly  oracle,  and  thus 
the  sacred  volume  now  actually  commences  with  the  Book  of 
Nephi,  instead  of  the  Book  of  Mormon  as  originally  intended. 
In  this  way  was  lost  that  narrative  which  had  been  so  care- 
fully prepared  by  an  ancient  Judo-American  prophet  and 
engraver,  under  such  very  trying  circumstances :  a  narrative 
which,  according  to  Joseph,  had  been  hidden  up  in  the  Btone 
box  at  least  twelve  hundred  years,  until  finally  revealed  by  an 
angel  of  God  for  the  salvation  of  the  human  family,  and  for  the 
preservation  of  which  Joseph  had  already  suffered  much  perse- 
cution.   Mrs.  and  Mr.  Harris  have  much  to  answer  for. 

Some  persons  may  have  read  the  Book  of  Mormon  through 
consecutively,  but  as  a  general  thing,  even  among  the  Mor- 
mons, the  foundation  of  their  faith  is  never  boasted  of  as  being 
an  interesting  document.  The  substitution,  therefore,  of  Nephi 
for  a  commencement,  instead  of  that  intended  by  "  the  Lord  " 
but  stolen  by  the  devil,  has  not  probably  caused  any  irrele- 
vancy nor  cut  the  thread  of  the  story — if  it  ever  had  one. 

*  "Doctrine  and  Covenants,"  p.  169. 


28 


THE  KOCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


AVxtli  the  assistance  of  Oliver  Cowdery  as  scribe,  tlie  trans- 
lation went  on  without  interruption  and  the  character  of  "  the 
"  kingdom  "  was  gradually  developed.  They  came  to  a  por- 
tion of  the  narrative  that  informed  them  that  baptism  by  im- 
mersion for  the  remission  of  sins  had  been  taught  and  com- 
manded to  the  ancient  inhabitants  of  America,  and  the  trans- 
lator, ever  eager  to  know  his  "  privileges,"  proposed,  on  the 
15th  of  May,  that  they  should  retire  to  the  woods,  and  "  in- 
"  quire  of  the  Lord." 

"  While  we  were  thus  employed,  praying  and  calling  upon  the  Lord, 
a  messenger  from  heaven  descended  in  a  cloud  of  light,  and  having  laid 
his  hands  upon  us  he  ordained  us,  saying  unto  us :  '  Upon  you,  my  fellow- 
servants^  in  the  name  of  tlie  Messiah^  I  confer  the  Priesthood  of  Aaron^  which 
holds  the  Tceys  of  the  ministering  of  angels  and  of  the  Gospel  of  repentance 
and  of  baptism  ly  immersion  for  the  remission  of  sins  ;  and  this  shall  never 
again  he  talcen  from  the  earth  until  the  sons  of  Levi  do  offer  again  an  offer- 
ing unto  the  Lord  in  righteousness."^  He  said  this  Aaronic  Priesthood 
had  not  the  power  of  laying  on  of  hands  for  the  gift  of  the  Holy  Ghost, 
but  that  this  should  be  conferred  on  us  hereafter,  and  he  commanded  us 
to  go  and  be  baptized,  and  gave  us  directions  that  I  should  baptize  Oliver 
Cowdery,  and,  afterwards,  that  he  should  baptize  me."  * 

This  "  messenger  "  asserted  that  he  was  John  the  Baptist, 
and  that  he  acted  under  the  direction  of  Peter,  James,  and 
John,  who  held  the  priesthood  of  Melchisedec,  which  in  due 
time  was  to  be  conferred  upon  them  when  they  would  take 
rank — Joseph  as  the  first  elder  and  Oliver  the  second.  As 
instructed,  they  went  into  the  water  together,  and  Joseph  bap- 
tized Oliver  by  immersion,  and  he  in  turn  immersed  Joseph. 
The  latter  laid  his  hands  upon  Oliver^s  head  and  ordained  him 
to  the  Aaronic  priesthood,  and  Oliver  afterwards  laid  his  hands 
upon  Joseph's  head  and  ordained  him  to  the  same  priesthood — 
"for  so  we  were  commanded." 

As  they  came  out  of  the  water  they  "  experienced  great  and 
"  glorious  blessings."  "  The  Holy  Ghost  fell  upon  Oliver  and 
"  he  prophesied,"  and  then  Joseph  "stood  up  and  prophesied." 
They  had  a  happj^  time  together,  but,  owing  to  the  persecu- 
ting disposition  of  the  unbelievers,  they  kept  their  baptism 
and  ordination  and  rejoicings  a  secret  for  a  time. 

*  "  Pearl  of  Great  Price,"  p.  46. 


THE  FIRST  MORMON  BAPTISM. 


29 


The  preparatory  work  was  now  fast  advancing.  Joseph 
was  rapidly  developing,  and  Oliver  was  an  excellent  scribe. 
Three  "  witnesses  "  were  to  be  favoured  with  a  "  manifestation  " 
and,  from  among  the  personal  friends  of  Joseph,  David  Whit- 
mer  was  selected  to  join  Oliver  Cowdery  and  Martin  Harris 
with  the  assurance  that  if  they  would  exercise  faith  they  should 
have  a  view  of  the 
plates  and  also  of  the 
Urim  and  Thummim. 
They   did  exercise 
faith,  and    in  their 
"  testimony,"  pre- 
fixed to  the  Book  of 
Mormon,  they  '^de- 
"  clare  with  words  of 
"  soberness   that  an 
"  angel  of  God  came 
"  down  from  heaven, 
"and    he  brought 
"  and  laid  before  our  eyes,  that  we  beheld  and  saw  the  plates 
"  and  the  engravings  thereon."  ^    This  event  occurred,  accord- 
ing to  Mormon  chronology,  in  June  or  July,  1829.  Another 
"  testimony  "  is  given  to  the  world  by  eight  witnesses  —  the 
father  and  two  brothers  of  Joseph,  four  of  the  Whitmer  fami- 
ly, and  one  Page.    They  affirm  that  they  had  seen  the  original 
plates,    hefted  "  them,  and  that  they  had  "  the  appearance  of 
"  gold,  and  were  of  ancient  work  and  curious  workmanship." 

In  the  commencement  of  1830  the  translation  was  pub- 
lished under  the  title  of  The  Book  of  Mormon^  and  thus  was 
laid  the  foundation  of  the  new  faith. 

*  The  Author  entered  into  correspondence  with  one  of  the  Whitmers  to  elicit  from 
him  information  concerning  his  mental  condition  during  the  time  that  he  affirms  he 
saw  the  plates.  Whitmer  was  asked  if  he  was  in  his  usual  condition  of  conscious- 
ness and  was  sensible  of  surrounding  objects  while  he  beheld  the  plates  ;  but  he 
refused  to  answer  the  enquiry.  Harris  is  reported  to  have  said  that  he  witnessed 
them  by  "  the  eye  of  faith." 


The  First  Mormon  Baptism. 


CHAPTER  IV. 


OEGANIZATION  OF  THE  CHUECH.— Disciples  receive  tlie  Holy  Ghost— Ancient 
Apostles  and  Prophets  revisit  the  earth — Newell  Knight  is  tortured  "by  the  Devil 
— ^His  experience  claimed  as  the  first  "  Latter-Day  "  Miracle — Judge  Edmonds 
records  similar  phenomena  in  Spiritualism. 

On  Tuesday,  April  6th,  1830,  tlie  "  Church  of  Christ "  was 
organized  in  the  house  of  Peter  Whitmer,  in  Fayette,  Seneca 
county,  New  York,  an  event  which,  according  to  the  ingenious 
calculation  of  Orson  Pratt,  transpired  exactly  1800  years  to  a 
day  from  the  resurrection  of  Christ. 

The  ten  years  which  had  elapsed  from  Joseph's  first  vision 
had  been  strictly  a  period  of  preparatory  work,  and  there  were 
at  this  date  but  few  converts  to  his  mission  ready  for  organiza- 
tion. At  the  appointed  time  these  assembled,  and  are  thus 
embalmed  in  Mormon  history : 

Joseph  Smith  [the  prophet.] 

Oliver  Cowdery  [his  scribe]. 

Hyrum  Smith  [an  elder  brother  of  Joseph], 

Peter  Whitmer,  Junr. 

Samuel  H.  Smith  [a  younger  brother  of  Joseph],  and 
David  Whitmer. 

Alternating  the  Smiths  and  the  Whitmers  gives  a  better 
appearance  to  the  list  than  if  the  two  families  were  separated. 
Martin  Harris,  though  so  important  a  personage  in  the  prelim- 
inary work,  is  supposed  to  have  been  denied  the  honour  of  be- 
longing to  the  first  organization,  in  consequence  of  the  trouble 
which  he  caused  about  the  lost  manuscript. 

The  chosen  six  "  entered  into  covenant  to  serve  the  Lord," 
partook  of  the  sacrament  of  the  Supper,  and  Joseph  and  Oliver 
ordained  each  other  as  spiritual  teachers  to  the  Church.  This 
met  the  unanimous  approval  of  the  two  Smiths  and  the  two 


THE  FIRST  MORMON  MIRACLE. 


33 


Whitmers,  and  Joseph  and  Oliver  laid  tlieir  hands  upon  the 
others,  that  they  might  receive  the  "  gift  of  the  Holy  Ghost." 
"  Thus,"  says  Orson  Pratt,  "  was  the  Church  of  Christ  once 
"more  restored  to  the  earth,  holding  the  heys  of  authority  and 
power  to  hind^  to  loose ^  and  to  seal  on  the  earth  and  in  heaven^ 
"  according  to  the  commandments  of  God,  and  the  revelations 
"  of  Jesus  Christ."   More  than  this  could  not  easily  be  claimed. 

On  the  Sunday  succeeding  the  organization,  Oliver  Cow- 
dery  preached  the  first  public  discourse  on  "  this  dispensation  " 
and  the  principles  of  "  the  Gospel  as  revealed  to  Joseph,"  and 
from  that  day  the  "testimony"  of  the  Mormon  elders  has 
been  carried  to  every  civilized  nation. 

For  a  time,  conversions  v^ere  but  slowly  made,  but  .the 
"gifts"  began  to  manifest  themselves,  and  the  few  Saints  "re- 
"joiced  with  exceeding  great  joy;"  the  wicked  raged,  the 
devil  attacked  "  the  Kingdom,"  and  a  "  miracle  "  was  per- 
formed. 

IsTotwithstanding  so  much  of  interest  has  to  be  but  briefly 
stated,  it  seems  necessary  to  give  in  detail  the  relation  of  this 
first  miracle  in  the  Latter-Day  kingdom,  and  the  more  so  from 
the  fact  of  its  similarity  to  the  manifestations  of  modern  Spirit- 
ualism. Joseph  relates,  in  his  autobiography,  that  a  young 
man  named  Newell  Knight  was  greatly  exercised  on  "  the 
"  work  "  that  he  had  announced  to  him,  and  attempted  to  pray 
in  the  woods  for  some  enlightenment.  He  became  unwell 
mentally  and  physically,  and  caused  some  alarm  to  his  wife. 
Joseph  was  sent  for,  and  thus  reports  what  took  place  : — 

"  I  went  and  found  him  suflfering  very  much  in  his  mind,  and  his  body 
acted  upon  in  a  very  strange  manner,  his  visage  and  limbs  distorted  and 
twisted  in  every  shape  and  appearance  possible  to  imagine,  and  finally  he 
was  caught  up  off  the  floor  of  the  apartment,  and  tossed  about  most  fear- 
fully. His  situation  was  soon  made  known  to  the  neighbours  and  relatives, 
and  in  a  short  time  as  many  as  eight  or  nine  grown  persons  had  got  to- 
gether to  witness  the  scene.  After  he  had  thus  suffered  for  a  time,  I  suc- 
ceeded in  getting  hold  of  him  by  the  hand,  when  almost  immediately  he 
spoke  to  me,  and  with  very  great  earnestness  required  of  me  that  I  should 
cast  the  devil  out  of  him,  saying  that  he  knew  that  he  was  in  him,  and 
that  he  also  knew  that  I  could  cast  him  out.  I  replied,  '  If  you  know  that 
'  I  can,  it  shall  be  done,'  and  then  almost  unconsciously  I  rebuked  the  devil 
and  commanded  him  in  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ  to  depart  from  him, 
when  immediately  Newell  spoke  out  and  said  that  he  saw  the  devil  leave 


34 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


him,  and  vanish  from  his  sight.  This  was  the  first  miracle  that  was  done 
in  this  Church,  &c." 

The  scene  changes,  and  Newell,  overwhelmed  with  the 
good  spirit,  and  joyous  beyond  expression,  is  lifted  from  the 
floor  to  the  roof  till  "  the  beams  would  let  him  go  no  further." 
In  subsequent  gatherings  of  the  Saints,  Newell  is  particularly 
favoured,  sees  "  the  heavens  opened,"  and  "  beholds  the  glory 
"  of  God."  He  was  among  the  faithful  few  who  endured  to 
the  end,  and  then  quietly  "  fell  asleep  in  Jesus." 

It  is  strangely  argued  that  this  first  "  miracle  "  in  the  Mor- 
mon Church  was  an  evidence  of  the  divine  mission  of  Joseph 
Smith  and  the  truthfulness  of  the  Book  of  Mormon.  Elder 
Orson  Pratt  reasons  thus  on  the  subject : — 

"  The  great  miracle  that  was  wrought  upon  Newell  Knight,  and  that, 
too,  before  he  became  a  member  of  the  Church,  and  in  the  presence  of 
some  eight  or  nine  of  his  neighbours,  must  have  given  him  the  most  perfect 
knowledge  of  the  truth  of  the  Boole  of  Mormon  ;  and  it  must  also  have  leen 
a  convincing  testimony  to  all  who  saw  him^  ..."  This  great  manifestation 
of  the  power  of  God,  in  contrast  with  the  power  of  the  evil  one,  must 
have  given  a  Tcnowledge  to  those  who  were  present  that  Joseph  Smith  was  a 
great  prophet  and  seer^  and  that  the  Boole  of  Mormon  was  a  divine  revela- 
tion,^^  * 

The  Author,  in  searching  an  old  file  of  papers,  accidentally 
cast  his  eye  upon  a  record  of  the  experience  of  Judge  John  W. 
Edmonds,  of  New  York,  wherein  that  gentleman  relates  in  the 
New  York  Tribune^  some  time  in  1859,  his  experience  in 
"  casting  out  devils,"  which  is  so  remarkably  similar  to  the  ex- 
perience of  Josej^h  Smith  with  Newell  Knight,  that  it  deserves 
the  careful  consideration  of  the  Latter-Day  Saints.  The  J udge 
says : — 

"  Casting  out  devils. — take  this  phrase  as  I  find  it  in  the  Scriptures, 
as  indicating  that  the  subject  is  possessed  by  an  influence  which  produces 
violent  throes,  or,  as  it  is  said  in  Scripture,  *  Straightway  the  spirit  tare 
*  him,  and  he  fell  on  the  ground  and  wallowed  foaming.' 

"  I  have  witnessed  many  instances  of  this  when  the  subject  was  re- 
lieved simply  by  laying  on  of  hands,  and  sometimes  by  a  mere  command 
to  the  spirit  to  depart. 

"  I  was  once  at  a  circle  in  Troy,  some  twenty  persons  were  present, 
when  a  strong  man  became  unconscious  and  violently  convulsed.    He  beat 

*  "  Evidences  of  the  Book  of  Mormon  and  the  Bible  Compared,"  p.  63. 


CASTING  OUT  DEVILS. 


the  table  with  great  force  with  both  fists.  I  put  my  hand  on  his  head 
against  vehement  struggles  on  his  part  to  prevent  it,  and  in  a  few  moments 
he  was  restored  to  quiet  and  consciousness.  I  once  had  a  man  similarly 
afiected  in  my  own  room,  who  beat  his  head  violently  on  a  marble-top 
table,  and  fell  to  the  floor  in  convulsions.  He  was  recovered  by  the  same 
means,  though  more  slowly.  A  man  from  Chicago  called  on  me  afflicted 
with  convulsions  of  his  arms  and  legs.  He  was  restored  by  the  mere  ex- 
ercise of  will.  Last  year,  at  my  own  house,  I  found  a  man  lying  on  the 
floor,  distorted  and  convulsed.  I  lifted  him  up,  and  compelled  him  to  sit 
in  a  chair,  and  then,  with  a  few  words,  addressed  not  to  him,  but  to  the 
spirit  who  was  influencing  him,  he  was  at  once  restored  to  composure." 

Had  Judge  Edmonds  known  less  and  believed  more,  with 
such  an  experience,  he,  too,  might  have  been  presented  to  the 
world  as  a  "  prophet,  seer,  and  revelator,"  and  some  enthusi- 
astic Pratt  might  have  proved  that  his  writings  were  divinely 
inspired.  Fortunately  for  the  world,  the  Judge,  instead  of  de- 
livering a  new  Gospel,  followed  the  profession  of  the  law. 

3 


V      CHAPTEE  V. 

THE  FIEST  CONFEKENCE.— Parley  P.  Pratt,  and  Orson  Pratt  Converted— Mis- 
sionary  Enterprise  begins — Elders  sent  to  preach  to  the  Indians — Sidney  Eigdon 
converts  his  Campbellite  Congregation — Saints  commanded  to  gather  in  Ohio — 
Jackson  County,  Missouri,  designated  the  *'  Land  of  Promise." 

On  the  1st  of  June,  1830,  the  first  conference  was  held,  at 
which  only  thirty  members  w^ere  represented,  though  many 
others — either  believers  or  such  as  were  anxious  to  learn — 
were  present.  At  this  time  the  testimony  of  Joseph  and  his 
brethren  did  not  extend  far  from  his  father's  residence  and  the 
neighbourhood  where  his  wife's  family  resided.  About  the  be- 
ginning of  August,  the  attention  of  Parley  P.  Pratt  was  drawn 
to  the  movement,  and  soon  after  he  was  converted  and  bap- 
tized. Parley,  who  had  been  a  local  preacher  of  some  denomi- 
nation, was  fluent  of  speech  and  in  every  way  calculated  to  be 
a  zealous  disciple  of  the  cause.  Soon  after  his  own  conversion, 
he  visited  and  converted  Sidney  Rigdon,  a  very  able  Campbel- 
lite preacher  then  residing  in  Ohio,  and  Sidney  immediately  as- 
sumed the  task  of  converting  his  flock  to  the  new  faith.  Orson 
Pratt  was  also  numbered  among  the  early  disciples,  and  Joseph 
soon  found  himself  surrounded  by  those  men  of  talent  who 
gave  the  Biblical  arguments  in  favour  of  Mormonism  which  it 
has  ever  since  retained. 

In  common  with  all  who  believe  themselves  to  be  en- 
trusted with  a  S]3ecial  mission,  Joseph's  faith  was  great  and  he 
anticipated  wonderful  results  from  his  preaching.  The  conver- 
sion of  the  world  was  now  a  very  urgent  matter,  as  "  the  Lord" 
had  informed  him  that  "  He  was  going  to  cut  short  His  work 
"  in  righteousness  in  the  last  days."  Consistently,  therefore, 
with  the  publication  of  the  Book  of  Mormon  as  a  historical 


SIDNEY  RIGDON  MEETS  THE  PROPHET. 


37 


record  of  the  ancient  inhabitants  of  America,  tlie  Indians  on 
the  western  frontier  were  the  first  to  be  honoured  with  a  special 
mission,  and  a  number  of  the  elders  were  set  apart  for  this 
work  and  sent  forth  "  without  purse  or  scrip  "  to  preach  to  the 
"  Lamanites."  ^ 

In  addition  to  the  instruction  which  Joseph  claims  to  have 
received  from  the  angels  who  frequently  visited  him,  he  was 
also  endowed  with  the  "  gift  of  revelation,"  by  wdiich  he  was 
able  to  give  "  the  word  of  the  Lord  "  on  every  subject  and  to 
everybody.  Men  w^ere  called,  chosen,  ordained,  and  sent  on 
missions  by  the  commandment  of  revelation;  they  were  blessed, 
honoured,  reproved  and  cursed  by  it — as  the  case  miglit  require, 
and  Joseph,  as  frequently  as  any  one  else,  got  his  full  share  of 
rebuke  and  chastisement.  Jesus  Christ  is  said  to  be  the  author 
of  the  numerous  revelations  given  to  the  Mormon  Church 
through  Joseph  Smith,  and  in  this  way  the  early  disciples  were 
directed  in  all  their  affairs,  nvhether  spiritual  or  temporal.  Jo- 
seph became,  in  the  language  of  one  of  the  hymns,  "  the  mouth- 
"  piece  of  God,"  and  henceforth  his  address  to  the  Saints  in  all 
matters  of  importance  was:    Thus  saith  the  Lord." 

Sidney  Eigdon  was  successful  with  many  of  his  congrega- 
tion and  "  the  people  round  about,"  so  that  Ohio  became  the 
object  of  the  Prophet's  attention.  In  December,  1830,  Eigdon 
paid  a  visit  to  the  Prophet  and  prolonged  his  stay  till  January, 
aiding  him  in  his  inspired  translation  of  the  New  Testament, 
after  which  the  Prophet  returned  with  him  to  Ohio.  During 
this  visit  "  the  Lord  commanded  the  Saints  in  the  State  of 
"  New  York  to  gather  in  Ohio,"  and  instructions  to  that  eflect 
were  promulgated  and  c>beyed.  In  a  few  months  they  were 
comfortably  situated  in  the  northern  portion  of  that  State.  But 
all  this  w^as  only  temporary.  Joseph  had  ever  present  in  his 
mind  the  "  New  Jerusalem  "  that  was  to  be  built  up  somewhere 
in  the  last  days,  but  where  that  was  to  be  he  had  not  yet  learned. 

"  The  Lord,"  who  guided  Joseph,  would  appear  to  have  re- 
solved to  keep  the  locality  of  the  New  Jerusalem  secret  as  long 
as  possible  and  therefore  only  spoke  of  it  in  vague  terms.  "  In 
"  February,  1831,  the  Saints  were  commanded  to  ask  the  Lord 
and  he  would  in  due  time  reveal  unto  them  the  place  where 
*  The  designation  of  the  Indians  in  modern  revelation. 


38 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


"  the  ]S'e\v  Jerusalem  should  be  built  and  where  the  Saints 
"  should  eventually  be  gathered  in  one."  On  the  Yth  of  March 
thej  were  commanded  to  gather  up  their  riches  with  one  heart 
and  one  mind  to  purchase  the  inheritance  which  "  the  Lord 
would  point  out  to  them.  Of  this  inheritance  they  knew  noth- 
ing definite,  but  were  told  that  it  was  somewhere  on  the  west- 
ern frontiers.  In  June,  about  thirty  elders  were  sent  out  west- 
ward on  a  preaching  tour.  They  were  to  go  out  by  twos,  and 
were  to  build  up  branches  of  the  Church  wherever  the  people 
would  listen  to  them,  and  were  eventually  to  meet  together 
when  the  place  of  the  New  Jerusalem  would  be  made  known 
to  them. 

About  the  middle  of  July,  Joseph  and  several  of  the  elders 
met  at  Independence,  Jackson  county,  Missouri,  and  then  at 
length  the  revelation  about  the  New  Jerusalem  was  forthcoming. 
It  was  very  explicit  concerning  the  great  things  "  the  Lord " 
would  do  in  this  generation,  but,  ai  will  presently  be  seen,  that 
troublesome  devil,  who  never  to  the  moment  of  his  tragic 
death  forsook  Joseph,  was  determined  to  thwart  the  purposes 
of  "  the  Lord  "  and  lead  the  Prophet  and  his  brethren  into  fear- 
ful affliction. 

By  the  liglit  of  facts  which  have  since  transpired,  the  fol- 
lowing revelation  of  "  the  Lord  "  on  the  gathering  to  Missouri 
becomes  intensely  interesting,  showing  as  it  does  the  measure 
of  confidence  which  the  world  can  place  in  modern  revelation, 
and  inculcating  a  salutary  lesson  to  the  Mormons  themselves 
now  under  the  prophetic  guidance  of  Brigham  Young. 

"  Yerlly  this  is  the  Word  of  the  Lord,  that  the  City  New  Jerusalem 
shall  be  built  by  the  gathering  of  the  Saints,*  beginning  at  this  place,  even 
the  place  of  the  Temple,  which  Temple  shall  be  reared  in  this  generation^  for 
verily  this  generation  shall  not  pass  away  until  an  house  shall  be  built  unto 
the  Lord,  and  a  cloud  shall  rest  upon  it^  which  cloud  shall  be  even  the  glory 
of  the  Lord  which  shall  fill  the  housey^^ 

"  Hearken,  O  ye  elders  of  my  Church,  saith  the  Lord  your  God,  who 
have  assembled  yourselves  together  according  to  my  commandments  in 
chis  land,  which  is  the  land  of  Missouri,  ^chich  is  the  land  which  I  have  ap- 
pointed and  consecrated  for  the  gathering  of  the  Saints;  wherefore  this  is  the 
land  of  promise  and  the  place  for  the  City  of  Zion,  And  thus  saith  the  Lord 
your  God,  If  you  will  receive  wisdom,  here  is  wisdom.    Behold  the  place 

*  "  Book  of  Doctrine  and  Covenants,"  p.  82,  par.  2. 


THE  NEW  JERUSALEM. 


39 


which  is  now  called  Independence  is  the  centre  place,  and  a'  spot  for  the 
Temple  is  lying  westward  upon  a  lot  which  is  not  far  from  the  court 
house."  * 

This  revelation  is  dated,  "  Zion,  July,  1831."  In  another, 
given  September  22,  1832,  it  is  stated  that  the  place  was  "  ap 
"  pointed  by  the  finger  of  the  Lord,"  and  the  gathering  of  the 
Saints  and  the  building  of  the  New  Jerusalem  are  again  as 
sured.  The  succeeding  history  of  the  Mormons  in  Missouri 
exhibits  anything  but  the  fulfilment  of  these  promises :  on  the 
contrary  it  relates  only  the  overthrow  of  the  hopes  of  the  un- 
fortunate believers. 

The  few  Saints  from  Colesville,  Broome  county,  New  York, 
who  had  been  commanded  to  gather  to  Ohio  and  afterwards  to 
Missouri,  had  now  arrived,  and  on  the  2nd  of  August  the 
foundation  of  the  first  house  was  laid,  twelve  miles  west  of  In- 
dependence, twelve  men  taking  part  in  laying  that  foundation 
in  honour  of  the  Twelve  Tribes  of  Israel.  The  land  of  Zion  on 
that  occasion  was  dedicated  unto  the  Lord  by  prayer,  and  on 
the  following  day  the  Temple  lot  was  dedicated  in  the  presence 
of  eighteen  men.  JSText  day  the  first  conference  was  held  in 
the  land  of  Zion.  A  few  days  afterwards,  Joseph  and  Sidney 
left  Independence  to  return  to  Kirtland,  where  they  arrived 
on  the  27th  of  August,  and  immediately  afterwards  Joseph  had 
an  abundant  outpouring  of  revelation. 

*  "  Book  of  Doctrine  and  Covenants,"  pp.  165-6,  par.  1. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

SATAN  THREATENS  THE  CHUECII.— He  shakes  and  corrupts  the  Ohio  Saints 
— The  Youthful  Prophet  lahours  with  Great  Zeal — Missionaries  evangelize 
the  Eastern  States — Smith  and  Eigdon  behold  a  Great  Vision — They  are  tarred 
and  feathered — Go  to  Missouri  and  found  a  Newspaper. 

During  tlie  absence  of  the  young  Prophet  in  Missouri,  the 
believers  had  not  been  doing  as  well  as  he  expected.  He  was, 
therefore,  immediately  armed  with  a  revelation  reproving  them 
for  seeking  signs."  In  that  revelation  (August,  1831)  occurs 
this  singularly  explicit  statement : — "  with  whom  God  is  an- 
"  gry^  he  is  not  well  pleased^  ^  Uninspired  persons  would  pro- 
bably consider  such  a  declaration  somewhat  unnecessary  ;  it 
almost  requires  a  second  revelation  to  explain  its  meaning. 

Even  at  that  early  day  a  few  of  the  new  converts  appear 
to  have  exhibited  loose  notions  of  morality.  Of  these,  some, 
charged  with  being  adulterers  and  adulteresses,"  were  stat- 
ed to  have  "  turned  away,"  and  the  others  were  warned  to 
'■'beware  and  repent  speedily."  All  through  the  history  of  the 
Church  during  the  life-time  of  Joseph  may  be  noticed  a  dispo- 
sition to  free-loveism.  The  new  spirit  was  very  affectionate, 
and  required  to  be  strictly  guarded.  It  is,  however,  due  to 
Joseph  to  add  that  his  revelations  were  severe  in  condemnation 
of  the  lack  of  chastity. 

Some  idea  may  be  formed  of  the  zeal  with  which  Joseph 
♦  was  building  up  the  kingdom  and  preparing  for  the  future, 
when  it  is  stated  that,  during  the  year  1831,  he  received  no 
less  tlian  thirty-seven  revelations.  In  addition  to  the  cares  of 
the  Church,  preaching,  testifying,  and  administering,  he  had 
collected  the  New  York  and  Pennsylvania  Saints  in  Ohio,  had 

*  "  Covenants  and  Commandments,"  p.  149. 


THE  PROPHET  TARRED  AND  FEATHERED. 


41 


commanded  them  to  go  to  Missotiri,  went  there  himself,  and 
dedicated  to  the  Lord  "  the  land  promised  to  believers  for  an 
everlasting  inheritance,"  gave  some  portion  of  his  time  to 
furnishing  the  world  with  an  inspired  translation  of  the  New 
Testament,  and  successfully  defended  himself  in  two  lawsuits, 
which  were  instigated  by  "  the  wicked,"  who  "  sought  to  per- 
"  secute  him." 

In  1832  the  work  extended  over  the  States,  and  many  con 
verts  were  added  to  the  new  Church.  The  missionaries  had  no 
compensation,  but  whenever  one  was  required,  Joseph  could 
with  the  greatest  facility  call  an  elder  to  labour  in  "  the  Lord's  " 
vineyard.  It  was  nothing  to  him  at  what  sacrifice  this  might 
•  •  be  done.  It  w^as  "  a  day  of  sacrifice,"  and  the  greater  that 
was  the  nobler  the  reward  in  the  w^orld  to  come.  The  labour 
that  is  hired  is  limited,  but  the  labour  of  the  Mormon  elders 
was  never  over.  This  was  the  secret  of  their  successful  preach- 
ing. There  was  no  boundary  to  their  harvest  field,  they  were 
commanded  to  thrust  in  the  sickle  and  reap,"  wherever  there 
was  a  call  for  help  or  wherever  the  Spirit  might  direct.  Thus 
influenced  and  undeterred  by  any  difiiculty  the  elders  travelled 
everywhere.  They  braved  every  danger,  faced  a  frowning 
world,  rejoiced  in  tribulation,  blessed  the  Saints,  cursed  their 
enemies,  and  sang  and  shouted  :  "  The  kingdom  is  come,  glory, 
"  glory,  hallelujah  !  " 

Meanwhile  Joseph  was  not  idle.  On  the  16th  of  February, 
while  he  and  Sidney  were  engaged  in  the  translation  of  the 
Bible,  they  claim  to  have  beheld  a  great  vision.  They  saw 
"many  things  unspeakable  and  unlawful  to  be  uttered,"  and  at 
the  same  time  "  many  great  and  marvellous  things  that  they 
"  were  commanded  to  write  while  they  were  yet  in  the  Spirit." 

About  the  end  of  March,  Joseph  and  Sidney  were  very 
roughly  treated  by  a  mob  who  tarred  and  feathered  them  both. 
The  mobbers  were  very  cruel,  and  tried  to  force  some  poison- 
ous liquid  down  Joseph's  throat,  but  the  phial  was  broken 
against  his  teeth,  and  the  contents  spilt.  They  then  leaped 
on  his  chest  and  trampled  him  with  their  feet  till  they  thought 
he  was  dead.  The  Mormon  historian  says  that  Joseph's  spirit 
left  his  body  during  the  outrage,  but  afterwards  returned 
and  re-took  possession.    Sidney  was  not  served  quite  so  badly, 


42 


THE  KOCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


but  lie  bore  it  worse  than  Joseph,  and  never  forgot  it.  The 
Prophet  had  some  difficulty  in  getting  altogether  free  from  the 
tar,  and  tlie  stamping  severely  injured  his  chest,  but  "  the  Lord 
''healed  him  up  again,"  and  next  day  (March  26th)  it  is  re- 
ported that  he  was  "  acknowledged  to  be  the  President  of  the 

''High  Priesthood," 
at  a  General  Conn-- 
^  _  :  cil  of  the  Church.  A 

few  days  later  he  set 
out  the  second  time 
for  Missouri,  and  ar- 
rived at  Independ- 
ence on  the  24th  of 
April. 

During  his  two 
weeks'  stay  in  Mis- 
souri, it  was  resolved 
to  publish  the  revela- 
tions in  book  form, 
and  to  establish  at  Independence  a  journal  called  The  Evening 
and  Morning  Star^  under  the  editorial  direction  of  Elder  W. 
W.  Phelps,  a  brother  who  performed  a  very  important  part  in 
the  history  of  Mormonism.  The  career  of  "  W.  W.,"  as  he  is 
familiarly  styled,  has  been  somewhat  chequered,  but  he  still 
lives,  and  is  "  not  to  taste  of  death."  He  is  about  eighty  years 
of  age^  and  has  the  promise  of  living  till  Jesus  comes  again. 
He  is  a  singular  genius,  greatly  gifted  in  interpreting  disen- 
tombed inscriptions,  especially  upon  old  coins.  He  is  usually 
credited  with  having  furnished  the  political  papers  of  Joseph 
with  their  "  highfalutin,"  and  distorting  several  languages  to 
make  the  word  "  Mormon.  "  mean  "  more  good,"  although  pro- 

*  Since  the  foregoing  was  written,  the  Salt  Lake  papers  have  published  the  fol- 
lowing notice : 

Phelps— William  Wines  Phelps,  born  in  the  State  of  New  Jersey,  February, 
1792,  died  March  'Zth,  1872,  in  Salt  Lake  City." 

Alas,  poor  Phelps  !  Often  did  the  old  man,  in  pubhc  and  in  private,  regale  the 
Saints  with  the  assurance  that  he  had  the  promise  by  revelation  that  he  should  not 
taste  of  death  till  Jesus  came.  The  last  time  that  the  Author  spoke  with  "  Broth- 
er "  Phelps,  the  latter  was  fully  satisfied  that  the  revelation  of  Joseph  Smith  could 
not  fail  in  its  fulfilment. 


Tarred  and  feathered. 


ROUGHLY  HANDLED  IN  MISSOURL 


43 


fane  opponents  insist  that  the  word  is  derived  from  the  Greek, 
and  signifies  something  neither  pleasant  nor  beautiful."^  At  that 
time,  however,  he  was  well-fitted  to  be  publisher  of  the  journal, 
as  he  had  been  a  practical  printer,  but  his  writings  do  not  seem 
to  have  suited  the  Missourians,  and  doubtless  contributed  muck 
to  the  commencement  of  troubles  among  them. 

Joseph  returned  to  Kirtland  in  June,  and  devoted  his  la- 
bours to  the  Saints  of  that  place,  but  at  the  same  time  he 
maintained  a  correspondence  with  Zion  in  Missouri,"  direct- 
ing and  controlling  affairs  in  both  places. 

*  Joseph  Smith,  when  questioned  on  the  subject,  gave  the  following  as  the 
proper  derivation  of  the  word  : 

"  I  may  safely  say  that  the  word  Mormon  stands  independent  of  the  learning 
and  wisdom  of  this  generation.  Before  I  give  a  definition,  however,  to  the  word, 
let  me  say  that  the  Bible,  in  its  widest  sense,  means  good  ;  for  the  Saviour  says, 
according  to  the  Gospel  of  St.  John,  '  I  am  the  good  shepherd  ; '  and  it  will  not 
be  beyond  the  use  of  terms  to  say  that  good  is  amongst  the  most  important  in 
use,  and  though  known  by  various  names  in  different  languages,  still  its  meaning 
is  the  same,  and  is  ever  in  opposition  to  bad.  We  say  from  the  Saxon,  good ;  the 
Dane,  god;  the  Goth,  goda ;  the  German,  gut;  the  Dutch,  goed ;  the  Latin, 
howis  ;  the  Greek,  halos  ;  the  Hebrew,  ix)b  :  and  the  Egyptian,  mon.  Hence  with 
the  addition  of  more,  or  the  contraction  mor,  we  have  the  word  Mormon,  which 
means  literally,  more  goody 

Notwithstanding  all  this  pedantic  parade  of  learning  on  the  part  of  the  Prophet, 
uninspired  scholars  have  expressed  an  opinion  that  the  word  was  derived  from  the 
Greek,  fjLopjj.(i>Uy  a  spectre  or  hideous  shape. 


CHAPTER  YII. 

MEETING  OF  THE  PEOPHETS.— Brigham  Young  sees  Joseph  Smith  for  the 
First  Time — They  rejoice  together  in  Kirtland — ^Brigham  speaks  in  "  Unknown 
Tongues  "—Joseph  predicts  the  Southern  Kebellion — lie  makes  an  Inspired  Trans- 
lation of  the  New  Testament — Troul)les  arise  between  the  Saints  and  the  "  Gen- 
tiles "  in  Missouri — The  Disciples  are  driven  from  Jackson  County. 

In  November,  1833,  Joseph  first  met  Brigham  Young,  who 
had  been  baptized  in  the  preceding  April.  At  that  time  the 
latter  resided  in  New  York,  following  the  business  of  a  painter 
and  glazier ;  but  he  had  not  hitherto  enjoyed  an  opportunity 
of  meeting  the  Prophet  face  to  face.  Heber  0.  Kimball  and 
Joseph  Young  accompanied  Brigham,  and  they  had  a  high  time 
of  rejoicing  in  Kirtland.  During  this  brief  visit,  Brigliam  and 
his  relative,  John  P.  Green,  "  spake  in  tongues,"  and  this  was 
the  first  time  that  the  gift "  had  been  demonstrated.  The 
same  infiuence  fell  upon  others,  and  they  also  "  spake  in 
"  tongues,"  and  Joseph  the  Prophet  is  said  to  have  been  among 
the  gifted  ones. 

On  Christmas  Day  he  received  the  famous  prophetic  reve- 
lation relating  to  the  rebellion  in  the  South.  On  the  27th, 
"  the  Lord  "  intimated  his  desire  that  a  house  should  be  built 
to  his  name,  in  which  "  the  School  of  the  Prophets  "  should  as- 
semble, and  everything  in  the  shape  of  prayer  and  teaching  be 
done  in  perfect  order — thus  preparing  the  way  for  the  Kirtland 
temple. 

To  Joseph  and  the  Saints,  the  year  1833  was  destined  to' 
be  an  eventful  time.  Tbe  general  cause  was  advancing,  but 
the  faitliful  in  Missouri 'were  doomed  to  sufier  persecution. 

Early  in  tlie  year  Josepli  finished  the  inspired  translation 
of  the  New  Testament,  and  by  the  beginning  of  July  completer^ 


DRIVEN  FROM  JACKSON  COUNTY. 


45 


the  revision  of  tlie  Old  Testament.    In  June  he  received  the 
revelation  giving  the  dimensions  of  the  temple  that  "  the  Lord 
required  to  be  built  by  the  Saints  in  Kirtland,  and  on  the  23rd 
of  July  the  lirst  stone  was  laid. 

From  the  day  of  trouble  between  the  first  sons  of  Adam 
there  never  was  a  controversy  without  a  double  statement  of 
what  were  the  contributory  causes.  In  Mormon  history,  charges 
and  recriminations  concerning  the  hostilities  in  Missouri  are 
prolific  ;  but  it  is  generally  admitted  that  at  the  first  outbreak 
the  anti-Mormons  "  were  actuated  much  more  by  a  fear  of  what 
"  the  Mormons  would  do  when  they  had  the  power  than  by 
what  they  had  already  done."  On  the  other  hand,  the  Mor- 
mons, proud  of  the  promises  of  a  glorious  future,  were  boastful 
of  the  favours  and  possessions  that  awaited  them  ;  and  proba- 
bly some  of  them  taunted  the  Missourians  with  the  coming 
change.  But  even  this,  however  injudicious,  was  not  likely  to 
lead  to  armed  hostility.  Before  men  resort  to  bloodshed,  there 
is  generally  something  that  outrages  them  in  a  personal  way, 
and  when  once  that  is  the  case  a  very  slight  pretext  alone  is 
necessary  to  produce  a  collision. 

At  the  commencement  of  hostilities,  the  country  of  the 
New  Jerusalem  was  only  sparsely  settled,  and  the  Mormona 
probablj'  numbered  about  1,500  souls.  AVhatever  evidence 
there  is  to  support  the  charges  of  wrong-doing  which  were  after- 
wards made  against  some  of  them  in  otlier  parts  of  Missouri, 
and  later  still  in  Illinois,  they  were,  in  1833,  both  too  few  in 
number  and  too  sincere  in  faith  to  assume  an  ao-o-ressive  atti- 
tude.  As  a  people,  they  could  not  have  been  very  bad ;  for 
Joseph  was  constantly  chastening  them  for  the  slightest  neglect 
of  the  revelations,  and  they  had  gathered  to  Missouri  in  the  full 
belief  that  Christ  was  coming  thither  to  join  the  faithful  batid. 
Under  such  circumstances,  it  is  but  fair  to  consider  them,  how- 
ever chimerical  in  faith,  intentionally  right  in  practice,  except 
where  there  is  the  evidence  of  fact  to  the  contrary. 

The  other  citizens  of  Missouri  had  little  sympathy  with  the 
new  arrivals,  and  saw  very  clearly  that,  with  the  constant  ac- 
cession to  their  numbers,  it  would  only  be  a  short  time  before 
the  Mormons  would  become  a  political  power  among  them — 
*  "Mysteries  and  Crimes  of  Mormonism,"  p.  41. 

i 


46 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


would  control  the  elections  in  the  county,  and  have  everything 
their  own  way.  According  to  that  not  very  elegant  expression 
so  frequently  heard  in  the  Mormon  sermons,  it  was  destined 
that  "  Israel  should  be  the  head  and  not  the  tail."  As  citizens, 
the  Mormons  had  political  rights,  and  would  exercise  these  in 
their  own  interest ;  and,  while  no  sensible  person  could  blame 
them  for  this,  the  other  citizens  none  the  less  felt  that  it  was  a 
calamity  to  them  that  these  strangers  had  come  amongst  them. 
The  only  direct  charge  against  the  Mormons  met  with  in  the 
publications  of  the  day  is  that  of  tampering  with  the  slaves: 
The  Evening  and  Morning  Star  had  published  son;iething  olFen- 
sive  on  this  subject ;  for  though  the  Mormons  believed  that 
"Ham  is  a  servant  unto  his  brethren,"  they  were  opposed  to 
the  general  treatment  of  the  Africans  in  the  South. 

On  the  20th  of  July  a  mob  tore  down  the  office  of  the  8tar^ 
tarred,  feathered,  and  whipped  a  number  of  the  brethren,  and 
insisted  upon  the  Mormons  leaving  Jackson  county.  Three 
days  later  a  second  mob  assembled,  and  at  length  the  leaders 
of  the  Mormons  in  that  locality  agreed  to  leave.  Some  time 
in  October,  elders  W.  W.  Phelps  and  Orson  Hyde  carried 
a  petition  to  the  Governor  of  the  State  for  protection,  and 
his  Excellency  answered  that  they  had  a  right  to  the  protec- 
tion of  the  law  if  they  chose  to  stay  in  the  county  and  fight  it 
out. 

The  anti-Mormons  were,  however,  determined  that  the  fol- 
lowers of  Joseph  should  leave  the  county,  and  they  resolved  to 
get  rid  of  them — "  peaceably,  if  we  can  :  forcibly,  if  we  must, 
"  and  believing,  as  we  do,  that  the  arm  of  the  civil  law  does 
"  not  afford  us  a  guarantee,  or  at  least  a  sufficient  one,  against 
"  the  evils  which  are  now  inflicted  upon  us,  and  seem  to  be  in- 
"  creasing  by  the  said  religious  sect,  deem  it  expedient  and  of 
"  the  highest  importance  to  form  ourselves  into  a  company  for 
"  the  better  and  easier  accomplishment  of  our  purpose."  Such 
was  the  resolution  which  was  followed  by  the  pledge  to  each 
other  of  "  bodily  powers,  lives,  fortunes,  and  sacred  honour." 

On  the  4th  of  November  this  hostile  organization  com- 
menced its  work  ;  a  "  battle  "  took  place,  some  persons  were 
shot,  and  the  people  driven  out  of  the  county.  Parley  P.  Pratt, 
in  his  "  ]  listory  of  the  Missouri  Persecutions,"  presents  a  sad  pic- 


CUUEL  OUTRAGES  ON  THE  SAINTS. 


47 


ture  of  personal  suffering,  cruelty,  and  outrage  to  men,  women, 
and  cliildren,  and  tlie  wanton  destruction  of  property.  The 
world  has  grown  older  since  then,  and,  after  a  lapse  of  nearly 
forty  years,  it  seems  scarcely  possible  that  such  scenes  could 
have  been  enacted  during  the  present  century,  and  in  an  Ameri- 
can State. 

A  few  of  the  Saints  were  shot,  some  tied  up  and  cruelly 
whipped,  over  two  hundred  of  their  houses  were  burned,  fences 
were  torn  down,  cattle  and  horses  stolen,  and  household  effects, 
goods,  and  chattels  destroyed  or  taken  from  them.  Men,  wom- 
en, and  children  fled  terrified  before  their  enemies  in  every  di- 
rection seeking  protection.  A  party  of  about  one  hundred  and 
fifty  children  are  said  to  have  wandered  out  on. to  the  prairie, 
and  remained  there  for  several  days  without  shelter,  and  with 
only  the  aid  of  half  a  dozen  men  who  went  with  them  to  pro- 
vide as  well  as  they  could  for  the  helpless  little  ones,  while 
their  fathers  and  mothers  were  being  hunted  down  like  wild 
beasts. 

Some  of  the  exiles  sought  refuge  in  Yan  Buren  (now  Cass) 
county,  but  were  not  permitted  to  settle  either  there  or  in  La 
Fayette.  Most  of  them  ultimately  settled  in  Clay  county, 
where  they  were  received  with  some  degree  of  kindness. 


CHAPTER  VIIL 


THE  PROMISED  LAND.—"  The  Lord"  calls  for  "  the  Strength  ot  his  House  "  to 
reinstate  the  Exiled  Saints  in  Jackson  County — Two  hundred  and  five  Elders  re- 
spond—The Prophet  becomes  Commander-in-Chief  of  "  the  Armies  of  the  Lord" 
— A  Revelation  promising  Restoration  to  the  Exiles— Joseph  is  the  Man  like  unto 
Moses  to  lead  them  to  Victory. 

An  eastern  sage  lias  said  that  "  the  beginning  of  strife  is 
'Mike  the  letting  out  of  water" — it  is  easier  to  commence  hos- 
tilities than  to  stop  them — and  thus  it  proved  in  the  history  of 
the  Missouri  troubles,  for  the  end  has  not  yet  come.  .The 
Mormons  M^ere  driven  out  of  Jackson  county  and  their  ene- 
mies were  now  successful,  but  war  was  only  begun.  The 
Saints  never  yield  to  wrong  while  life  serves  them.  They  can 
be  vanquished  and  humbled,  but  never  conquered.  The  very 
nature  of  their  faith  forbids  the  thought — "  The  Lord  is  on 
"  our  side" — to  yield  is  to  deny  the  faith.  "When  undoubted 
facts  are  against  them,  they  admit  defeat,  but  then  only.  When 
in  the  right,  if  overwhelmed,  "  the  Lord  "  ,may  counsel  expe- 
diency and  the  point  at  issue  may  seem  to  be  conceded  ;  but  it 
is  only  so  in  appearance  and  temporarily  in  order  to  gain  some 
greater  advantage  in  future.  It  is  now  over  thirty-seven  years 
since  the  first  Missouri  persecution  began,  but  the  Saints  who 
were  then  expelled  from  Jackson  county  still  believe  in  a  tri- 
umphal return  to  their  inheritances  and  still  expect  to  see  the 
temple  built  in  "  this  generation." 

In  the  very  nature  of  things,  the  "  generation  "  in  which  the 
revelation  and  prophecy  were  delivered  must  pass  away  with- 
out witnessing  their  fulfilment,  yet  the  last  of  these  Jackson 
county  Saints  will  go  down  to  his  grave  believing  that  there 
has  been  no  failure.    Joseph  who  delivered  the  prophecy  and 


THE  PROPHET  TAKES  THE  SWORD. 


49 


foiiglit  manfully  for  its  fulfilment,  and  Brigham  wlio  has  made 
it  his  principal  stock  in  trade  to  raise  the  hopes  and  aspirations 
of  his  followers,  will  both  remain  as  before,  unchallenged  in 
their  claims  to  a  "priesthood  that  is  infallible."  Such  is  faith ! 

While  the  troubles  in  Missouri  were  raging,  the  Prophet 
deemed  it  advisable  not  to  provoke  the  fury  of  the  mob  by  his 
presence,  and  therefore  concluded  to  labour  elsewhere  while  he 
still  showered  upon  the  Saints  encouraging  revelations.  The 
anti-Mormons  offered  to  buy  the  lands  from  which  their  an- 
tagonists had  been  driven  and  to  pay  them  for  their  improve- 
ments, but  negotiation  was  impossible.  "  The  Lord "  had 
commanded  them  to  gather  in  Missouri  and  had  pointed  out 
with  his  own  finger  the  place  for  the  Temple  in  Independence. 
They  could  not  sell  their  inheritances  without  also  selling  the 
revelations  of  "  the  Lord,"  his  promises  and  the  prophecies 
of  his  servant.  Joseph  counselled  the  Saints  not  to  sell,  and 
they  obeyed,  and  to  this  day  many  of  the  faithful  rejoice  in 
the  possession  of  their  title-deeds.  When  Federal  troops,  dur- 
ing the  rebellion,  swept  through  those  counties  of  western  Mis- 
souri laying  waste  and  devastating  everywhere  they  went,  the 
Saints  in  Utah  saw  in  them  the  avenging  angels  of  the  Lord, 
and  their  hopes  of  an  early  return  to  Jackson  county  revived. 

Joseph,  during  the  troubles  in  Missouri,  was  closely  occu- 
pied with  the  building  of  the  Temple  in  Kirtland,  and  raising 
the  means  to  continue  that  work  was  a  herculean  task.  To 
these  labours  he  added  a  mission  to  the  Eastern  States  and 
to  the  Canadas.  About  this  time  it  was  also  decided  to  re- 
vive the  Star^  that  had  been  so  ruthlessly  dealt  with  in  Mis- 
souri, under  the  designation  of  the  Latter-Day  Saints^  Messen- 
ger and  Advocate^  at  Kirtland.  During  his  mission  abroad, 
Joseph  baptized  many  into  the  Church,  and  his  hands  were 
"  strengthened,"  though  the  people  around  him  were  poor  and 
apostacy  began  to  trouble  him. 

Up  to  this  time  Joseph  had  been  a  Prophet,  Seer,  Tieve- 
lator,  and  Translator;  but  now  another  role  was  opened  to 
him — he  was  to  become  a  military  leader  and  restore  the  Saints 
to  their  possessions  in  Jackson  county.  A  lengthened  revela- 
tion was  given  in  February,  1834:,  to  raise  "  the  strength  of  the 
Lord's  house,"  and  go  up  to  Missouri  to  redeem  Zion,  and  the 


50 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


Prophet  became,  by  the  election  of  a  council  of  elders,  "  Oom- 
"  mander-in-chief  of  the  Armies  of  Israel." 

Kevelations  under  the  most  favourable  circumstances  are  not 
always  over  clear  to  ordinary  mortals,  and  there  is  often  con- 
troversy about  the  fulfilment  of  a  prophecy ;  but  this  revela- 
tion given  through  Joseph  for  "  the  redemption  of  Zion  "  is  so 
palpably  applicable  to  this  special  period  of  Mormon  history 
that  it  is  deserving  of  particular  attention.  The  situation  of 
the  exiled  Saints  from  Jackson  county,  the  gathering  of  "  the 
"  Lord's  hosts  "  to  reinstate  tliem  in  their  possessions,  the  march- 
ing of  those  brethren  a  distance  of  1,200  miles,  and  their  unflag- 
ging zeal  and  faith  up  to  the  last  moment,  are  unequivocal  facts, 
yet  the  whole  "  pomp  and  circumstance  of  glorious  war  "  ac- 
complished nothing  that  was  promised.  Here  is  the  revelation  : 

.  .  .  "  Verily  I  say  unto  you,  I  liave  decreed  that  your  brethren 
which  have  been  scattered  shall  return  to  the  land  of  their  inheritauces, 
and  build  up  the  waste  places  of  Zion,  for  after  much  tribulation,  as  I  have 
said  unto  you  in  a  former  commandment,  cometh  the  blessing.  Behold 
this  is  the  blessing  which  I  have  promised  after  your  tribulations  and  the 
tribulations  of  your  brethren,  your  redemption  and  the  redemption  of  your 
brethren,  even  their  restoration  to  the  land  of  Zion  to  be  established 
no  more  to  be  thrown  down,  nevertheless  if  they  pollute  their  inherit- 
ances they  shall  be  thrown  down,  for  I  will  not  spare  them  if  they  pol- 
lute their  inheritances.  Behold  I  say  unto  you  the  redemption  of  Zion 
must  needs  come  by  power,  therefore  I  will  raise  up  unto  my  people  a  man 
who  shall  lead  them  like  as  Moses  led  the  children  of  Israel,  for  ye  are 
the  children  of  Israel  and  of  the  seed  of  Abraham,  and  ye  must  needs  be 
led  out  of  bondage,  by  power,  and  with  a  stretched-out  arm,  and  as  your 
fathers  were  led  at  the  first,  even  so  shall  the  redemption  of  Zion  be. 
Therefore  let  not  your  hearts  faint,  for  I  say  not  unto  you  as  I  said  unto 
your  fathers,  mine  angel  shall  go  up  before  you,  but  not  my  presence ;  but 
I  say  unto  you,  mine  angels  shall  go  before  you,  and  also  my  presence,  and 
in  time  ye  shall  possess  the  goodly  land." 

.  .  .  Therefore  let  my  servant  Baurak  Ale  [Joseph  Smith]  *  say 
unto  the  strength  of  my  house,  my  young  men  and  the  middle  aged,  gather 
yourselves  together  unto  the  land  of  Zion,  upon  the  land  which  I  have 
bought  with  monies  that  have  been  consecrated  unto  me ;  and  let  all  the 
churches  send  up  wise  men  with  their  monies  and  purchase  land  even  as  I 
have  commanded  them,  and  inasmuch  as  mine  enemies  come  against  you 
to  drive  you  from  my  goodly  land,  which  I  have  consecrated  to  be  the 

*  For  the  purpose  of  protecting  Joseph  when  the  revelations  were  printed,  in 
those  of  a  warlike  character,  he  is  designated  as  Baurak  Ale^  and  in  others  he  is 
represented  by  Enoch,  Gazelam,  and  Seth. 


THE  ARMY  OF  THE  LORD. 


51 


land  of  Zion,  even  from  your  own  lands  after  these  testimonies  which  ye 
have  brought  before  me  against  them,  ye  shall  curse  them,  and  whomso- 
ever ye  curse,  I  will  curse,  and  ye  shall  avenge  me  of  mine  enemies,  and 
my  presence  shall  be  with  you  even  in  avenging  me  of  mine  enemies,  unto 
the  third  and  fourth  generation  of  them  that  hate  me. 

"  Let  no  man  be  afraid  to  lay  down  his  life  for  my  sake,  for  whoso 
layeth  down  his  life  for  my  sake  shall  find  it  again,  and  whoso  is  not  wil- 
ling to  lay  down  his  life  for  my  sake,  is  not  my  disciple.  It  is  my  will 
that  my  servant  Sidney  Rigdon  shall  lift  up  his  voice  in  the  congregations 
in  the  Eastern  Countries  in  preparing  the  Churches  to  keep  the  command- 
ments which  I  have  given  unto  them  concerning  the  restoration  and  re- 
demption of  Zion.  It  is  my  will  that  my  servant  Parley  P.  Pratt  and 
my  servant  Lyman  Wight  should  not  return  to  the  land  of  their  brethren 
until  they  have  obtained  companies  to  go  up  unto  the  land  of  Zion  by 
tens,  or  by  twenties,  or  by  fifties,  or  by  an  hundred,  until  they  have  ob- 
tained the  number  of  five  hundred  of  the  strength  of  my  house.  Behold 
this  is  my  will ;  ask  and  you  shall  receive ;  but  men  do  not  always  do  my 
will ;  therefore  if  you  cannot  obtain  five  hundred,  seek  diligently  that 
peradventure  you  may  obtain  three  hundred,  and  if  ye  cannot  obtain  three 
hundred,  seek  diligently  that  peradventure  ye  may  obtain  one  hundred. 
But  verily  I  say  unto  you  a  commandment  I  give  unto  you  that  ye  shall 
not  go  up  unto  the  land  of  Zion  until  you  have  obtained  one  hundred 
of  the  strength  of  my  house  to  go  up  with  you  unto  the  land  of  Zion. 
Therefore,  as  I  said  unto  you,  ask  and  ye  shall  receive ;  pray  earnestly 
that  peradventure  my  servant  Baurak  Ale  may  go  with  you  and  preside  in 
the  midst  of  my  people,  and  organize  my  kingdom  upon  the  consecrated 
land,  and  establish  the  children  of  Zion  upon  the  laws  and  command- 
ments which  have  been  and  which  shall  be  given  unto  you." 

This  "  revelation  "  is  certainly  very  specific  and  direct,  and 
evinces  an  unequivocal  disposition  on  the  part  of  "  the  Lord  " 
to  destroy  his  enemies.  With  such  a  termination  to  the  expe- 
dition, as  will  be  read  in  the  following  chapter,  it  is  with  pity 
mingled  with  a  sense  of  the  ludicrous  that  one  peruses  this 
page  in  the  history  of  the  Mormon  Church. 

4 


CHAPTEK  IX. 


ZION'S  CAMP.— The  Prophet's  "Army'-  marches  to  Missouri — A  Great  Storm— 
The  Cholera  desolates  the  "  Strength  of  the  Lord's  House" — ^Utter  Discomfiture 
of  the  Mormons— The  Promises  to  restore  the  Saints  to  Jackson  County  a  Total 
Failure — The  "Army"  disbanded— The  Saints  sue  for  Peace — "  The  Lord  was 
only  trying  their  Faith" — They  are  to  curse  their  Enemies — Anniversary  Meet- 
ings of  Zion's  Camp— Dancing  and  Kejoicing. 

There  is  no  event  in  the  history  of  Mormonism  of  such  im- 
portance as  that  which  is  portrayed  in  the  preceding  chapter — 
it  was  the  "  call  of  the  Lord  "  for  "  the  strength  of  His  house 
"  to  go  against  His  enemies."  The  Church  so  understood  it 
and  the  brethren  answered  to  "  the  Lord's  call."  The  Com- 
pany was  organized  in  Kirtland  on  the  7th  of  May,  and  as 
"  Zion's  Camp  "  took  up  their  march  westward.  They  num- 
bered 130  men,  among  whom  were  Hyrum  Smith,  Brigham 
Young,  Heber  C.  Kimball,  George  A.  Smith,  Orson  Hyde, 
Orson  and  Parley  P.  Pratt,  Wilford  Woodruff,  and  many 
other  leading  elders.  This  little  army  was  divided  into  com- 
panies of  twelve  men,  each  company  choosing  its  own  officer. 
The  Prophet's  cousin,  Geo.  A.  Smith,  was  elected  to  be  his  ar- 
mour-bearer.^ Camp  discipline  was  rigid,  everything  through- 
out the  day  had  its  appointed  time,  and  at  the  sound  of  the 
evening  trumpet  the  little  "  host "  were  called  to  their  devo- 
tions, returning  thanks  for  the  past  and  invoking  the  protec- 
tion of  "the  God  of  battles." 

By  the  time  the  camp  reached  Missouri  its  numbers  had 
increased  to  205.  Orson  Hyde  and  Parley  P.  Pratt  had  been 
despatched  in  advance  as  delegates  to  the  Governor  of  Mis- 

*  All  through  Mormonism  there  is  a  constant  effort  to  imitate  something  He- 
braic. Nothing  can  be  done  without  some  allusion  to  Biblical  history.  The  above, 
of  course,  was  in  allusion  to  Saul  and  his  faithful  armour-bearer.  The  same  may 
be  said  of  the  "  Armies  of  the  Lord,"  "  the  Host,''  and  "  the  God  of  battles." 


I 


THE  PLAGUE  IN  THE  CAMP. 


55 


souri  to  ask  that  the  Mormons  might  be  allowed  to  settle  again 
in  Jackson  county,  but  Governor  Dunklin  refused  to  interfere, 
on  the  ground  that  it  was  impracticable. 

On  the  19th  of  June  "  Zion's  Camp  "  reached  the  vicinity 
of  Clay  county,  where  the  exiled  Saints  had  located,  and  tried 
to  effect  a  junction  with  them,  but  were  unsuccessful.  That 
night  Joseph's,  or  "  the  Lord's,"  army  encamped  between  the 
Little  and  the  Big  Fishing  rivers,  and  the  "  mobbers,"  or  anti- 
Mormons,  who  had  learned  of  their  coming  were  not  far  from 
them  and  ready  for  attack.  At  this  important  moment  the 
elements  interfered,  the  camp  of  the  anti-Mormons  scattered 
to  the  winds,  their  horses  stampeded  and  one  was  killed  by 
lightning. 

On  the  second  day  (June  21st)  the  cholera  broke  out  with 
terrible  fierceness  in  Zion's  Camp."  So  sudden  and  overpow- 
ering was  the  attack  that  the  strongest  men  fell  to  the  ground 
with  their  guns  in  their  hands.  In  four  days,  sixty-eight  were 
attacked  and  fourteen  of  them  died.  Joseph  went  about  laying 
on  hands  and  "  rebuking  the  destroyer,"  until  he  was  himself 
prostrated.  This  visitation  he  ascribed  to  the  disobedience  of 
some,  showed  the  necessity  of  submission,  and  promised  that  it 
they  would  "  humble  themselves  and  covenant  to  obey  him  as 
"  the  Prophet  of  the  Lord^'^  the  plague  should  be  stayed.  The 
Mormon  historians  assert  that  "  not  another  was  stricken  with 
the  cholera  from  that  hour." 

The  previous  "  revelations  "  of  Joseph  Smith  admitted  of  no 
verification  beyond  that  of  individual  faith  and  experience ;  but 
this  concerning  "  the  redemption  of  Zion  "  revealed  the  reve^ 
later  himself.  While  giving  to  it  all  the  scope  that  the  utmost 
devotion  could  claim,  it  must  be  allowed  that  it  carries  upon 
its  surface  anything  but  the  evidence  of  a  divine  origin.  The 
overthrow  of  "  Zion's  Camp  "  was  a  palpable  failure  and  disap- 
pointing in  every  particular.  There  was  a  native  honesty  in 
Mohammed  going  to  the  mountain  when  the  mountain  would 
not  come  to  him,  which  commands  admiration,  but  the  Ameri- 
can Prophet  lost  his  opportunity  when,  in  the  midst  of  "  Zion's 
Camp  "  on  the  banks  of  the  Big  Fishing  river,  he  faile'd  to  con- 
tribute to  posterity  a  companion  picture  to  that  of  his  Arabian 
brother.    Instead  of  that,  he  received  another  revelation  : 


56 


THE^  KOCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


"  Behold  I  have  commanded  my  servant  Baurak  Ale  [Joseph  Smith] 
to  say  unto  the  strength  of  my  house,  even  my  warriors,  my  young  men 
and  my  middle-aged,  to  gather  together  for  the  redemption  of  my  people, 
and  throw  down  the  towers  of  mine  enemies,  and  scatter  their  watchmen ; 
but  the  strength  of  mine  house  have  not  hearkened  unto  my  words.  I 
have  prepared  a  blessing  and  an  endowment  for  them  if  they  continue 
faithful.  I  have  heard  their  prayers  and  will  accept  their  offering  ;  audit 
is  expedient  in  me  that  they  should  be  brought  thus  far  for  a  trial  of  their 
faith." 

The  Mormons  would  be  very  critical  over  sucli  revelations 
if  found  in  the  history  of  any  other  religious  people.  The 
very  revelation  itself  instructed  Joseph  to  ask  for  500  men  of 
the  Lord's  house,  but  should  he  find  difficulty  in  raising  that 
number  he  was  to  be  contented  with  300  ;  and  even  with  100 
he  was  not  to  hesitate,  but  to  hasten  to  the  assistance  of  his 
brethren  in  Missouri,  for  "  the  Lord  had  decreed  "  the  restora- 
tion of  the  exiles.  Full  of  faith  and  liope,  Joseph  and  "  the 
"  strength  of  the  Lord's  house  "  reached  the  place  of  action, 
preaching,  praying,  and  exhorting  each  other  to  courage,  for 
had  not  a  Hebrew  Prophet  said  that  one  of  the  chosen  of  the 
Lord  should  chase  a  thousand,  and  two  should  put  ten  thousand 
to  flight  ?  Ancient  bravery  and  ancient  miracles  were  thought  of 
and  descanted  upon  during  the  journey,  and  the  "  warriors  "  were 
ready  for  the  fray ;  but  when  the  moment  for  action  arrived, 
"  the  Xord  "  had  changed  his  mind.  The  liard-working  outcasts 
from  Jackson  county,  it  was  now  said,  had  not  learned  to  be 
obedient,  they  were  full  of  all  manner  of  evil,  were  not  united, 
and  did  not  deserve  to  be  restored  until  they  had  heen  chastised 
and  learned  obedience.  How  different  was  the  revelation  of 
February  in  Ohio  from  that  of  June  in  Missouri !  At  the  for- 
mer date  "  the  Lord  "  was  determined  to  have  a  fight  and  re- 
store the  exiles  to  their  inheritances."  At  the  latter  date 
"  the  Lord  "  concluded  that  the  Jackson  county  Saints  de- 
served all  the  affliction  they  had  got,  and  needed  a  little  more 
of  the  same  chastisement ! 

"  The  Lord's  "  reasons  for  refusing  to  restore  the  people  to 
Jackson,  county  were  probably  very  satisfactory,  for  such  a 
bad  and  undeserving  people  as  they  were  now  represented  to 
be,  could  not  be  expected  to  command  so  great  a  manifestation 
of  divine  power  as  would  have  been  necessary  to  restore  them 


THE  LORD'S  AVENGER^. 


57 


to  their  homes  and  farms.  But  it  certainly  looks  a  little  singu- 
lar, if  what  Joseph  asserted  was  true,  that  "  the  Lord  "  had 
not  discovered  this  condition  of  things  before. 

The  second  excuse  is  still  worse  than  the  first — "  the 
"  strength  of  mine  house  have  not  hearkened  unto  mj  words." 
Thus  because  of  the  dilatoriness  of  the  Saints  in  the  East,  the 
Saints  in  the  West  were  to  remain  outcasts  from  Jackson 
county,  and  "  the  Lord's"  decree  of  the  restoration  of  tha 
people  was  to  become  a  dead  letter !  What  a  contrast  was  this 
to  the  ancient  story  of  'Hhe  sword  of  .  the  Lord  and  of 
"  Gideon  !  "  To  cap  the  climax,  the  warriors  in  "  Zion's  Camp  " 
were  informed  that  in  due  time  they  should  be  properly  re 
warded,  but  would  have  to  regard  the  present  disajjpointment 
as  "  a  trial  of  their  faith !  " 

This  Jackson  county  trouble  has  been  a  sad  affair  for  the 
Mormon  Church  in  many  ways.  It  was,  to  say  the  least,  very 
questionable  instruction  to  declare — ye  shall  avenge  me  of 
"  mine  enemies."  There  is  enough  of  natural  vindictiveness  in 
men  without  elevating  vengeance  into  a  religious  obligation. 
No  people  as  zealous  and  devoted  as  the  Mormons  could  re- 
ceive such  a  commandment  without  partaking  of  its  spirit  and 
reducing  it  to  practice.  It  makes  it  a  duty  for  every  fanatic  to 
curse  and  avenge  in  the  Lord's  stead.  How  well  it  has  been 
performed  in  spirit  if  not  always  in  practice  let  the  anathemas 
of  the  Tabernacle  and  the  persecution  of  postates  tell. 

Up  to  this  period  the  Saints  had  no  conception  that  they 
were  the  instruments  of  "the  Lord's"  vengeance,  and  it  is  to 
be  regretted  that  they  were  ever  enlightened  upon  the  subject. 
They  had  already  been  informed  that  it  was  better  to  obtain 
Zion  by  purchase  than  by  force,  and  they  were  now  instructed 
to  buy  up — 

 all  the  lands  in  Jackson  county  that  can  be  purchased, 

and  in  the  adjoining  counties.  .  .  .  and  after  these  lands  are  purchased, 
I  will  hold  the  armies  of  Israel  guiltless  in  taking  possession  of  their  own 
lands,  which  they  have  previously  purchased  with  their  own  monies,  and 
of  throwing  down  the  towers  of  mine  enemies  that  may  be  upon  them, 
and  scattering  their  watchmen,  and  avenging  me  of  mine  enemies,  unto 
the  third  and  fourth  generation  of  them  that  hate  me." 

To  this  excellent  advice  of  purchasing  all  the  lands  and 


58 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


keeping  their  enemies  far  from  them,  "  the  Lord,"  when  en- 
joining vengeance,  diplomatically  adds  —  "hut  first  let  my 
army  iecome  very  greats  In  the  meantime  the  Mormons  are 
to  sue  for  peace.  This  is  a  very  practical  endorsement  of  the 
First  Napoleon's  opinion  that  Providence  was  always  on  the 
side  of  the  best  generalship  and  the  strongest  battalions. 

Such  very  wholesome  counsel  was  of  course  pioperly  ap- 
preciated. The  "  warriors "  were  instructed  to  disperse 
among  the  settlements  or  to  return  to  their  homes,  and  J oseph 
as  directed,  was  also  to  conclude  some  arrangement  by  which 
the  Saints  who  were  still  able  to  stay  in  Jackson  county  could 
enjoy  peace ;  but  the  throwing  down  of  towers,  scattering  the 
watchmen,  and  restoring  the  people  to  their  inheritances,  were 
apparently  no  more  to  be  thought  of.  A  "High  Council  "  was 
organized  in  Clay  county,  and  Joseph  left  for  Kirtland  on  the 
9th  of  July. 

Thus  ended  this  extraordinary  but  brief  campaign  of  two 
months  and  two  days — a  period  fraught  with  good  instruction 
to  those  who  could  take  it. 

Brigham  Young  annually  invites  the  remnant  of  "  Zion's 
"  Camp  "  to  meet  him  in  Salt  Lake  City — generally  at  the  close 
of  the  October  Conference — and  they  have  a  pleasant  reunion 
in  the  Social  Hall,  where  they  with  their  families  enjoy  them- 
selves in  the  dance  together.  The  chief  bishop  of  the  Church 
entertains  them  at  dinner  and  supper.  Usually  during  the 
evening  they  are  "  addressed  ;  "  they  sing  their  songs  of  days 
gone  by,  and  one  or  two  of  the  very  aged  brethren  will  try  a 
"jig  "  or  "  hornpipe,"  to  show  the  others  "  how  well  they  hold 
"out."  It  is  a  very  harmless  kind  of  mutual  admiration. 
They  all  feel  honoured  in  having  been  members  of  Zion's  Camp, 
and  probably  would  think  it  very  daring  for  any  one  even  to 
suggest  a  failure  of  that  memorable  campaign.  Brigham 
never  omits  at  this  gathering  to  tell  how  much  he  was  compen- 
sated for  his  marching  experience  by  the  teachings  he  listened 
to  from  the  Prophet's  lips.  He  seems  to  leel  that  something  is 
needed  just  there,  and  he  furnishes  the  supply.  The  leader 
says  that  he  was  "  compensated" ;  the  "  remnant  "  then  must 
feel  that  they  also  were  compensated  ;  and  in  two  or  three  gen- 
erations from  this  time  their  descendants  will  doubtless  read 


ZION  NOT  YET  REDEEMED. 


59 


with  great  satisfaction  of  the  trial  of  their  ancestors'  faith, 
and  it  is  not  at  all  unlikely  that,  in  the  course  of  time,  their 
posterity  will  be  fully  satisfied  that  the  Saints  in  Jackson 
county  were  not  restored  to  their  inheritances  and  were  not 
"  led  out  of  bondage  by  power  and  with  a  stretched-out  arm, 
as  '  the  Lord  '  had  decreed  1 " 


CHAPTEE  X. 


TWELVE  APOSTLES  CHOSEN.— Quorums  of  "  Seventies"  organized— They  go 
abroad  and  preach — Kirtland  Temple  finished — ^Dedication  and  Endowment — 
Joseph's  Wonderful  Vision  of  the  Celestial  Kingdom — A  second  Pentecost — 
Brigham  Young  "  speaks  in  Tongues  " — The  Temple  filled  with  Angels — Joseph 
and  Cowdery  are  visited  by  Moses,  Elias,  and  Elijah — They  behold  "  The  Lord  " 
— Cowdery  afterwards  apostatizes. 

Layestg  aside  for  a  time  the  sword  and  buckler,  tlie  Prophet 
betook  himself  to  the  olive  branch,  and  meditated  the  greater 
expansion  of  the  kingdom  by  the  preaching  of  the  Gospel. 
He  had  all  the  winter  of  1834-5  in  Kirtland  to  prepare  for 
the  spring  campaign.  His  Missouri  mission  had  taught  him 
something.  If  he  had  not  thrown  down  towers,  he  had  at  least 
picked  up  a  lesson.  Miraculous  interference  was  all  good 
enough  to  predict  and  talk  about,  but  facts  are  accomplished 
by  organization.  From  that  time  to  the  day  of  his  death  his 
brain  was  never  free  from  an  organizing  scheme  of  some  sort. 
Mormonism  was  henceforth  not  to  "  lay  around  loose  "  and  de- 
pend upon  the  heavens  alone,  it  was  to  be  a  working  organism. 
The  Christian  Church  began  with  the  choosing  of  the  Twelve 
Apostles.  Joseph  had  followed  no  definite  plan  since  his 
Church  was  organized.  It  w^as  now  time  to  choose  his 
Twelve,"  and  send  them  to  "  all  nations,  kindreds,  tongues, 
"  and  people,  to  preach  the  Gospel  of  the  New  Covenant."  On 
the  4:th  of  February,  1835,  the  selection  was  made  in  the  fol- 
lowing order: — Lyman  E.  Johnson,  Brigham  Young,  Heber 
C.  Kimball,  Orson  Hyde,  David  W.  Patten,  Luke  Johnson, 
William  E.  McLellin,  John  F.  Boynton,  Orson  Pratt,  William 

*  In  his  public  sermons,  Brigham  frequently  announces  that  he  is  an  Apostle  of 
Joseph  Smith.    It  is  his  theory  that  "  the  Kingdom  was  given  unto  Joseph^ 


TWELVE  APOSTLES  CHOSEN. 


61 


Smitli,  Thomas  B.  Marsh,  and  Parley  P.  Pratt.  At  a  later 
date  the  order  of  rank  was  determined  by  seniority,  which  gave 
the  Presidency  to  Thomas  B.  Marsh. 

During  the  same  month  Joseph  introduced  another  organi- 
zation— The  Seventies."  This  was  to  be  a  "  Quorum  "  com- 
posed of  seventy  elders,  the  first  seven  members  of  which  were 
to  be  seven  presidents  over  the  whole  quorum,  and  the  first  of 
these  seven  to  preside  over  all ;  the  seventies  to  be  auxiliaries 
to  the  twelve  apostles,  and  to  form  a  sort  of  minor  apostleship. 
Some  idea  of  what  was  working  in  Joseph's  brain  at  this  time, 
about  the  conquest  of  the  world,  may  be  drawn  from  his  in- 
structions to  the  President  of  the  Seventies  : 

"  If  the  first  Seventy  are  all  employed,  and  there  is  a  call  for  more  la- 
bourers, it  will  be  the  duty  of  the  seven  Presidents  of  the  first  Seventy  to 
call  and  ordain  other  seventy,  and  send  them  forth  to  labour  in  the  vine- 
yard, until,  if  need  be,  they  set  apart  seventy  times  seventy,  and  even  until 
they  are  one  hundred  and  forty -four  thousand." 

Joseph  began  the  selection  of  the  elders  for  the  first  seventy 
from  the  ranks  of  Zion's  Camp,  and  since  that  organization 
(Feb.  28,  1835)  others  have  followed,  till  there  are  now  in  the 
Mormon  Church  eighty-five  Quorums  of  Seventies. 

Early  in  May  the  twelve  apostles  started  from  Kirtland  on 
their  missions  to  the  Eastern  States  to  disseminate  the  new 
faith,  and  labour  "  wherever  a  door  was  open  "  during  all  the 
summer  and  fall,  returning  to  Kirtland  in  December,  to  relate 
their  success,  to  get  fresh  instructions,  and  to  tarry  till  the 
completion  of  the  temple,  when  they  were  to  be  "  endowed 
"  with  great  power  from  on  high."  During  their  absence  Jo- 
seph was  severely  tried  by  "  apostates  and  false  brethren,"  and 
the  return  of  the  young  apostles  was  very  timely  in  strength- 
ening the  Prophet  and  encouraging  the  Saints. 

The  Kirtland  Temple  was  now  the  object  of  hope,  faith, 
prayer,  and  hard  work.  Everything  depended  upon  its  early 
completion.  Disciples  who  begin  their  career  with  the  experi- 
ence of  signs  and  wonders  are  always  the  slowest  to  compre- 
hend facts,  and  are  ever  clamorous  for  a  renewal  of  marvellous 
experience.  "  The  Lord,"  as  they  believed  it,  thoroughly  com- 
prehended their  wants,  and  held  before  them  "  great  expecta- 


62 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


tions."  They  contributed  their  mites  and  their  labour,  and  by 
the  27th  of  March,  1836,  "  the  House  of  the  Lord  "  was  so  far 
finished  as  to  admit  of  dedication. 

It  was  no  Solomon's  Temple,  but,  for  the  few  Saints  who 
reared  it,  it  was  a  commanding  building.  In  those  days  "  the 
Lord  "  had  to  do  everything,  so  that  this  house  was  not  built 
up  "  after  the  manner  of  the  world,"  and  he  commanded  that 
"  the  size  thereof  shall  be  fifty  and  five  feet  in  width,  and  let  it 
"  be  sixty-five  feet  in  length,  in  the  inner  court  thereof."  The 
Prophet  having  given  the  general  outline,  the  Temple  went  up 
and  was  reported  to  be  finished  in  this  fashion  : 


The  Temple  at  Kirtland,  Ohio  * 


"  Outside  dimensions  sixty  feet  in  width  and  eighty  feet  in  length  ;  its 
height  from  the  ground  to  the  top  of  the  eaves,  about  fifty  feet ;  from  the 
basement  forty-four,  giving  two  stories  of  twenty-two  feet  each,  besides  an 
attic  story  in  the  roof  for  school  rooms.  It  was  lighted  by  thirty  gothic, 
three  Venetian,  two  dormer,  one  circular,  and  two  square  gable  windows. 
The  dome  of  the  steeple  was  one  hundred  and  ten  feet  high,  and  the  bell 
about  ninety  feet  from  the  ground." 

The  internal  divisions  were  arranged  for  the  gradations  of 
Priesthood :  the  west  end  of  the  lower  court  to  the  Melchise- 

*  The  Saints,  under  the  leadership  of  the  eldest  son  of  the  Prophet,  are  now 
negotiating  for  the  possession  of  the  Temple.  It  has  a  wonderful  hold  upon  the 
faith  of  all  Saints. 


DEDICATION  OF  THE  TEMPLE. 


63 


dec,  and  tlie  east  end  to  the  Aaronic  Priesthood.  The  attic 
story  was  appropriated  as  a  place  for  the  study  of  Hebrew, 
Greek,  and  Latin.  This  curious  mixture  of  earth  and  heaven 
was  like  the  man  himself.  Had  he  lived  to  the  age  of  Methu- 
selah, his  span  of  years  would  have  been  too  short  to  have  car- 
ried out  all  the  projects  that  had  passed  through  his  brain. 
Thus  early  he  began  to  study  foreign  languages,  and  stimulated 
the  elders  to  do  likewise  before  they  could  some  of  them  pro- 
perly  write  their  own  names,  or  speak  their  mother  tongue.  In 
the  beginning  of  January  a  Hebrew  professorship  was  estab- 
lished in  Kirtland,  and  on  the  21st  of  that  month  the  long- 
promised  endowment  Was  given,  and  during  three  days  in  the 
latter  part  of  March  the  Temple  was  dedicated. 

The  endowment  and  the  dedication  were  very  important 
events  in  Mormon  history,  and  are,  almost  more  than  anything 
else  in  the  experience  of  the  Saints,  claimed  to  be  a  divine  con- 
firmation of  Joseph's  mission.  The  narrative  as  given  by  the 
Prophet  and  his  biographers  is  too  ample  to  permit  of  being 
quoted  at  length,  but  can  be  easily  comprehended  from  a  brief 
statement.  The  "  visions  of  eternity  "  were  opened  to  the 
elders ;  angels  ministered ;  "  the  power  of  the  Highest  rest- 
ed  upon  them ; "  and  "  the  house  was  filled  with  the  glory  of 
God."  It  is  very  certain  that,  on  the  occasion  stated,  the 
Saints  had  a  very  lively  time,  and  caused  a  great  deal  of  com- 
motion. An  antagonistic  writer  of  the  period  accused  them 
of  being  merry  from  another  "spirit"  than  that  which  they 
claimed  from  above.  Daring  the  shouting  of  "  Hosanna  to  God 
"  and  the  Lamb,"  Joseph  claims  to  have  had  a  marvellous  vis- 
ion, in  which  he  says : 

"  I  beheld  the  celestial  kingdom  of  Grod,  and  the  glory  thereof,  wheth- 
er in  the  body  or  out  I  cannot  tell.  I  saw  the  transcendent  beauty  of  the 
gate  through  which  the  heirs  of  that  kingdom  will  enter,  which  was  like 
circling  flames  of  fire ;  the  blazing  throne  of  God,  whereon  were  seated 
the  Father  and  the  Son.  I  saw  the  beautiful  streets  of  that  kingdom, 
which  had  the  appearance  of  being  paved  with  gold.  I  saw  Father  Adam,* 

*  Joseph  does  not  state  how  he  came  in  possession  of  these  names.  He  makes 
some  blunder  here  or  somewhere  else,  for  he  evidently  makes  Adam  and  Michael 
two  distinct  persons,  while  in  other  revelations  he  sets  forth  that  Adam  is  Michael. 
Such  confusion  does  not  tend  to  increase  faith. 


64 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


and  Abraham,  and  Michael,  and  my  father  and  mother,  my  brother  Al- 
vin,"  *  etc.,  etc. 

This  was  a  very  great  time,  but  it  was  only  the  forerunner 
of  the  Pentecost  that  was  in  store  for  them  at  the  forthcoming 
dedication  of  the  Temple.  On  the  27th  March,  1836,  a  thou- 
sand Saints  had  assembled,  and  in  that  number  were  all  the 
apostles,  seventies,  and  elders  who  could  possibly  get  there. 
They  had  come  to  receive  great  blessings,  and  were  mentally 
in  excellent  condition  for  anything  that  the  heavens  might 
send  them.  A  dedicatory  prayer  was  offered  by  the  Prophet, 
and  the  Saints  were  asked  if  they  accepted  the  prayer  dedicat- 
ing the  House  of  the  Lord.  They  shouted  affirmatively,  par- 
took of  the  Sacrament  together,  and  then  began  to  relate  their 
experience  and  to  testify.  Brigham  led  off*  with  "  speaking  in 
"  tongues,"  and  the  services  of  the  day  closed  with  more  shout- 
ing of  "  Hosannas  and  "  Amens."  They  were  worked  up  to 
a  high  pitch  of  excitement. 

In  the  evening  Joseph  met  the  Quorum  of  elders,  and 
what  then  transpired  and  subsequently  during  the  days  of  dedi- 
cation is  thus  related  by  the  Mormon  historian  : 

^'  He  gave  the  elders  instructions  respecting  the  Spirit  of  Prophecy, 
and  called  upon  them  to  speak  and  not  to  fear,  and  the  Spirit  of  Prophecy 
should  rest  down  upon  them.  Brother  George  A.  Smith  arose  and  began 
to  prophesy  when  a  noise  was  heard  like  a  rushing,  mighty  wind,  which 
filled  the  Temple,  and  all  the  congregation  simultaneously  arose,  being 
moved  by  an  invisible  power.  Many  began  to  speak  in  tongues  and 
prophesy  ;  others  saw  glorious  visions,  and  Joseph  beheld  that  the  Temple 
was  filled  with  angels,  and  told  the  congregation  so.  The  people  of  the 
neighbourhood,  hearing  an  unusual  sound  within  the  Temple,  and  seeing  a 
bright  light  like  a  pillar  of  fire  resting  upon  it,  came  running  together 
and  were  astonished  at  what  was  transpiring.    .    .  . 

"Next  Sunday  (April  3rd)  two  of  the  twelve  apostles  preached  in  the 
forenoon,  and  in  the  afternoon  the  Sacrament  was  administered  ;  after 
which  Joseph  retired  to  the  pulpit,  and  the  veils  being  dropped  he  bowed 

*  Joseph,  in  his  Autobiography,  expressed  great  surprise  at  beholding  his  broth- 
er Alvin,  as  Alvin  when  he  died  knew  nothing  of  the  Mormon  faith,  and  conse- 
quently could  have  no  title  to  such  a  lofty  position  in  the  heavens  ;  but  the  Prophet 
seems  not  to  have  anticipated  the  natural  astonishment  which  the  reader  must  feel 
that  he  could  see  his  mother  in  Paradise,  as  she  was  not  only  then  in  the  flesh,  but 
lived  long  enough  to  write  an  affectionate  biography  of  Mm  himself  after  his  own 
death. 


GREAT  VISIONS  IN  THE  TEMPLE. 


65 


nimself,  y/itli  Oliver  Cowdery,  in  solemn  and  silent  prayer  to  the  IMost 
nigh.  After  rising  from  prayer,  a  most  glorious  vision  of  the  Lord 
was  opened  to  both  of  them.  The  veil  was  taken  from  their  minds,  and 
the  eyes  of  their  understandings  were  opened.  They  saw  the  Lord 
standing  upon  the  breastwork  of  the  pulpit  before  them.  Under  His  feet 
was  a  paved  work  of  pure  gold,  in  colour  like  amber.  His  eyes  were  as 
a  flame  of  fire  ;  the  hair  of  his  head  was  like  the  pure  snow ;  his  counte- 
nance shone  above  the  brightness  of  the  sun,  and  his  voice  was  as  the 
sound  of  the  rushing  of  great  waters,  even  the  voice  of  Jehovah  saying — 

*  I  am  the  first  and  the  last ;  I  am  he  who  was  slain  ;  I  am  your  advocate 
with  the  Father.'  He  spoke  many  words  of  encouragement  unto  them, 
and  gave  them  precious  promises,  and  told  them  things  that  should  come 
to  pass. 

"  After  that  vision  closed,  the  heavens  were  again  opened  unto  them, 
and  Moses  appeared  before  them  and  committed  unto  them  the  keys  of 
the  gathering  of  Israel  from  the  four  parts  of  the  earth,  and  the  leading  of 
the  Ten  Tribes  from  the  land  of  the  North.  Elias  then  appeared  and  com- 
mitted the  dispensation  of  the  Gospel  of  Abraham. 

"  After  that  vision  had  closed,  another  great  and  glorious  vision  burst 
upon  them,  for  Elijah  the  Prophet,  who  was  taken  to  heaven  without  tast- 
ing death,  stood  before  them  and  said — '  Behold  the  time  has  fully  come 
which  was  spoken  of  by  the  mouth  of  Malachi,  testifying  that  he  [Elijah] 
should  be  sent  before  the  great  and  dreadful  day  of  the  Lord  come,  to 
turn  the  hearts  of  the  fathers  to  the  children,  and  the  children  to  the  fa- 
thers, lest  the  whole  earth  be  smitten  with  a  curse.    Therefore,'  said  he, 

*  the  keys  of  this  dispensation  are  committed  into  your  hands,  and  by  this 
ye  may  know  that  the  great  and  dreadful  day  of  the  Lord  is  near,  even 
at  the  doors.' "  * 

After  such  evidences  of  what  is  claimed  to  have  been  a  di- 
vine attestation  of  the  mission  of  Joseph,  it  is  to  be  regretted 
that  the  greater  portion  of  the  witnesses  of  these  glorious  visions 
"  fell  away  "  and  apostatized  from  Joseph.  Within  six  months 
from  that  time  one  of  his  own  counsellors  and  three  of  his  apos- 
tles were  suspended  from  fellowship,  and  in  the  following  year 
this  same  Oliver  Cowdery,  who  had  seen,  heard,  and  was  or- 
dained by  angels,  and  had  the  most  ecstatic  visions,  was  also 
cut  off  from  the  Church  ! 

At  the  time  when  these  manifestations  are  said  to  have  oc- 
curred in  the  Temple  at  Kirtland,  few  persons  outside  of  the 
Mormon  communion  believed  anything  of  the  report ;  but  the 
multitudes  scattered  throughout  the  world  who  now  believe  in 

*  "Autobiography  of  Joseph  Smith." 


6G 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


spirit-manifestations  will  credit  the  thousand  spectators  and 
witnesses  at  the  dedication  with  having  had  a  "  wonderful  ex- 
"  perience."  ^ 

*  There  is  a  great  diversity  of  statement  respecting  the  source  of  the  endow- 
ment and  the  character  of  its  manifestations.  The  orthodox  Mormons  claim  that 
the  angels  and  the  Holy  Spirit  gave  the  endowments,  and  that,  though  the  com- 
pany had  been  together  eight  hours,  everything  was  conducted  with  the  greatest 
solemnity  and  the  best  of  order  preserved.  Two  Mormons  present  on  the  occasion, 
— William  E.  McLellin  and  John  Corrill — the  former  an  apostle,  and  the  latter  a  high 
priest,  publish  very  different  statements.  McLellin  says  :  "  As  to  the  endowment 
in  Kirtland,  I  state  positively,  it  was  no  endowment  from  God.  Not  only  myself 
was  not  endowed,  but  no  other  man  of  the  five  hundred  who  was  present — except 
it  was  with  wine!" — "True  Latter-Day  Saints*  Herald,"  vol.  19,  p.  437 

Corrill  says:  The  ceremony  was  first  performed  upon  the  first  presidency, 
together  with  the  bishops  and  their  counsellors ;  after  which  the  elders  in  their 
turn  attended  to  the  ceremony,  and  it  was  alike  upon  all  occasions.  They  were  to 
purify  their  bodies  by  washing  them  entirely  with  pure  water,  after  which  they 
were  to  wash  each  other's  feet,  and  anoint  each  other  with  oil,  pronouncing  mutual 
blessings  during  the  performance.  The  sacrament  was  then  administered,  in  which 
partook  of  the  bread  and  wine  freely^  and  a  report  went  abroad  that  some  of 
them  got  drunk ;  as  to  that,  every  man  must  answer  for  himself." 

Since  that  endowment,  bread  and  wine,"  anointings  and  prophesyings  have 
often  cheered  the  hearts  of  the  elders. 


CHAPTEE  XL 


FIEST  GREAT  APOSTACY.— Joseph  predicts  that  Brigham  will  be  President  of 
the  Church — British  Missions  projected  as  a  Strategic  Measure— One  of  Josephs 
own  Counsellors  rebels  against  him — He  is  proclaimed  "  a  Fallen  Prophet — 
Troubles  again  threaten  in  Missouri. 

A  CRITICAL  period  in  the  existence  of  the  Church  was  now 
reached.  The  endowments  had  been  given  and  the  Temple 
had  been  dedicated,  yet  there  was  dissatisfaction  among  the 
disciples.  Their  anticipations  had  not  been  realized.  The 
spirit  of  apostacy  was  abroad.  But  it  was  not  the  faith  that 
so  much  tried  the  people  as  it  was  Joseph's  life.  Everyone 
had  his  own  ideas  of  what  a  prophet  should  be.  He  was  now 
greatly  changed.  The  humble  plough-boy  had  merged  in  the 
Prophet-ruler.  The  men  who  had  devoted  to  him  their  best 
abilities  in  the  beginning,  and  had  contributed  to  shape  the 
crude  elements  of  his  supernatural  creations  into  form,  thought 
that  they  had  a  right  to  some  part  in  "  the  kingdom."  Joseph 
saw  in  them  only  instruments  subordinate  to  his  own  success — 
he  was  to  be  the  head  and  front  of  everything.  It  was  difficult 
for  free-born  Americans  cradled  in  democracy  to  comprehend 
at  once  Joseph's  theocracy.  It  takes  time  for  men  to  strangle 
their  truest  instincts.  Joseph  had  none  of  that  experience 
himself,  and  he  could  not  appreciate  the  cost  of  it  in  others. 
All  the  manliness  of  his  ambitious  nature  found  ample  scope 
in  working  out  what  he  believed  to  be  his  divine  mission,  and 
in  announcements  of  faith.  Nominally,  he  accorded  the  same 
privileges  to  his  brethren,  but  practically,  it  was  the  very  oppo- 
site. It  was  for  him  to  speak ;  it  was  for  them  to  obey.  He 
was  "  the  Lord's  servant,"  and  they  had  no  right  to  criticise 
him.   If  he  erred,  "  the  Lord  "  could  correct  him.  The  man  who 


(58  THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 

dared  to  suggest  was  as  impious  as  lie  who  in  the  ancient  Israel 
itish  story  stretched  forth  his  hand  to  steady  the  tottering  ark, 
and  deserved  the  same  punishment — the  judgment  of  Heaven. 

It  is  asserted  that  when  Joseph  first  saw  Brigham  Young 
he  prophesied  that  "  the  time  would  come  when  Brother  Brig- 
ham  should  preside  over  the  Church."  ^  With  such  a  predic- 
tion ringing  in  his  ears,  it  is  not  difficult  to  trace  Brigham's 
influence  with  Joseph,  from  the  beginning  of  their  acquaint- 
ance, and  to  see  therein  laid  the  foundation  of  that  unchal- 
lenged authority  which  now  characterizes  his  reign  in  Utah. 
Nearly  all  the  leading  men  during  the  first  years  of  Mormon 
history  fell  out  with  Joseph  over  his  personal  rule ;  but  Brig- 
ham  was  among  the  very  few  who  clung  to  him.  He  never — 
or,  at  the  farthest,  but  once  only — ^challenged  Joseph's  right  to 
do  as  he  pleased,  and  he  permits  none  to  dispute  his  own. 

But  the  Saints  grew  weary,  and  it  was  necessary  to  direct 
their  attention  away  from  home.  So  the  Lord  "  revealed  to 
Joseph  that  "  in  order  to  save  His  Church  "  a  foreign  mission 
must  be  improvised,  and  Great  Britain  was  selected  as  the  new 
field  of  labour.  Republicanism  was  at  war  with  theocracy,  and 
it  became  necessary  to  seek  an  element  that  had  been  cradled 
with  kings. 

The  Apostles  Heber  C.  Kimball  and  Orson  Hyde  were  ac- 
cordingly chosen  to  introduce  the  Gospel  to  Europe.  On  the 
12th  of  June,  1837,  they  left  Kirtland,  and  thus  began  the  first 
foreign  mission.  These  apostles  were  accompanied  by  other 
elders,  and  in  a  few  months  were  successful  in  converting  great 
numbers  in  England,  and  in  doing  so  saved  the  Church  in 
America. 

During  the  summer,  Joseph,  accompanied  by  Sidney  Rig- 
don  and  Thomas  B*  Marsh,  the  President  of  the  Twelve 
Apostles,  made  a  tour  through  Canada,  preaching  and  visiting 
the  Saints,  while  Brigham  Young  remained  at  home.  But 
troubles  began  to  loom  up  again  in  Missouri,  and  apostacy 
was  coming  to  a  crisis  in  Ohio. 

On  the  return  of  Joseph  from  Canada,  a  special  conference 

*  Some  old  Mormons  relate  that  they  heard  Joseph  also  say  some  time  before 
his  death :  "  If  Brigham  Young  ever  becomes  President  of  the  Church,  he  will  lead 
it  to  hell/'    Not  a  few  believe  the  latter  prediction  to  be  as  correct  as  the  former. 


JOSEPH  PROCLAIMED  A  FALLEN  PROPHET. 


69 


The  Apostle  Ileber  C.  Kimball. 


was  assembled  at  Kirtland,  on  the  3rd  of  September.  Every- 
thing was  in  confasion  ;  the  devil  was  ravaging  the  flock. 
Frederick  G.  Williams,  one  of  Joseph's  counsellors,  and  the 
third  man  in  the  kingdom,  was  in  rebellion ;  Luke  Johnson, 
Lyman  E.  Johnson,  and  John  F.  Bojnton,  three  of  the  Apos- 
tles, "  fell  away."  At  the  same  time,  Brigham  Young  was 
exceedinglj'-  energetic,  and  attempted  to  neutralize  the  influence 
of  the  apostates.  The  Missourians  in  Clay  county  had  also 
become  dissatisfied  with  the  Mormons,  and  asked  them  to  leave 
the  county.  They  were  obliged  to  move,  and  scattered  into 
Carroll,  Davies,  and  Caldwell  counties,  founding  in  the  latter 
the  City  of  Far  West. 

Joseph  and  Sidney  visited  Missouri  in  October,  and  re- 
mained there  some  weeks,  counselling  and  encouraging  the 
brethren  and  sisters  in  building  up  Zion.  At  the  same  time  it 
was  thought  best  to  proceed  no  further  with  the  great  Temple 
in  Jackson  county. 

During  Joseph's  absence  in  the  West,  the  leading  "  apos- 
tates  "  in  Ohio  proclaimed  him  "  a  fallen  prophet  "  and  his 
followers  heretics,  and  a  warm  time  appeared  to  await  him 
wherever  he  went. 
6 


CHAPTER  XII. 


THE  PROPHET  "BECOMES  A  BANKEK.— Apostates  and  Capitalists  bring  him 
to  Grief— Sidney  Rigdon's  Interesting  View  of  a  "  Circulating  Medium  "—He  as- 
sures Mr.  Jones  that  the  Bank-notes  were  never  intended  for  Redemption — The 
Kirtland  Safety  Society  Bank  repudiated — Joseph  and  Sidney  fly  to  Missouri — 
Pursued  by  Armed  Men — Extraordinary  Escapes — "  The  Lord"  protects  them. 

Some  time  preceding  the  apostacy,  the  Prophet  had  added 
to  his  responsibilities  that  of  being  the  cashier  of  a  Safety  So- 
ciety Bank,  of  which  his  counsellor  Sidney  Eigdon  was  Presi- 
dent. In  connection  with  this  some  very  hard  stories  are  told 
about  Joseph  and  the  leading  men,  and  Joseph  *is  in  turn  as 
severe  against  the  "  apostates "  and  the  Gentiles  who  con- 
spired to  break  his  bank  and  get  him  into  trouble.  The  bank 
was  not  a  success ;  indeed,  it  was  altogether  a  failure,  and  Jo- 
seph and  Sidney  were  obliged,  through  the  operations  of 
"  apostates  "  and  bankers,  to  leave  very  hurriedly  for  Missouri 
— "  between  two  days."  The  evening  of  the  12th  of  January, 
1838,  found  them  on  the  wing ;  and  Brigham  had  left  precipi- 
tately three  weeks  before  that.  The  necessity  for  flight  was 
somewhat  pressing,  as  the  historian  states  that  the  cashier  and 
president  made  about  sixty  miles  the  first  night,  and  "  their 
"  enemies  "  continued  the  pursuit  for  about  two  hundred  miles. 
The  pursuers  were  often  close  upon  the  fugitives,  and  some- 
times passed  them  on  the  road.  On  one  occasion  they  stopped 
with  them  all  night  in  the  same  road-side  inn,  with  only  a  thin 
partition  between  the  two  parties,  and  once  they  even  overtook 
and  examined  them  without  recognizing  their  features.  For 
these  wonderful  escapes  "  the  Lord "  is  duly  credited.  He 
protected  His  servants,  and  blinded  their  pursuers. 

This  banking  episode  in  Kirtland  clearly  shows  the  confi- 


THE  DEYIL  AND  APOSTATES  CRUSH  THE  BANK.  71 

dence  which  the  "  outside  world  "  placed  in  the  integrity  of 
the  Mormon  leader  at  that  early  period  of  his  life.  The  notes 
of  the  Safety  Society  Bank  were  received  with  greater  confi- 
dence than  most  of  the  bank  paper  then  in  circulation  in  the 
West.  The  banks  in  Ohio,  Pennsylvania,  Indiana,  and  Illinois 
no  longer  paid  in  specie,  but  were  doing  a  '^suspended  business." 
The  Safety  Society  paper  obtained  a  wide  circulation;  for, 
liowever  fanatical  and  deluded  the  people  might  be  considered, 
their  honesty  had  up  to  this  time  never  been  questioned. 

"The  names  of  Joseph  Smith  as  cashier  and  Sidney  Rigdon  as  presi- 
dent were  signed  to  the  beautifully  engraved  bank-notes.  As  these  men 
professed  to  be  prophets  of  the  Lord,  having  daily  communion  with  angels, 
with  Christ,  and  even  with  God  himself,  no  one  supposed  that  they  would 
lend  themselves  to  a  fraudulent  issue  of  bank  paper.  Those  who  saw  the 
notes  to  which  their  names  were  attached  supposed  the  bank  to  be  simply 
a  savings  institution  in  which  the  Saints  could  deposit  their  earnings, 
while  they  would  be  invested  so  as  to  pay  interest,  and  that  the  notes  rep- 
resented actual  money  in  bank,  or  the  paper  of  good  men."  * 

This  kindly  supposition  was  further  extended,  and  the 
Safety  Society  Bank  paper  became  a  favourite  medium  of  circu- 
lation with  Saint  and  sinner.  Bankers  took  it  freely,  and  the 
people  preferred  it  because  it  was  "  safe,"  while  so  much  other 
paper  at  that  period  was  of  very  doubtful  character.  The  out- 
fitting of  the  Eastern  Saints  for  Zion  in  the  west,  the  purchas- 
ing of  cattle,  wagons,  farming  and  mechanical  tools,  and  every- 
thing needed  for  a  new  home,  afforded  the  paper,  under  such 
a  favourable  reception,  an  extensive  circulation.  But  a  crisis 
came  which  the  Mormon  historian  charges  to  the  wiles  of  the 
devil  aided  by  "  apostates,"  the  bankers  being  the  direct  in- 
struments. Joseph  accused  the  bankers  of  having  combined  to 
crush  him,  and  the  bankers  claimed  that  they  only  wanted  to 
be  assured  of  the  ability  of  the  Safety  Society  Bank  to  meet 
its  liabilities  before  they  received  too  much  of  its  paper,  which 
was  surely  not  a  very  unreasonable  precaution. 

The  Pittsburg  bankers  deputed  a  Mr.  Jones,  one  of  their 
number,  to  visit  Kirtland,  and  with  a  well-packed  satchel  he 
found  himself  in  due  time  in  the  presence  of  the  inspired  bank- 
ers.   Mr.  Jones's  recital  of  that  interview  is  very  touching.— 

*  Extract  from  a  letter  by  a  Pittsburg  banker  to  the  Author. 


72 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


He  first  enquired  about  the  success  of  "  the  Lord's  cause,"  and 
how  it  prospered  everywhere,  and  evinced  considerable  interest 
in  the  Latter-Day  religion  in  general.  This  he  claims  was  a 
matter  of  courtesy,  but  it  was  unfortunate,  for  on  opening  the 
satchel  and  producing  huge  bundles  of  the  Safety  Society 
Bank  paper,  the  whole  proceeding  was  regarded  by  brother 
Rigdon,  the  President,  as  "  the  march  of  a  wolf  in  sheep's 
"  clothing,"  which  opinion  Sidney  unhesitatingly  announced 
to  the  astonished  Jones.  Broth^er  Eigdon  must  have  very 
largely  mingled  humour  with  his  severity,  for  he  is  reported  to 
have  told  tlie  Pittsburg  banker  that  the  paper  had  been  put 
out  as  a  "  circulating  medium  for  the  accommodation  of  the 
"  people,"  that  it  would  be  an  injury  to  them  for  the  paper  to 
come  home  and  be  redeemed,  that  it  could  only  benefit  them  by 
remaining  out.  The  bank  redeemed  nothing.  Mr.  Jones  pleaded 
for  a  deviation  from  the  rule  in  his  case,  and  pledge'd  himself 
never  to  return  with  Safety  Society  paper,  if  only  this  time 
he  could  get  the  cash  or  convertible  paper  of  other  banks. 
Sidney  was,  however,  faithful  to  the  programme  of  the  bank, 
exasperating  Mr.  Jones  with  the  information  that  they  "  had 
"never  asked  him  or  anyone  else  to  take  the  paper,"  and  re- 
ferring him  to  that  important  epoch  when  the  profession  to 
which  Mr.  Jones  belonged  w^ere  scourged  and  driven  out  of  the 
Temple  at  Jerusalem.  Mr.  Jones  returned  to  Pittsburg,  and 
when  the  bankers  heard  the  above  report  from  their  represen- 
tative, no  more  of  the  Safety  Society  Bank  paper  was  taken. 
Silence  was  maintained  for  a  time,  and,  acting  out  the  saying 
"  dog  eat  dog,"  much  of  the  unredeemed  paper  was  put  out,  but 
at  the  same  time  much  of  it  was  forced  back  into  the  hands 
of  the  bankers  by  those  who  received  it  from  them. 

That  Joseph  Smith  and  Sidney  Rigdon  contemplated  in 
that  experiment  a  deliberate  swindle,  is  very  inharmonious 
with  their  life  and  programme  at  that  period.  The  large 
number  of  Saints  who  w^ere  looking  to  them  for  direction,  sug- 
gested the  bank  as  a  protective  measure  against  the  frequent 
losses  by  the  failures  of  that  period  ;  and  with  the  credit  of  a 
good  name,  whibh  is  admitted  on  all  sides  to  have  existed,  the 
Prophet  established  the  Kirtland  Bank.  Had  not  trouble 
arisen  among  themselves,  and  the  usual  amount  of  detraction 


FLIGHT  OF  THE  PROPHET-BANKERS. 


13 


ensued,  which  weakened  the  confidence  of  the  Saints,  and  led 
them  to  present  their  own  bank  paper  for  redemption,  it  is  very 
probable  that  Mr.  Jones  would  have  got  his  money.  But  this 
precautionary  combination  of  bankers  at  Pittsburg,  coming  as 
it  did  at  an  untoward,  moment,  killed  the  Prophet's  institution. 
As  some  one  must  be  abused,  it  is  very  natural  that  the  respon- 
sibility of  that  inevitable  fiasco  should  be  relegated  to  the 
slioulders  of  his  Satanic  Majesty.  It  was  well  known  to  the 
Saints  that  he  was  the  guilty  party,  and  was  trying  to  break 
up  "  the  kingdom." 


The  Prophet-Bankers*  on  the  Win^. 

All  these  troubles  were  spoken  of  by  Joseph  as  "  persecu- 
"  tion."    Of  his  flight  from  Kirtland  he  writes  : 

^'  A  new  year  dawned  upon  the  Church  at  Kirtland  in  all  the  bitterness 
of  the  spirit  of  Apostate  Mobocracy,  which  continued  to  rage  and  grow 
hotter  and  hotter,  until  Elder  Rigdon  and  myself  were  obliged  to  flee 
from  its  deadly  influence,  as  did  the  apostles  and  prophets  of  old,  and  as 
Jesus  said, '  When  they  persecute  you  in  one  city,  flee  ye  to  another  ; '  and 
on  the  evening  of  the  12th  of  January,  about  10  o'clock,  we  left  Kirtland 
on  horseback,  to  escape  mob  violence  which  was  about  to  burst  upon  us, 
under  the  colour  of  legal  process  to  cover  their  hellish  designs,  and  save 
themselves  from  the  just  judgment  of  the  law.  The  weather  was  ex- 
tremely cold,  and  we  were  obliged  to  secrete  ourselves  sometimes,  to 
elude  the  grasp  of  our  pursuers,  who  continued  their  race  more  than  two 
hundred  miles  from  Kirtland,  armed  with  pistols,  etc.,  seeking  our  lives/' 

After  this,  the  Prophet  never  returned  to  Kirtland,  but  he 
appointed  an  agent  for  the  settlement  of  his  own  unfinished 


V4 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


business  in  Ohio.  In  different  parts  of  his  autobiography  he 
publishes  cards  from  business  men  expressive  of  their  satisfac- 
tion at  the  manner  in  which  the  agent  had  adjusted  tlie  ac- 
counts. The  Prophet  disclaimed  any  responsibility  for  the 
failure  of  the  bank,  and  charged  one  of  the  brethren  with  dis- 
honesty, which  produced  this  result.  He  was  evidently  proud 
of  a  good  commercial  name. 

Before  this  period,  and  when  all  was  pleasant  in  Ohio,  it 
was  announced  that  "  the  Lord  "  had  accepted  the  Saints  there 
and  had  established  his  name  in  Kirtland  for  the  salvation  of 
the  nations.  But  this  honour  was  short-lived.  Kirtland  was 
soon  abandoned  for  ever.  Joseph  and  Sidney  as  fugitives  took 
their  families  with  them  to  Missouri,  and  overtook  Brigham 
Young  and  his  family  before  they  reached  the  promised  land. 
The  experience  of  the  prophets  and  apostles  had  been  any- 
thing but  pleasant  in  the  East ;  it  was  destined  to  be  worse  in 
the  West.  They  arrived  in  Far  West  on  the  12tli  of  March, 
1838,  and  in  less  than  a  month  they  had  to  cut  off  from  the 
Church  two  of  the  most  important  witnessess  of  the  Book  of 
Mormon. 


CHAPTEE  XIII. 


CUTTING  OEF  APOSTLES.— Witnesses  of  the  Book  of  Mormon  expelled  from 
the  €hurch — Joseph  denounces  the  "  Lord's  Chosen  "  as  "  Blacklegs,  Thieves, 
Liars,  and  Counterfeiters  " — More  Apostles  dethroned — The  Prophet  locates  the 
Garden  of  Eden  in  Missouri — It  was  there  that  Adam  and  Eve  sported  in  Inno- 
cence— More  Trouble  looming — Eigdon's  famous  Declaration  of  Independence. 

On  the  6th  of  April,  1838,  the  eighth  anniversary  of  that 
organization  in  which  he  so  much  rejoiced,  and  was  so  much 
favoured,  Oliver  Cowdrey  was  destined  to  find  himself  cast  out 
of  the  Church  and  consigned  to  the  tender  mercies  of  Satan. 
After  those  extraordinary  experiences  with  heavenly  beings 
had  all  been  rehearsed,  Oliver  still  persisted  in  rebellion,  and 
was  formally  "  turned  over  to  the  buffetings  of  the  devil." 
But  Cowdery  was  not  alone ;  another  rebel  was  found  in  the 
person  of  David  Whitmer,  the  second  witness  to  the  Book  of 
Mormon.  Martin  Harris,  the  third  witness  of  this  remarkable 
production,  had  already  been  consigned  to  the  infernal  regions, 
and  thus  the  excommunication  of  Oliver  Cowdery  and  David 
Whitmer  during  the  conference  completed  the  work  of  apostacy 
among  those  who  had  seen  the  angel,  and  heard  the  testimony 
about  "  the  plates,"  and  their  translation  into  English.  From 
the  beginning,  the  devil  had  desired  that  he  might  possess 
these  "  witnesses,"  and  at  last  ^'  the  Lord  "  made  the  transfer, 
with  the  understanding  and  instruction  that  his  Sable  Majesty 
was  to  heap  upon  the  rebels  all  the  agony  under  which  they 
could  wriggle. 

The  modern  prophets  trench  pretty  closely  upon  Anathe- 
"ma  Maranatha"  of  the  ancient  Sanhedrim,  and  evidently 
consider  that  it  is  the  correct  thing.  A  Mormon  Bishop  cursing 


76 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


an  "  apostate  "  is  a  perfect  realization  of  the  prayer  of  Burns's 

^'  Holy  Willie :  "  . 

"  Curse  thou  his  basket  and  his  store, 

Kail  and  potatoes. 
•         •         •         •  • 

Thy  strong  right  hand,  Lord,  make  it  bare 

Upo'  their  heads ; 
Lord,  weigh  it  down,  and  dinna  spare 
For  their  misdeeds." 

From  this  time  Oliver  Cowdery  and  David  Whitmer  are 
handed  down  to  posterity  in  Mormon  Church  history  charged 
with  being  "  connected  with  a  gang  of  counterfeiterSj  thieves, 
"  liars,  and  blacklegs  of  the  deepest  dye,''  and  with  "  cheating 
"  and  defrauding  the  Saints."  In  the  formal  list  of  charges 
for  Cowdery's  excommunication  was  another :  Seeking  to 
"  destroy  the  character  of  Joseph  Smith,  Jr.,  by  falsely  insinu- 
"  ating  that  he  was  guilty  of  adultery."  Martin  Harris  had 
previously  been  catalogued  with  "  negroes  who  wear  white 
"  skins,"  and  he  and  his  associates  were  "  so  far  beneath  con- 
"  tempt  that  a  notice  of  them  would  be  far  too  great  a  sacrifice 
"for  a  gentleman  to  make."  ^  Hyrum  Smith,  the  brother  of 
the  Prophet,  after  his  deliverance  from  a  Missouri  prison, 
charges  the  brothers  Oliver  and  Lyman  Cowdery  with  going 
to  his  house  while  he  was  "  held  in  durance  vile,"  and  robbing 
him  of  his  valuables  under  the  cloak  of  friendship.  Such  were 
the  men  whom  "  the  Lord  "  had  selected  as  witnesses  to  the 
divinity  of  the  Book  of  Mormon. 

During  this  conference  the  apostles  who  were  in  rebellion 
at  Kirtland  were  formally  excommunicated,  viz.  :  Luke  John- 
son, Lyman  E.  Johnson,  and  John  F.  Boynton.  Another  apostle 
was  added  to  the  list  of  apostates — William  E.  McLellin ;  and 
William  Smith,  another  apostle,  and  brother  of  the  Prophet, 
had  a  narrow  escape  from  expulsion.  This  was  a  trying  time 
to  the  Saints,  and  many  left  the  Church,  but  Joseph  was  in- 
domitable. It  was  during  his  severest  trials  and  in  the  face  of 
approaching  danger  that  Joseph  displayed  the  greatest  faith  in 
his  mission.    At  this  moment  he  saw  the  shadows  of  coming 

*  "  History  of  Joseph  Smith." 


THE  GARDEN  OF  EDEN  IN  MISSOURI. 


events  that  would  try  men's  souls,  but  be  would  make  no  com- 
promise witb  "  tbe  rebels."  He  was  resolved  on  victory  or 
martyrdom.  His  confidence  was  heroic :  in  himself  he  had 
unbounded  faith. 

Joseph  saw  the  necessity  of  a  new  gathering  place.  Kirt- 
land  was  gone ;  a  few  of  the  Saints  only  were  conditionally 
tolerated  in  Jackson  county,  and  in  the  other  counties  of  Mis- 
souri where  they  had  taken  refuge  a  continuance  of  peace  was 
very  doubtful.  A  new  city  was  to  be  laid  out  on  the  north 
side  of  Grand  Eiver,  twenty  miles  distant  from  Far  West. 
The  brethren  called  the  new  location  Spring  Hill,  but  Joseph 
had  a  revelation  naming  it  Adam-Ondi-Ahman,^ 

There  has  always  been  some  mystery  about  the  exact  loca- 
tion of  the  Garden  of  Eden,  the  early  residence  of  the  inno- 
cent progenitors  of  the  human  race — Darwin  aside— but  it  has 
generally  been  supposed  to  have  been  somewhere  on  the  east- 
ern continent.  On  the  occasion  of  naming  this  new  gather- 
ing place,  Joseph  was  informed  that  the  Garden  of  Eden,  with 
all  the  rich  incidents  of  the  morning  of  creation,  was  localized 
in  Jackson  county,  Missouri,  and  that  this  new  spot  selected 
for  the  gathering  of  the  Saints  and  named  Adam-Ondi-Ahman 
was  the  identical  region  where  Adam  and  Eve  betook  them- 
selves after  the  expulsion  from  the  historical  garden.  Joseph 
also  gives  with  considerable  minuteness  a  statement  about  a 
great  gathering  or  conference  held  there  of  the  leading  men 
of  Adam's  posterity  about  three  years  preceding  the  departure 
of  that  first  patriarch  from  this  mundane  sphere.  In  that  par- 
ticular valley  the  Saints  w^ere  now  commanded  to  gather  in 
the  last  days  ;  but  this  heavenly  intelligence  changed  in  noth- 
ing the  hearts  of  the  Missourians  toward  the  Mormons. 

Governor  Dunklin  had  advised  the  expelled  Mormons  to 
seek  redress  in  the  courts  for  their  losses  in  Jackson  county  ; 
and,  ever  ready  to  assert  their  claims,  the  Saints  failed  not  to 
follow  the  suggestion  thus  offered.  The  consequent  prosecu- 
tion of  some  of  the  leading  "mobocrats"  was  a  constantly- 
recurring  element  of  strife,  which,  added  to  tlie  growing  po- 
litical influence  of  the  Saints,  afibrded  politicians  and  anti- 
Mormons  the  opportunity  of  combining  against  the  com- 

*  "  The  valley  of  God  in  which  Adam  blessed  his  children." 


IS 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


men  enemy,  as  they  claimed  to  regard  tlie  followers  of  the 
Prophet. 

The  Kirtland  Colony  was  now  entirely  broken  up,  and  the 
eastern  Saints  poured  into  Missouri.  Proud  of  their  growing 
strength,  and  chafing  under  past'  persecutions,  Sidney  Eigdon 
in  tlie  Fourth-of-July  oration  delivered  a  Mormon  "  Declaration 
''of  Independence,"  informing  the  Missourians  that  they  must 
cease  their  oppression  and  persecution  of  "  the  Saints  of  the 
"Most  High  God."  It  was  the  enunciation  of  an  enthusiast's 
programme,  and  just  such  a  foolish  speech  as  the  Missourians 
wanted  to  hear.  It  set  the  country  on  fire,  and  hostile  action 
was  resolved  upon.  The  anti-Mormons  were  waiting  for  a  pre- 
text, and  Sidney  furnished  it.  His  language  on  that  occasion 
is  thus  reported  : 

"We  take  God  and  all  the  holy  angels  to  witness  this  day  that  we 
warn  all  men  in  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ,  to  come  on  us  no  more  for  ever. 
The  man,  or  the  set  of  men,  who  attempts  it  does  so  at  the  expense  of 
their  lives.  And  the  mob  that  comes  on  us  to  disturb  us,  it  shall  be  be- 
tween us  and  them  a  war  of  extermination,  for  we  will  follow  them  till  the 
last  drop  of  blood  is  spilled,  or  else  they  will  have  to  exterminate  us  ;  for 
we  will  carry  the  seat  of  war  to  th^ir  own  houses  and  their  own  families, 
and  one  part  or  the  other  shall  be  utterly  destroyed.  Eemember  it,  then, 
all  men !  .  .  .  "  No  man  shall  be  at  liberty  to  come  into  our  streets,  to 
threaten  us  v/ith  mobs,  for  if  he  does  he  shall  atone  for  it  before  he  leaves 
the  place,  neither  shall  he  be  at  liberty  to  vilify  and  slander  any  of  us,  for 
suffer  it  we  will  not  in  this  place.*  We  therefore  take  all  men  to  record 
this  day,  as  did  our  fathers,  and  we  pledge  this  day  to  one  another,  our 
fortunes,  our  lives,  and  our  sacred  honours,  to  be  delivered  from  the  per- 
secutions which  we  have  had  to  endure  for  the  last  nine  years,  or  nearly 
that.  Neither  will  we  indulge  any  man  or  set  of  men  in  instituting  vexa- 
tious law  suits  against  us,  to  cheat  us  out  of  our  just  rights;  if  they 
attempt  it,  we  say  woe  be  unto  them.  We  this  day,  then,  proclaim  ourselves 
free,  with  a  purpose  and  a  determination  that  can  never  be  broken,  No, 
never  1    No,  never ! !    No,  never ! ! ! " 

*  This  oration  is  known  as  "  Sidney's  Salt  Sermon."  It  was  inspired  by  ven- 
geance, and  breathed  not  only  death  to  the  Missourians,  but  also  to  the  brethren 
who,  still  having  control  of  their  reason,  dissented  from  the  fire-and-sword  doctrine 
that  was  preached  against  their  neighbours.  These  were  immediately  designated 
"  apostates,'*  and  for  their  special  edification  Sidney  chose  the  text :  "  If  the  salt 
have  lost  its  savour,  it  is  thenceforth  good  for  nothing  but  to  be  cast  out  and  trod- 
den  under  foot  of  men."  That  he  meant  this  as  literally  as  language  could  express, 
there  was  no  doubt.  The  people  who  heard  it,  and  to  whom  it  was  addressed  by 
implication,  so  understood  it,  and  in  such  a  neighbourhood  and  at  a  time  when 


SIDNEY  RIGDON'S  *'SALT  SERMON." 


79 


The  elections  were  at  haud,  and  the  old  settlers  saw  in  the 
incoming  Mormons  from  the  East  a  repetition  of  the  tradition- 
ary story  of  Aaron's  rod,  and  they  resolved  not  to  be  swallowed 
up  or  exterminated  as  Sidney  threatened.*^ 

Danitism  was  caught — whether  by  the  authority  of  Joseph  Smith  or  without,  it 
matters  not — the  terrible  dread  of  vengeance  was  all  the  same.  The  Mormons  have 
had  whispered  into  their  ears  that  the  story  of  Ananias  and  Sapphira  falling  down 
dead  "  at  the  rebuke  of  Peter  was  no  work  of  the  heavens,  as  is  generally  supposed, 
but  that  "  the  young  men  "  who  were  with  Peter  literally  "  trod  them  under  their 
feet "  till  their  bowels  gushed  out.    Sidney's  Salt  Sermon  had  all  that  significance. 

*  Brigham  Young,  during  the  trial  of  Sidney,  some  years  afterwards,  said : 
"  Elder  Rigdon  was  the  prime  cause  of  our  troubles  in  Missouri,  by  his  Fourth-of- 
July  oration." — "  Times  and  Seasons,"  Vol.  5,  page  667. 

The  Apostle  Woodruff  calls  the  oration  a  "  flaming  speech,  which  had  a  ten- 
dency to  bring  persecution  upon  the  whole  church,  especially  the  head  of  it." 
— "  Times  and  Seasons,"  p.  698. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 


WAE  COMMENCES.— Affidavits  made  against  the  Prophet— The  Mormons  and 
the  Mob  resort  to  Arms — The  Governor  calls  out  the  State  Militia — Joseph  and 
Sidney  propose  to  become  Lawyers — The  Mormon  Settlements  attacked — Houses 
burned — Women  and  Children  forced  to  flee  betore  an  Infuriated  Mob— Frightful 
Cruelties — The  Saints  fight  and  retaliate. 

On  the  6th  of  August  the  election  at  Gallatin,  Davies 
county,  furnished  the  opportunity  for  a  collision.  A  Colonel 
Peniston,  who  had  headed  a  mob  in  Clay  county  against  the 
Mormons,  was  a  candidate  for  some  office  in  Davies  county. 
In  the  forenoon  of  the  election  he  delivered  an  anti-Mormon 
speech  from  the  head  of  a  barrel,  and  "  Dick  "  Welding,  one 
of  his  admirers,  just  drunk  enough  for  discussion,  attacked  Sam 
Brown,  a  Mormon.  Perry  Durphy,  another  Mormon,  essayed 
the  Tole  of  peace-maker,  when  live  or  six  Missourians  suddenly 
seized  him,  clubbed  him,  and  sought  to  kill  him. 

Abraham  Nelson,  another  Mormon,  seeing  his  brethren  in 
danger,  joined  in  and  got  served  as  badly  as  Durphy.  Hiram 
JSTelson  flailed  around  with  the  butt  end  of  his  whip,  and  did 
good  service.  Riley  Stewart,  another  Mormon,  reached  the 
head  of  the  redoubtable  Dick  "  and  felled  him  to  the  ground. 
Eiley  in  turn  got  the  general  attentions  of  the  Missourians, 
and  was  badly  injured,  when  John  L.  Butler  joined  in  the  free 
fight  and  brought  up  the  scuffle  to  a  general  breathing  time. 
Butler  was  an  earnest  man  and  claimed  the  right  as  an  Ameri- 
can citizen  to  fight  for  his  liberty  as  his  fathers  had  done  be- 
fore him.  But  the  authorities  of  the  county  urged  a  with- 
drawal of  the  Mormon  belligerents  from  the  vicinity  of  the  bal- 
lot boxes,  as  the  Missourians  were  determined  that  they  should 
not  vote.    Some  wounds  had  to  be  dressed,  and  the  Mormons 


FIRST  BLOOD  SHED  IN  MISSOURI. 


81 


withdrew  ;  but  the  coiintry  was  now  aroused  and  the  Missouri- 
ans  gathered  with  arms.  Thus  began  the  troubles  in  Missouri 
that  eventually  resulted  in  the  imprisonment  of  the  Mormon 
leaders,  and  the  final  expulsion  of  the  Saints  from  that  State. 

None  of  the  Mormons  were  killed,  but  some  of  them  were 
badlj  wounded,  while  several  of  the  Missourians  "  had  their 
skulls  cracked,"  and  two  were  reported  dead.    The  Mormon 
historian  states  that  "  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  Missourians 


Mormon  Troubles  in  Missouri  begin. 


"  warred  against  from  six  to  twelve  of  our  brethren  who  fought 
"  like  lions ;  "  to  which  Joseph's  gushing  soul  ejaculated  : 
"  Blessed  be  the  memory  of  those  few  brethren  who  contended 
"  so  strenuously  for  their  constitutional  rights  and  religious 
"  freedom  against  such  an  overwhelming  force  of  despera- 
"  does." 

The  following  day,  Joseph,  accompanied  by  some  of  the 
leading  Mormons,  and  followed  by  brethren  from  different 
parts  of  the  country,  rode  out  to  learn  the  facts  of  this  affray. 
They  stopped  with  brother  Colonel  Wight  over  night,  and 
next  morning  came  up  to  the  scene  of  trouble.  They  then 
called  upon  a  Justice  of  the  Peace,  Adam  Black,  to  learn  how 
he  stood  in  respect  to  the  question  of  mobocracy  and  constitu- 
tional right.  He  had  not  given  them  satisfaction  in  his  pre- 
vious relations,  and  they  now  wanted  to  know  "  whether  he 
"  was  their  friend  or  enemy,  whether  he  would  administer  the 
"  law  in  justice ;  and  they  politely  requested  him  to  sign  an 


82 


THE  EOCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


"  agreement  of  peace."  Adam  handed  tliem  a  satisfactory 
document,  hut  they  did  not  believe  in  his  sincerity,  and  in  that 
they  were  not  disappointed. 

Affidavits  were  immediately  made  by  the  orator  Peniston, 
Adam  Black,  and  others,  charging  Joseph  Smith  and  his  lead- 
ing men  with  collecting  and  directing  a  large  body  of  armed 
men  in  Davies  county,  "whose  movements,"  according  to  Pen- 
iston, "were  of  a  highly  insurrectionary  character 
"  to  take  vengeance  for  some  injuries,  or  imaginary  injuries, 
"  done  to  some  of  their  friends,  and  to  intimidate  and  drive 
"  from  the  county  all  the  old  citizens,  and  possess  themselves 
"  of  their  lands,  or  to  force  such  as  do  not  leave  to  come  into 
"  their  measures  and  submit  to  their  dictation." 

The  country  was  greatly  agitated,  and  in  a  few  days  Joseph 
was  waited  upon  by  a  sheriff  from  Davies  county.  That  offi- 
cial, learning  that  he  could  not  act  out  of  his  own  county,  the 
writ  was  laid  aside.  Before  the  end  of  tlie  month  in  which  the 
trouble  commenced,  Adam  Black  had  made  affidavit  before  a 
justice  of  the  peace  of  his  own  county,  declaring  that — 

"  A  hundred  and  fifty-four  armed  men  had  surrounded  his  house  and 
family,  and  threatened  him  with  instant  death  if  he  did  not  sign  a  certain 
instrument  of  writing  binding  himself,  as  a  Justice  of  the  Peace  for  said 
county  of  Davies,  not  to  molest  the  people  called  Morfnons  ;  and  threatened 
the  lives  of  myself  and  other  individuals,  and  did  say  they  intended  to 
make  every  citizen  sign  such  obligation,  and  further  said  they  intended  to 
have  satisfaction  for  abuse  they  had  received  on  the  Monday  previous, 
and  they  could  not  submit  to  the  laws." 

Whether  the  accusations  on  either  side  were  true  or  false, 
the  ball  was  now  in  motion.  Governor  Bo2:2:s  issued  an  ord'er 
to  Major-General  D.  R.  Atchison,  3rd  Division  Missouri  Mi- 
litia, to  raise  immediately  four  hundred  mounted  men,  armed 
and  equipped  as  infantry  or  riflemen,  as  "  a  precautionary  meas- 
"  ure  "  to  aid  in  suppressing  Indian  disturbances  on  the  fron- 
tier, or  to  act  where  wanted  in  Caldwell,  Davies,  and  Carroll 
counties. 

The  excitement  increased,  and  extravagant  rumours  were 
in  circulation.  Joseph  Smith  and  Colonel  Lyman  Wight  were 
the  particular  objects  of  attention.  It  was  commonly  reported 
that  they  had  said  they  would  not  be  taken  by  the  officers  of 


THE  PROPHET  STUDIES  THE  LAW. 


83 


tbe  law,  and  the  whole  of  Upper  Missouri  was  in  an  uproar 
and  confusion. 

In  the  midst  of  this,  the  Prophet  sent  for  General  Atchison 
to  come  and  counsel  with  him.  This  meeting  resulted  in  Jo- 
seph very  adroitly  employing  General  Atchison  and  his  part- 
ner. General  Doniphan,  as  his  lawyers  and  counsellors-at-law  ; 
and  the  same  day  Joseph  and  Sidney  Rigdon  commenced  the 
study  of  law  under  these  distinguished  gentlemen,  who  kindly 
encouraged  the  Prophet  and  his  counsellor  with  the  hope  of 
being  admitted  to  the  bar  in  the  course  of  twelve  months  if 
they  were  diligent  in  application. 

Acting  on  the  advice  of  General  Atchison,  Joseph  and 
Lyman  Wight  volunteered  to  be  tried  by  Judge  Austin  A. 
King,  who  held  them  to  bail  in  the  sum  of  $500  each.  But 
this  did  not  satisfy  the  Missourians  in  Davies  county,  and  the 
gathering  of  armed  men  continued. 

The  anti-Mormon  Justice  of  the  Peace,  Black,  and  Circuit 
Judge,  King,  represented  to  the  Governor  that  no  writs  could 
be  served  on  the  Mormons  without  military  assistance ;  where- 
upon his  Excellency  issued  orders  to  General  Atchison  to  aid 
the  civil  authorities  in  Davies  county.  Brigadier-General 
Doniphan  was  also  called  into  the  field,  commanding  the  1st 
Brigade,  3rd  Division,  Missouri  Militia. 

By  the  presence  of  these  Generals  the  mob  was  held  in 
check,  and  the  Mormons  renewed  their  assurances  of  readiness 
to  meet  the  demands  of  the  law.  In  the  mean  time  the  Saints 
were  everywhere  preparing  for  defence. 

General  Atchison  reported  to  the  Governor,  on  the  17th  of 
September,  the  general  condition  of  the  county ;  that  there  was 
a  great  deal  of  excitement,  but  that  the  troops  under  his  com- 
mand would  be  no  longer  required  if  the  mob  would  disperse. 
The  Governor,  acting  upon  previous  information  from  other 
parties,  ordered  General  S.  D.  Lucas,  of  the  Fourth  Division, 
forward  with  an  additional  four  hundred  mounted  men  to  the 
scene  of  difficulty  to  cooperate  with  General  Atchison.  Simi- 
lar orders  were  issued  to  Major-Gen erals  Lewis  Bolton,  John 
B.  Clark,  and  Thomas  D.  Grant.  It  was  evident  that  the 
Governor  had  a  plan  of  his  own. 

On  the  20th,  General  Atchison  disbanded  the  troops,  with 


84 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


the  exception  of  two  companies  under  Brigadier-General 
Parks,  that  were  deemed  necessary  to  be  retained  in  service 
till  the  excitement  had  entirely  subsided.  The  mob  were  dis- 
persing and  the  Mormons  were  returning  to  their  homes.  On 
hearing  this,  the  Governor  stopped  the  further  advance  of  the 
reinforcements  to  General  Atchison,  and  everything  seemed  to 
indicate  peace.  The  Mormons  in  Davies  county,  where  the 
trouble  had  begun,  were  willing  to  leave  that  county  and  were 
negotiating  for  the  sale  of  their  property.  Joseph  and  his 
associates  were  again  at  their  religious  duties,  preaching,  or- 
daining missionaries,  and  building  up  Zion ;  and  General  At- 
chison was  assuring  the  Governor  that  "he  had  no  doubt  his 
"  Excellency  was  deceived  by  the  exaggerated  statements  of 
"  designing  or  half-crazy  men." 

Dr.  Austin,  of  Carroll  county,  who  was  the  leader  of  the 
mob  in  Davies  county,  visited  the  Mormons  at  De  Witt,  a 
very  small  settlement  in  Carroll  county,  and  could  not  resist 
the  temptation  to  provoke  a  conflict. 

Immediately  upon  hearing  the  report  of  renewed  hostilities. 
General  Parks  hastened  to  the  scene  of  trouble  and  found  on 
arrival  Dr.  Austin  with  between  two  and  three  hundred  men, 
well  armed  and  in  possession  of  a  piece  of  cannon.  Colonel 
Hinkle,  a  Mormon  officer,  had  reached  there  with  three  or  four 
hundred  brethren,  but  General  Parks  had  to  report  to  General 
Atchison  that  he  could  do  nothing.  He  had  issued  orders  for 
more  troops,  but  the  Missourians  paid  no  attention  to  him,  and 
those  that  he  had  could  not  be  relied  upon.  In  the  history  of 
the  Church,  Joseph  alleges  that  the  General  was  more  favour- 
ably disposed  towards  the  mob  than  towards  the  Saints.  The 
notorious  Bogart "  was  one  of  the  captains,  and  the  men  un- 
der him  were  eager  to  join  the  mob.  The  closing  paragraph 
of  General  Parks's  report  to  General  Atchison  rather  favours 
Joseph's  impressions  of  unfriendliness  : 

"  Nothing  seems  so  much  in  demand  here  (to  hear  the  Carroll  county 
men  talk)  as  Mormon  scalps ;  as  yet  they  are  scarce.  I  believe  Hinkle  with 
the  present  force  and  position  will  beat  Austin  with  five  hundred  of  his 
troops.  The  Mormons  say  they  will  die  before  they  will  be  driven  out,  etc. 
As  yet,  they  have  acted  on  the  defensive,  as  far  as  I  can  learn.  It  is  my 
settled  opinion  the  Mormons  will  have  no  rest  until  they  leave;  whether 
they  will  or  not,  time  only  can  tell." 


THE  SAINTS  DRIVEN  FROM  DE  WITT  COUNTY.  85 

The  easy  manner  with  which  General  Parks  treats  the  de- 
mand for  "  Mormon  scalps,"  and  the  unconcerned  notice  of  the 
probability  of  a  fight,  while  he  knew  these  poor  people  were 
hemmed  in  and  prospectively  doomed  to  starvation,  if  not 
overwhelmed  by  the  constantly  increasing  numbers  of  the  mob, 
indicate  anything  but  a  lively  interest  in  their  welfare. 

The  Saints  suffered  severely.  Their  provisions  were  entire- 
ly exhausted,  and  several  of  the  men  perished  from  starvation, 
while  the  mob  subsisted  upon  their  cattle  and  the  products  of 
their  fields.  With  no  prospect  of  aid  from  the  Governor,  the 
Mormons  listened  to  the  proposition  of  the  mob  that  they 
would  purchase  their  property  if  they  would  leave  the  county. 
After  ten  days'  siege  the  agreement  was  made,  the  property 
was  appraised,  and  the  next  day  the  Mormons  collected  about 
seventy  wagons  and  started  for  Caldwell  county,  and  they  had 
no  sooner  got  ready  to  leave  than  the  mob  began  to  harass  and 
fire  upon  them.  On  their  first  night's  encampment  one  of  the 
sisters  died  from  exposure  soon  after  confinement,  and  was 
buried  without  a  cofiin,  by  the  wayside.  It  was  a  terrible  time 
of  suffering,  and  they  reached  Caldwell  almost  entirely  desti- 
tute of  everything. 

The  same  mob  hastened  to  Davies  county  to  assist  their 
friends  in  expediting  the  departure  of  the  Mormons  from  that 
county  also.  It  was  now  very  evident  to  the  lawless  banditti 
that  the  authorities  would  not  interpose  in  behalf  of  the  Mor- 
mons. To  the  petition  of  the  latter,  the  Governor  replied  that 
it  was  an  affair  between  the  mob  and  the  Mormons  and  they 
iliight  fight  it  out. 

General  Doniphan,  on  learning  that  eight  hundred  mobbers 
were  marching  towards  a  Mormon  settlement  in  Davies 
county,  ordered  Colonel  Hinkle  to  raise  a  force  in  Caldwell 
and  help  the  Saints  till  the  militia  could  be  raised  and  reach 
that  place. 

The  same  cruel  work  that  had  marked  the  operations  of  the 
mob  at  De  "Witt  was  reenacted  at  Adam-Ondi-Ahman.  The 
houses  outside  of  the  settlement  were  first  attacked  and  some 
of  them  were  burned  down ;  the  horses  and  cattle  were  driven 
away  and  stolen,  and  a  general  sacking  and  destruction  of 
everything  ensued.  To  add  to  tbe  bitterness  of  their  situation, 
6 


8G 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


there  was  a  snow-storm  for  two  days,  and  the*honieless  terri- 
•  fied  women  and  children  had  to  battle  with  it  in  their  flight  to 
their  friends  in  Adam-Ondi-Ahman.  It  was  a  woeful  sight, 
for  they  brought  nothing  with  them,  and  were  only  too  glad 
to  escape  with  their  lives.  One  poor  woman,  the  wife  of  Jo- 
seph's brother,  Don  Carlos,  is  mentioned  by  the  historian  as 
fleeing  before  the  savage  mob  with  two  helpless  babes  in  her 
arms,  and  forced  to  wade  Grand  Eiver  with  her  sacred  charge 
in  order  to  reach  the  settlement,  while  her  house  was  being 
burned  down.  Her  husband  was  absent  at  the  time  on  a 
preaching  mission  in  Tennessee. 

At  this  period  the  Mormons  were  accused  by  the  Mobocrats 
of  having  burned  some  of  their  houses,  but  the  former  strenu- 
ously deny  the  accusation  and  charge  it  to  the  strategy  of  the 
mob  when  they  saw  they  could  not  drive  them  out  from  their 
possessions.  This  it  is  alleged  was  done  for  the  purpose  of 
raising  "the  hue  and  cry  "  that  the  Mormons  were  burning 
and  destroying  all  before  them."  Some  log-houses  certainly 
w^ere  burned,  whoever  did  it,  and  the  whole  country  was 
aroused  against  the  supposed  incendiaries. 

During  the  2nd  Session  of  the  26th  Congress,  a  document 
of  nearly  fifty  pages  was  published  by  order  of  the  Senate 
[No.  189]  giving  the  testimony  taken  before  the  judge  of  the 
fifth  Judicial  Circuit  of  the  State  of  Missouri,  on  the  trial  of 
Joseph  Smith,  Junr.,  and  others  for  high  treason  and  other 
crimes  against  that  State.  This  document  asserts  that  the 
Mormon  leaders  were  guilty  of  the  grossest  outrages  upon  the 
Gentiles.  Burning  their  houses  and  stealing  from  them  were 
common  occurrences ;  and  threatenings  of  death  to  apostates, 
or  those  who  would  not  take  part  in  the  general  fight  against 
the  Missourians,  were  the  teachings  of  the  pulpit  orators.  With 
such  an  array  of  circumstantial  evidence,  confirmed  by  a  vari- 
ety of  persons — Mormons  and  anti-Mormons — it  is  difficult 
not  to  believe  that  the  few  leading  men  around  Joseph  Smith, 
particularly  Lyman  Wight  and  Sidney  Eigdon,  were  not  thor- 
ough fanatics  and  guilty  of  gross  crimes ;  and  if  Joseph  w^as 
less  culpable  it  was  due  to  his  greater  realization  of  responsi- 
bility and  better  judgment.  Lyman  Wight  seems  to  have 
possessed  all  the  characteristics  of  a  religious  "jay-hawker" — 


WIGHT  AND  RIGDON  CRAZY  FANATICS. 


87 


a  sort  of  mixture  of  fanatic  and  "  Border  ruffian."  He  was 
doubtless  the  inspiring  deity  of  Joseph's  revelation,  that 
called  into  existence  Zion's  Camp  and  "the  Lord's"  armies. 
He  was  rightly  designated  "  the  "Wild  Eam  of  the  Mountains." 
Sidney  Rigdon  was  an  eloquent,  full-fledged  fanatic,  ever  ready 
to  roast  heretics  and  annihilate  all  who  opposed  the  wild  flights 
of  his  imagination  and  ambition — a  most  dangerous  man  in 
the  midst  of  such  a  people  as  he  had  around  him  in  Missouri, 


CHAPTEE  XV. 

THE  CnUECH  IN  DANGEE.— Apostles  apostatize— Marsh  and  Hyde  make  Affi- 
davits against  the  Prophet — Charge  him  with  aiming  to  be  a  Second  Mohammed — 
The  Danite  Band — Its  Name  and  Origin — ^Dr.  Avard's  Statements — The  Doc- 
tor's Speech — Joseph  denies  the  Paternity  of  the  Band — Great  Excitement 
throughout  the  State— A  Sensational  Keport— More  Fighting— The  Apostle  Patten 
killed— The  Saints  to  be  rooted  out. 

After  the  dispersion  of  the  mob,  Joseph  returned  to  Far 
West  in  hopes  of  finding  rest ;  but  there  was  none  for  him. 
Troubles  were  gathering  thickly  around  him,  but  still  he  was 
confident  that  "  the  Lord  was  on  his  side."  When  he  saw  Far 
West  literally  crowded  with  refugees,  he  remembered  that 
"  the  word  of  the  Lord had  commanded  the  Saints  to  gather 
into  the  cities  some  months  before,  but  they  had  been  slow  to 
obey."^  He  did  not  relish  the  hasty  fulfilment  of  the  com- 
mandment, but  even  in  the  midst  of  discomforts  and  sufferings 
it  was  something  to  know  that  "  the  Lord  "  had  willed  it. 

Affidavits  of  fhe  most  inflammatory  kind  were  now  made 
by  the  leading  mobocrats.  Upper  Missouri  was  on  fire,  and 
nothing  but  the  utter  expulsion  of  the  Saints  from  the  State 
would  satisfy  their  enemies.  At  *this  very  moment  of  trial, 
when  fidelity  was  but  a  common  virtue,  some  of  the  leading 
Mormons  deserted  Joseph,  and  made  affidavit  against  him.  It 
is  claimed  that  Thomas  B.  Marsh,  the  first  President  of  the 
Twelve  Apostles,  and  Orson  Hyde,  another  of  the  apostles 
who  made  these  affidavits  against  him,  were  in  peril  of  their 

*  This  is  very  characteristic  of  the  Mormon  Prophets.  The  people  are  always 
in  the  wrong.  In  this  particular,  Brigham  Young  is  still  worse  than  Joseph  Smith 
When  any  of  his  schemes  fail  [and  many  have  failed],  the  responsibility  is  always 
saddled  upon  the  people— "Had  they  hearkened  to  counsel  all  would  have  been 
"  right." 


APOSTLES  APOSTATIZE  AND  DENOUNCE  THE  PROPHET.  89 


lives  when  they  signed  the  document,  and  this  was  probably 
true,  for  it  was  a  very  unsafe  time ;  but  there  is  no  evidence 
to  show  that  either  Marsh  or  Hyde  wa^  in  any  more  jeopardy 
than  the  rest  of  the  Mormons,  and  could  not  have  been  spared 
as  well  as  any  of  the  brethren  who  bravely  faced  death  rather 
than  deny  their  faith. 

As  a  page  of  history,  the  aflSdavits  are  interesting : 

AFFIDAVIT  OF  THOMAS  B.  MAESH. 

"  They  have  among  them  a  company,  considered  true  Mormons,  called 
the  Danites,  who  have  taken  an  oath  to  support  tlie  heads  of  the  Church 
in  all  things  that  they  say  or  do,  whether  right  or  wrong.  Many,  how- 
ever, of  this  band  are  much  dissatisfied  with  this  oath,  as  being  against 
moral  and  religious  principles.  On  Saturday  last,  I  am  informed  by  the 
Mormons,  that  they  had  a  meeting  at  Far  West  at  which  they  appointed 
a  company  of  twelve,  by  the  name  of  the  Destruction  Company,  for  the 
purpose  of  burning  and  destroying,  and  that  if  the  people  of  Buncombe 
came  to  do  mischief  upon  the  people  of  Caldwell,  and  committed  depreda- 
tions upon  the  Mormons,  they  were  to  burn  Buncombe  ;  and  if  the  people 
of  Clay  and  Ray  made  any  movement  against  them,  this  destroying  com- 
pany w^ere  to  burn  Liberty  and  Richmond. 

"  The  plan  of  said  Smith,  the  Prophet,  is  to  take  this  State ;  and  he 
professes  to  his  people  to  intend  taking  the  United  States,  and  ultimately 
the  whole  world.  This  is  the  belief  of  the  Church,  and  my  own  opinion 
of  the  Prophet's  plans  and  intentions.  The  Prophet  inculcates  the  no- 
tion, and  it  is  believed  by  every  true  Mormon,  that  Smith's  prophecies  are 
superior  to  the  laws  of  the  land.  I  have  heard  the  Prophet  say  that  he 
v/ould  yet  tread  down  his  enemies,  and  walk  over  their  dead  bodies ;  that 
if  he  was  not  let  alone  he  would  be  a  second  Mohammed  to  this  genera- 
tion,* and  that  he  would  make  it  one  gore  of  blood  from  the  Rocky 

*  It  is  somewhat  singular  that  Kobert  Southey,  the  Poet  Laureate  of  England, 
should,  thirteen  months  before  the  organization  of  the  Mormon  Church,  have  in  his 
"  Colloquies  "  put  the  following  words  into  the  mouth  of  Sir  Thomas  More : 

America  is  in  more  danger  from  religious  fanaticism.  The  Government  there, 
not  thinking  it  necessary  to  provide  religious  instruction  for  the  people  in  any  of 
the  new  States,  the  prevalence  of  superstition,  and  that  perhaps  in  some  wild  and 
terrible  shape,  may  be  looked  for  as  one  likely  consequence  of  this  great  and  por- 
tentous omission.  An  Old  Man  of  the  Mountain  might  find  dupes  and  followers 
Jis  readily  as  the  All-friend  Jemima ;  and  the  next  Aaron  Burr  who  seeks  to  carve  a 
kingdom  for  himself  out  of  the  overgrown  territories  of  the  Union,  may  discern 
that  fanaticism  is  the  most  effective  weapon  with  which  ambition  can  arm  itself ; 
that  the  way  for  both  is  prepared  by  that  immorality  which  the  Avant  of  religion 
naturally  and  necessarily  induced,  and  that  camp-meetings  may  be  very  well  direct- 
ed to  forward  the  designs  of  military  prophets.  Were  there  another  Mohammed  to 
arise,  there  is  no  part  of  the  world  where  he  would  find  more  scope  or  fairer  oppor- 
tunity than  in  that  part  of  the  Anglo-American  Union  into  which  the  older  States 


90 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


Mountains  to  the  Atlantic  Ocean ;  that  like  Mohammed,  whose  motto  in 
treating  for  peace  was  '  the  Alcoran  or  the  Sword,'  so  should  it  be  event- 
ually with  us,  *  Joseph  Smith  or  the  Sword.'  These  last  statements  were 
made  during  the  last  summer.  The  number  of  armed  men  at  Adam-Ondi- 
Ahman  was  between  three  and  four  hundred.         Thomas  B.  Marsh. 

"  Sworn  to  and  subscribed  before  me,  the  day  herein  written. 

"  Henry  Jacobs, 
"J.  P.,  Ray  County,  Missouri. 

"EiOHMOND,  MissoTTM,  October  24, 1838." 

AFFIDAVIT  OF  ORSON  HYDE. 

"  The  most  of  the  statements  in  the  foregoing  disclosure  I  know  to  be 
true ;  the  remainder  I  believe  to  be  true.  Orson  Hyde. 

"EiOHMOND,  Octdb&r  24, 1838. 

"  Sworn  to  and  subscribed  before  me,  on  the  day  above  written. 

"  Henry  Jacobs,  J.  P." 

To  these  affidavits  is  appended  a  "certificate"  of  seven 
persons,  a  "  committee  on  the  part  of  the  citizens  of  Kay 
"  county,"  who  assure  the  world  that  Marsh  was  President  of 
the  Twelve  Apostles,  that  Hyde  was  one  of  the  Twelve,  that 
they  had  left  the  Church,  "  and  abandoned  the  faith  of  the 
"Mormons  from  a  conviction  of  their  immorality  and  im- 
"  piety." 

It  mattered  little  whether  there  were  a  word  of  truth  or 
not  in  these  affidavits,  they  served  the  purpose  of  inflaming 
the  Missourians,  and  they  furnish  the  reader  with  the  actual 
thoughts  of  the  people  about  the  purposes  and  programme  of 
the  modern  Prophet.  There  is  much  in  the  first  part  of  the 
document  that  sounds  like  truth  ;  for  it  would  be  very  strange 
if  the  Mormons  had  not  organized  some  means  for  making  re- 
prisals. Whatever  might  have  been  the  commencement  of  the 
war  in  Missouri,  at  that  date  the  Mormons  had  only  the  option 
of  self-defence,  butchery,  or  banishment.  With  mobocracy 
that  had  neither  respected  the  virtue  of  women,  the  innocence 
of  children,  nor  the  helplessness  of  age,  the  Mormons  would 

continually  discharge  the  restless  part  of  their  population,  leaving  laws  and  Gospel 
to  overtake  it  if  they  can,  for  in  the  march  of  modern  colonization  both  are  left 
behind." 

A  prediction  as  early  fulfilled  as  this  was  would  have  made  Joseph  a  great 
Prophet. 


THE  DANITE  BAND  ORGANIZED. 


91 


have  been  despicable  if  they  had  done  less.  The  rest  of  the 
document  is  such  extravagant  nonsense  that  sober  people  could 
well  have  afforded  to  laugh  at  it ;  but,  to  the  excited  populace 
who  received  it  as  true,  it  was  considered  to  be  a  full  justifica- 
tion of  and  incitement  to  the  annihilation  of  the  Saints. 

Much  has  been  written  about  the  existence  of  aDanite  Band 
among  the  Mormons.  It  is  said  to  be  composed  of  reliable 
men  who  are  ever  ready  to  ''take  off"  inimical  persons,  and 
plunder  or  destroy  the  property  of  the  offenders.  Marsh  makes 
affidavit  to  the  fact  of  its  existence  in  Missouri,  but  Joseph  de- 
nies that  the  Church  had  any  such  organization.  He  says  that 
at  one  time  a  certain  Dr.  Sampson  Avard  did  plan  the  forma- 
tion of  such  a  band,  and  for  the  purposes  stated  by  Marsh,  but 
"when  a  knowledge  of  Avard's  rascality  came  to  the  Presi- 
"  dency  of  the  Church,  he  was  cut  off." 

At  or  about  the  time  of  Marsh's  statement,  Dr.  Avard  was 
in  full  fellowship  with  Joseph.  lie  was  with  the  Prophet  at 
the  house  of  Adam  Black,  the  Justice  of  the  Peace,  and  intro- 
duced him  to  that  dignitary.  He  was  unquestionably  believed 
by  the  Mormons  to  be  in  the  confidence  of  "the  heads  of  the 
"  Church."  He  organized  the  brethren  into  companies  of  tens 
and  fifties,  appointed  captains  over  each  company,  gave  "  signs  " 
and  "grips"  by  which  they  should  know  each  other  by  day 
or  by  night,  binding  themselves  by  the  most  sacred  oaths  to 
preserve  in  secrecy  their  works  of  darkness. 

Every  Mormon  who  realizes,  as  indeed  nearly  all  of  them 
must,  the  strict  surveillance  which  "  the  authorities  "  exercise 
over  the  actions  of  individuals,  will  have  difficulty  in  believing 
that  Dr.  Avard  was  alone  in  the  organization  of  the  Danite 
Band.  It  is  very  improbable  that  he  or  any  other  individual 
could  impose  upon  the  Saints  to  such  an  extent  as  to  introduce 
the  or^ranizations  that  are  admitted  to  have  existed  without 
some  show  of  authoritative  recognition.  The  historian  again 
chiarges  "  Satan"  with  being  in  this  way  "busy  in  striving  to 
"  stir  up  miscliief  in  the  camp  of  the  Saints,"  but  Dr.  Avard 
was  more  direct  and  avers  that  "he  had  received  his  authority 
"  from  Sidney  Pigdon ; "  and  as  Avard's  projects  and  Sidney's 
Declaration  of  Independence  have  a  strong  family  resemblance, 
there  is  no  question  that  the  Doctor  thought  that  he  was  acting 


92 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


harmoniously  in  doing  as  he  did,  even  if  it  be  denied  that  he 
was  instructed  to  that  effect. 

After  addressing  the  Danite  companies  about  the  coming 
glories  of  the  kingdom,  the  Doctor  is  reported  to  have  said : 

My  brethren,  as  you  have  been  chosen  to  be  our  leading  men,  our 
captains  to  rule  over  this  last  Kingdom  of  Jesus  Christ,  who  have  been 
organized  after  the  ancient  order,  I  have  called  upon  you  here  to-day  to 
teach  you  and  instruct  you  in  the  things  that  pertain  to  your  duty,  and  to 
show  you  what  your  privileges  are,  and  what  they  soon  will  be.  Know 
ye  not,  brethren,  that  it  soon  will  be  your  privilege  to  take  your  respect- 
ive companies  and  go  out  on  a  scout  on  the  borders  of  the  settlements  and 
take  to  yourself  spoils  of  the  ungodly  Gentiles  ?  For  it  is  written,  '  The 
'  riches  of  the  Gentiles  shall  be  consecrated  to  my  people,  the  house  of 
'Israel;'  and  thus  waste  away  the  Gentiles  by  robbing  and  plundering 
them  of  their  property  ;  and  in  this  way  we  will  build  up  the  Kingdom 
of  God,  and  roll  forth  the  little  stone  that  Daniel  saw  cut  out  of  the  moun- 
tain without  hands  until  it  shall  fill  the  whole  earth.  For  this  is  the  very 
way  that  God  destines  to  build  up  his  Kingdom  in  the  last  days.  If  any 
of  us  should  be  recognized,  who  can  harm  us  ?  For  we  will  stand  by  each 
other  and  defend  one  another  in  all  things.  If  our  enemies  swear  against 
us,  we  can  swear  also.  [The.  captains  were  confounded  at  this,  but  Avard 
continued.]  *  Why  do  you  startle  at  this,  brethren  ?  As  '  the  Lord '  liv- 
eth,  I  would  swear  a  lie  to  clear  any  of  you  ;  and  if  this  would  not  do,  I 
would  put  them  or  him  under  the  sand  as  Moses  did  the  Egyptian,  and 
in  this  way  we  will  consecrate  much  unto  '  the  Lord,'  and  build  up  his 
Kingdom  ;  and  who  can  stand  against  us  ?  And  if  any  of  us  transgress 
we  will  deal  with  him  amongst  ourselves.  And  if  any  of  this  Danite  So- 
ciety reveals  any  of  these  things,  I  will  put  him  where  the  dogs  cannot  bite 
him." 

Joseph's  explanation  of  the  possibility  of  such  language  be- 
ing addressed  to  his  brethren,  even  though  he  says  they  rejected 
it,  is  plausible,  but  not  altogether  satisfactory  to  any  one  con- 
versant with  the  history  of  those  times.  He  charges  the  Doctor 
with  being  ambitious  to  "become  the  leader  of  the  people,  and 
"  aspiring  to  rise  a  mighty  conqueror  at  the  expense  of  the 
"  overthrow^  of  the  Church,"  and  who  "  watched  the  opportu- 
"  nity  with  the  brethren  at  a  time  ¥/hen  mobs  oppressed,  robbed, 
"  whipped,  burned,  plundered,  and  slew,  till  forbearance  seemed 
"  no  longer  a  virtue,  and  nothing  but  the  grace  of  God  without 
"  measure  could  support  men  under  such  trials." 

*  The  Mormon  historian's  note — not  the  Author's. 


HOW  THE  D UNITES  GOT  THEIR  NAME. 


93 


The  intelligent  Mormon  knows  to-day  tliat  tliongli  there 
may  be  no  hona  fide  organization  called  the  Danites,  there  have 
been  in  church  fellowship,  from  the  days  of  Avard  np  to  the 
present,  men  who  have  done  the  deeds  charged  to  the  Danites, 
ready  to  execute  the  dirtiest  and  most  diabolical  plans  that 
ever  human  or  demoniac  vindictiveness  could  conceive. 

Elder  John  Hyde,  in  his  work  upon  Mormonism,*'^  published 
fifteen  years  ago,  believing  in  the  existence  of  the  Danite  Band, 
gives  the  following  suggestion  as  to  the  origin  of  its  name : 

"  When  the  citizens  of  CarroU  and  Davies  counties,  Mo.,  began  to 
threaten  the  Mormons  with  expulsion  in  1838,  a  '  death  society '  was  or- 
ganized under  the  direction  of  Sidney  Kigdon,  and  with  the  sanction  of 
Smith.  Its  first  captain  was  Captain  '  Fearnaught,'  alias  David  Patten,  an 
apostle.  Its  object  was  the  punishment  of  the  obnoxious.  Some  time 
elapsed  before  finding  a  suitable  name.  They  desired  one  that  should 
seem  to  combine  spiritual  authority  with  a  suitable  sound.  Micah  iv.  13 
furnished  the  first  name :  *  Arise  and  thresh,  O  daughter  of  Zion  ;  for  I  will 
'  make  thy  horn  iron  and  thy  hoofs  brass  ;  and  thou  shalt  beat  in  pieces 
'  many  people ;  and  I  will  consecrate  their  gain  unto  the  Lord  of  the 
'  whole  earth.'  This  furnished  them  with  a  pretext ;  it  accurately  described 
their  intentions,  and  they  called  themselves  the  ^  Daughters  of  Zion.' 
Some  ridicule  was  made  at  these  bearded  and  bloody  *  Daughters,'  and 
the  name  did  not  sit  easily.  *  Destroying  Angels  '  came  next ;  the  *  Big 
*  fan  of  the  thresher  that  should  thoroughly  purge  the  floor  '  was  tried  and 
dropped.  Genesis  xlix.  17  furnished  the  name  that  tliey  finally  assumed. 
The  verse  is  quite  significant :  "  Dan  shall  be  a  serpent  by  the  way,  an 
^  adder  in  the  path  that  biteth  the  horse's  heels  so  that  his  rider  shall  fall 
'  backward.'  The  *  Sons  of  Dan '  was  the  style  they  adopted,  and  many 
have  been  the  times  that  they  have  been  adders  in  the  path,  and  many  a 
man  has  fallen  backward  and  has  been  seen  no  more." 

Joseph  and  the  Church  withdrew  fellowship  from  Avard, 
his  Danite  organizations  were  broken  up,  his  teachings  were 
disavowed ;  he  shook  hands  with  the  mob,  and  asserted  that 
Danitism  in  tlie  Church  was  a  fact.  That  such  an  organization 
exists  to-day  is  believed  by  many,  and  that  such  sentiments 
have  been  entertained  by  the  fanatical,  and  have  been  in  some 
degree  executed  by  the  desperate,  there  are  many  reasons  for 
believing.  Brigham  himself  contributes  the  following  confirma- 
tion : 

*  "  Mormonism  ;  Its  Leaders  and  Designs,"  pp.  104-5. 


94 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


"If  men  come  here  and  do  not  behave  themselves,  they  will  not  only- 
find  the  Danites,  whom  they  talk  so  much  about,  biting  the  horses'  heels, 
but  the  scoundrels  will  find  something  liting  their  heels.  In  my  plain  re- 
marks I  merely  call  things  by  their  own  names."  * 

With  the  documents  of  such  men  as  Marsh,  Hyde,  and 
others  in  their  possession,  the  people  in  Missouri  were  prepared 
to  believe  every  report  against  the  Mormons,  and  the  mob 
leaders  were  not  slow  to  supply  sensational  rumours.  The 
following  is  a  fair  specimen  of  the  means  used  to  rally  the  peo- 
ple : 

Carrollton,  Missofri,  October  2Uh,  1838. 

"  SrR — We  were  informed  last  night  by  an  express  from  Ray  county 
that  Captain  Bogart  and  all  his  company,  amounting  to  between  fifty  and 
sixty  men,  were  massacred  by  the  Mormons  at  Buncombe,  twelve  miles 
north  of  Richmond,  except  three.  This  statement  you  may  rely  on  as 
being  true,  and  last  night  they  expected  Richmond  to  be  laid  in  ashes 
this  morning.  We  could  distinctly  hear  cannon,  and  we  know  the  Mor- 
mons had  one  in  then-  possession.  Richmond  is  about  twenty-five  miles 
west  of  this  place  on  a  straight  line.  We  know  not  the  hour  or  minute 
we  will  be  laid  in  ashes — our  country  is  ruined — for  God's  sake  give  us 
assistance  as  quick  as  possible. 

"  Yours,  etc.,  Barshel  Woods. 

Joseph  Dickson.'' 

Nothing  of  this  kind  occurred,  nor  anything  out  of  which 
to  fabricate  such  a  report.  Up  to  the  date  of  that  communi- 
cation, Captain  Bogart  and  the  Mormons  had  not  met  in  hos- 
tility. 

Captain  Bogart  with  a  militia  company  were  "  ranging  " 
the  northern  part  of  Kay  county  for  the  purpose  of  preventing 
any  invasion  of  that  county  by  armed  men.  He  had  taken 
three  Mormon  prisoners  that  morning,  together  with  all  the 
horses  and  arms  he  could  reach.  News  of  this  was  brought  to 
Far  "West,  and  the  Mormon  county  Judge — Higbee — ordered 
Colonel  Hinkle  to  send  out  a  company  of  men  to  retake  the 
prisoners  and  disperse  the  mob.  Captain  David  W.  Patten,  the 
Mormon  apostle,  who  had  earned  the  title  of  "  Captain  Fear- 
"  naught,"  with  seventy-five  volunteers,  left  Far  West  at  mid- 
night and  reached  the  camp  of  Bogart  on  Crooked  Kiver  be- 
fore daylight.    As  a  portion  of  his  company  advanced,  the 

*  Deseret  News^  vol.  V.,  p.  143, 


THE  APOSTLE  PATTEN  KILLED. 


95 


picket  fired  and  killed  a  Mormon.  It  was  yet  dark,  but  the 
Bogart  company  had  the  advantage  of  position,  and  the  first 
rays  of  the  rising  sun  were  in  their  favour.  Their  fire  was  well 
directed,  while  the  Mormons  could  only  see  indistinctly  west- 
ward. Several  of  the  Mormons  fell;  but  Captain  Patten 
rushed  forward  with  the  cry  of  "  God  and  Liberty ! "  The 
enemy  was  routed,  but  at  that  instant  one  of  the  mob  wheeled 
and  shot  Patten,  who  fell,  mortally  wounded.  Three  of  the 
Mormons  were  killed,  nine  wounded.  Captain  Bogart  lost  one 
man  only. 

The  news  of  the  fight  spread  like  wildfire  and  with  the 
grossest  exaggerations.  One  of  the  men  under  Bogart's  com- 
mand rushed  into  Lexington  with  the  news  that  ten  of  his  com- 
rades were  killed  and  the  rest  taken  prisoners,  and  that  Rich- 
mond was  to  be  burned  that  night.^  The  women  and  children 
fled  from  Richmond,  and  the  fighting  men  immediately  rushed 
to  arms.  Runners  were  dispatched  in  every  direction  for 
men,  and  an  express  was  forwarded  urgently  requesting  assist- 
ance. The  Mormons  were  now  represented  as  "  infuriated 
"  fanatics,"  and  they  were  to  be  "  exterminated  or  expelled 
"  the  State  en  masse.^^ 

*  When  this  Bogart  first  made  his  appearance  he  was  the  leader  of  a  mob,  but 
the  mob  was  organized  and  became  part  of  the  mihtia,  and  Bogart  became  a  cap 
tain.  The  dignity  of  office,  however,  changed  in  nothing  the  nature  of  the  man. 
On  one  occasion  "Brother  "  Charles  C.  Rich,  on  the  part  of  the  Mormons,  volun 
teered  under  a  flag  of  truce  to  convey  two  militip.  oflicers,  who  had  been  captured, 
into  their  own  camp.  They  were  met  by  Bogart,  who,  while  receiving  the  prisoners, 
reproached  Rich  for  being  concerned  in  the  fight  at  Crooked  River.  Jlich  declined 
discussion,  as  at  the  time  his  sole  duty  was  the  delivery  of  the  officers.  As  he  re- 
turned, however,  Bogart  drew  his  pistol,  and,  notwithstanding  the  white  flag  was 
still  in  Rich's  handa,  deliberately  fired  upon  him  when  he  had  not  gone  six  paces 
from  the  place  of  interview. 

Bogart  was  perfectly  capable  of  causing  the  circulation  of  just  such  rumours  as 
roused  the  whole  State  to  demand  the  expulsion  of  the  Mormons. 


• 


CHAPTEE  XYI. 


EXPULSrON  OR  EXTEEMINATION,— Terrible  Excitement  tlirougliout  Missouri 
— The  Country  in  Arms — General  Clark  placed  in  Command  of  the  State  Militia — 
The  Governor's  Order  for  the  Expulsion  of  the  Saints— Brutality  of  the  Mob — 
Horrible  Massacre  of  Unoffending  Mormons — Murder  of  Women  and  Children — 
The  Narrative  of  an  Eye-Witness. 

On  tlie  strength  of  tlie  representations  made  in  Davies 
county,  tlie  Governor,  on  the  26th  of  October,  issued  an  order 
to  General  John  B.  Clark  of  the  First  Division,  Missouri 
Militia,  to  raise  four  hundred  men  from  each  of  five  divisions 
of  the  militia  of  the  State,  and  take  the  field  with  all  the  trap- 
pings and  paraphernalia  of  war.  The  Governor  had  not  yet 
heard  the  story  of  the  reported  massacre  of  Bogart's  company. 
The  next  day,  when  the  intelligence  arrived,  upon  no  other 
evidence  than  this  report,  which  subsequently  proved  to  be 
without  a  particle  of  truth,  he  ordered  the  expulsion  of  the 
Mormons  from  the  State.  The  following  is  the  official  docu- 
ment which  he  issued  : 

"  Headqtjarters  Militia,  City  of  Jefferson-,  October  27^^,  1838. 

"  Sir — Since  the  order  of  the  morning  to  you,  directing  you  to  cause 
four  liundred  mounted  men  to  be  raised  witliin  your  division,  I  have  re- 
ceived, by  Amos  Rees,  Esquire,  and  Wiley  S.  Williams,  Esquire,  one  of  my 
aides^  information  of  the  most  appalling  character,  which  changes  the  v/hole 
face  of  things  and  places  the  Mormons  in  the  attitude  of  open  and  avowed 
d  efiance  of  the  laws,  and  of  having  made  open  war  upon  the  people  of  this 
State.  Your  orders  are,  therefore,  to  hasten  your  operations  and  endeavour 
to  reach  Richmond,  in  Ray  county,  with  all  possible  speed.  The  Mormons 
must  be  treated  as  enemies,  and  must  1)6  exterminated^  or  driven  from  the 
State  if  necessary  for  the  public  good.  These  outrages  are  beyond  all  de- 
scription. If  you  can  increase  your  force,  you  are  authorized  to  do  so  to 
any  extent  you  may  think  necessary.  I  have  just  issued  orders  to  Major 
General  Wallock,  of  Marion  county,  to  raise  five  hundred  men,  to  march 


/ 


If* 


TO  BE  EXTERMINATED  OR  EXPELLED. 


99 


them  to  the  northern  part  of  Davies,  and  there  to  unite  with  General 
Doniphan,  of  Clay,  who  has  been  ordered  with  five  hundred  men  to  pro- 
ceed to  the  same  point  for  the  purpose  of  intercepting  the  retreat  of  the 
Mormons  to  the  north.  They  have  been  directed  to  communicate  with 
you  by  express  ;  you  can  also  communicate  with  them  if  you  find  it  neces- 
sary. Instead,  therefore,  of  proceeding,  as  before  directed,  to  reinstate  the 
citizens  of  Davies  in  their  homes,  you  will  proceed  immediately  to  Rich- 
mond, and  there  operate  against  the  Mormons.  Brigadier-General  Parks, 
of  Ray,  has  been  ordered  to  have  four  hundred  men  of  his  brigade  in 
readiness  to  join  you  at  Richmond.  The  whole  force  will  be  placed  under 
your  command. 

"  L.  W.  BoGGS,  Governor  and  Commander-in-Chief. 
"To  General  Clark." 

The  whole  country  was  in  a  terrible  state  of  excitement, 
and  one  by  one  the  quasi  friends  of  the  Mormons  were  forced 
to  take  sides  for  them  or  against  them.  Some  cowardly  breth- 
ren followed  the  example  of  the  "  apostate  "  apostles,  and 
that  increased  the  conviction  of  the  Missoiirians  that  the  Mor- 
mons were  unfit  to  live  among  them.  Volunteers  rushed  to 
the  standard  of  the  militia  generals,  and  mobocracy  was  now 
legalized.  There  were  burning  and  destruction  of  property 
everywhere.  General  Atchison,  in  the  moment  of  trial,  also 
turned  against  the  Mormons,  and,  with  General  Lucas,  urged 
the  commander-in-chief  to  come  to  the  seat  of  war  "  immedi- 
ately, "for  the  Mormons  had  committed  outrages  which  ren- 
"  dered  civil  war  inevitable.  They  had  set  the  laws  of  the 
"  country  at  defiance,  and  were  in  open  rebellion."  Such  lan- 
guage from  General  Atchison,  who  had  before  done  his  utmost 
to  defend  Joseph  and  the  Mormons  from  the  attacks  of  the 
mob,  confirmed  more  and  more  their  enemies  as  to  the  propri- 
ety of  what  was  being  done,  and  increased  the  determination 
to  expel  them  from  the  State.  Of  course  the  Mormons  were 
nob  slow  to  find  a  reason  for  the  defection  of  General  Atchison 
— his  popularity  was  at  stake.  But,  if  such  had  been  the  incen- 
tive, it  was  now  too  late  to  change.  The  Governor  had  the 
day  before  superseded  him  by  the  appointment  of  General 
Clark  to  the  supreme  command,  on  learning  which,  some  days 
after,  he  resided  his  command  and  retired  from  the  war. 

General  Clark  was  eminently  fitted  to  carry  out  the  Gover- 
nor's plans  of  extermination  or  expulsion ;  he  was  in  perfect 


100 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


harmony  with  his  Excellency  from  the  first  outbreak  of  the 
trouble.  General  Atchison's  first  reports,  favourable  to  the 
Mormons,  induced  the  conclusion  that  he  was  unsuited  for  the 
radical  work  that  was  determined  upon.  Atchison  had  seen 
the  facts,  and  his  personal  acquaintance  with  the  Mormon 
leaders  had  too  easily  impressed  him. 

The  mob  and  militia,  before  General  Clark  arrived,  had  in- 
creased  to  about  twenty-five  hundred,  and  encamped  at  Rich- 
mond. He  was  on  his  way  with  about  a  thousand  more.  The 
work  to  be  accomplished  was  now  commanded  by  the  Gover- 
nor, the  men  in  arms  were  constituted  a  militia,  and  from  them 
there  was  no  mercy  to  be  expected.  The  tug  of  war  had  come 
and  the  brutality  of  vindictiveness  had  full  license.  On  the 
30th  of  October  a  body  of  the  militia  under  the  command  of 
Colonel  Ashley,  said  to  have  been  between  two  and  three  hun- 
dred men,  began  the  savage  work  at  Haun's  Mills,  on  Shoal 
Creek,  in  the  eastern  part  of  Carroll  county.  This  body  of  men 
was  under  the  immediate  command  of  Captain  Nehemiah 
Comstock,  who  had  given  assurances  the  previous  day  that  the 
Mormons  there  would  be  protected  from  the  attacks  of  the 
mob  that  were  threatening  to  destroy  their  property.  Com- 
stock had  now  received  a  copy  of  the  Governor's  order  of  exter- 
mination from  the  colonel,  and  with  that  he  commenced  the 
bloody  work. 

A  thrilling  statement  of  this  terrible  butchery  is  made  by 
Joseph  Young  (brother  of  Brigham),  who  was  an  eye-witness. 
Joseph  is  a  truthful,  honest,  quiet,  unoffending  man,  esteemed 
and  beloved  by  Gentile  as  well  as  Saint.  "With  his  family  and 
others  he  had  just  reached  the  home  of  the  Saints  in  Missouri, 
from  Kirtland.  He  had  been  over  three  months  en  route^  and 
had  not  yet  reached  the  "  headquarters  "  of  Zion.  As  he  neared 
the  goal  of  his  hopes  and  prayers,  the  mob  prohibited  his  ad- 
vance, and  he,  with  others,  temporarily  halted  at  Haun's  Mills 
the  day  preceding  the  tragedy.    His  statement  is  as  follows  : 

"  On  Tuesday,  the  30th,  that  bloody  tragedy  was  acted,  the  scenes  of 
which  I  will  never  forget.  More  than  three-fourths  of  the  day  had  passed 
in  tranquillity  as  smiling  as  the  preceding  one.  I  think  thei  e  was  no  indi- 
vidual in  our  company  that  was  apprised  of  the  sudden  and  awful  fate 
that  hung  over  our  heads  like  an  overwhelming  torrent  which  was  to 


THE  HAUN'S  MILL  MASSACRE. 


101 


change  the  prospects,  the  feelings  and  -circumstances  of  about  thirty  fami- 
lies. The  banks  of  Blioal  Creek  on  either  side  teemed  with  children  sporting 
and  playing  while  their  mothers  were  engaged  with  domestic  employments, 
and  their  fathers  employed  in  guarding  the  mills  and  other  property,  while 
others  were  engaged  in  gathering  in  their  crops  for  their  consumption. 
The  weather  was  yery  pleasant,  the  sun  shone  clear,  all  was  tranquil,  and 
no  one  expressed  any  apprehension  of  the  awful  crisis  that  was  near  us — 
even  at  our  doors. 

^'  It  was  about  four  o'clock,  while  sitting  in  my  cabin,  with  my  babe  in 
my  arms,  and  my  wife  standing  by  my  side,  the  door  being  open,  I  cast 
my  eyes  on  the  opposite  bank  of  Shoal  Creek,  and  saw  a  large  company  of 
armed  men  on  horses  directing  their  course  towards  the  mills  with  all  pos- 
sible speed.  As  they  advanced  through  the  scattering  trees  that  stood  on 
the  side  of  the  prairie,  they  seemed  to  form  themselves  into  a  three-square 
position,  forming  a  vanguard  in  front. 

"  At  this  moment,  David  Evans,  seeing  the  superiority  of  their  num- 
bers (there  being  two  hundred  and  forty  of  them,  according  to  their  own 
account),  swung  his  hat  and  cried  for  peace.  This  not  being  heeded,  they 
continued  to  advance,  and  their  leader,  Mr.  Nehemiah  Comstock,  fired  a 
gun,  which  was  followed  by  a  solemn  pause  of  ten  or  twelve  seconds,  when 
all  at  once  they  discharged  about  one  hundred  rifles,  aiming  at  a  black- 
smith's shop  into  which  our  friends  had  fled  for  safety ;  and  charged  up 
to  the  shop,  the  cracks  of  which  between  the  logs  were  sufficiently  large 
to  enable  them  to  aim  directly  at  the  bodies  of  those  who  had  there  fled 
for  refuge  from  the  fire  of  their  murderers.  There  were  several  families 
tented  in  rear  of  the  shop,  whose  lives  were  exposed,  and  amidst  a  shower 
of  bullets  fled  to  the  woods  in  different  directions." 

The  narrator  and  others  fled  and  secreted  themselves  in  a 
thicket  of  bushes  till  tlie  militia  had  retired  and  darkness  con- 
cealed them.    Of  the  results  of  the  firing,  lie  says  : 

"  After  daylight  appeared,  some  four  or  five  men,  with  myself,  who 
had  escaped  with  our  lives  from  the  horrid  massacre,  repaired  as  soon  as 
possible  to  the  mills  to  learn  the  condition  of  our  friends,  whose  fate  we 
had  but  too  truly  anticipated.  When  we  arrived  at  the  house  of  Mr. 
Haun,  we  found  Mr.  Merrick's  body  lying  in  rear  of  the  house,  Mr.  Mc- 
Bride's  in  front,  literally  mangled  from  head  to  foot.  We  were  informed 
by  Miss  Kebecca  Judd,  who  was  a:i  eye-witness,  that  he  v/as  shot  with  his 
own  gun  after  he  had  given  it  up,  and  then  cut  to  pieces  with  a  corn-cut- 
ter by  a  Mr.  Rogers,  of  Davies  county,  who  keeps  a  ferry  on  Grand  River, 
and  who  has  since  repeatedly  boasted  of  this  act  of  savage  brutality.  Mr. 
York's  body  we  found  in  the  house,  and  after  viewing  these  corpses,  we 
immediately  went  to  the  blacksmith's  shop,  where  we  found  nine  of  our 
friends,  eight  of  whom  were  already  dead ;  the  other,  Mr,  Cox,  of  Indiana, 
was  struggling  in  the  agonies  of  death,  and  soon  expired.    We  immedi- 


102 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


ately  prepared,  and  carried  them  to  the  place  of  interment.  This  last 
office  of  kindness  due  to  the  relics  of  the  departed  was  not  attended  with 
the  customary  ceremonies  or  decency,  for  we  were  in  jeopardy,  every  mo- 
ment expecting  to  be  fired  upon  by  the  mob,  who  we  supposed  to  be  ly- 
ing in  ambush  waiting  for  the  first  opportunity  to  despatch  the  remaining 
few  who  were  providentially  preserved  from  the  slaughter  of  the  preced- 
ing day.  However,  we  accomplished  without  molestation  this  painful 
task.  The  place  of  burying  was  a  vault  in  the  ground,  formerly  intended 
for  a  well,  into  which  we  threw  the  bodies  of  our  friends  promiscuously. 
Among  those  slain  I  will  mention  Sardius  Smith,  son  of  Warren  Smith, 
about  nine  years  old,  who  through  fear  had  crawled  under  the  bellows  in 
the  shop,  where  he  remained  till  the  massacre  was  over,  when  he  was  dis- 
covered by  a  Mr.  Glaze,  of  Carroll  county,  who  presented  his  rifle  near  the 
boy's  head  and  literally  blowed  ofl"  the  upper  part  of  it.  Mr.  Stanley,  of 
Carroll  county,  told  me  afterwards  that  Glaze  boasted  of  his  fiend-like 
mm^der  and  heroic  deed  all  over  the  country. 

The  number  of  killed  and  mortally  wounded  in  this  wanton  slaughter 
was  eighteen  or  nineteen.  .  .  .  Miss  Mary  Stedwell,  while  fleeing,  was 
shot  through  the  hand,  and,  fainting,  fell  over  a  log,  into  which  they  shot 
upwards  of  twenty  balls. 

To  finish  this  work  of  destruction,  this  band  of  murderers,  composed 
of  men  from  Davies,  Livingston,  Ray,  Carroll,  and  Chariton  counties,  led 
by  some  of  the  principal  men  of  that  section  of  the  upper  country.  .  .  . 
proceeded  to  rob  the  houses,  wagons,  and  tents  of  bedding  and  clothing ; 
drove  off  horses  and  wagons,  leaving  widows  and  orphans  destitute  of  the 
necessaries  of  life,  and  even  stripped  the  clothing  from  the  bodies  of  the 
slain.  According  to  their  own  account,  they  fired  seven  rounds  in  this 
awful  butchery,  making  upwards  of  sixteen  hundred  shots  at  a  little  com- 
pany of  men  about  thirty  in  number,  etc.,  etc." 

A  younger  brother  of  the  boy  who  was  dragged  from  un- 
derneath the  bellows,  and  killed,  was  wounded  in  the  firing, 
but  lay  perfectly  still  and  feigned  himself  dead.  When  the 
mob  left,  he  was  the  only  one  that  answered  to  the  call  of  his 
mother.  His  father  and  brother  were  both  lying  dead  beside 
him.^    He  is  now  in  Utah,  a  very  respectable  citizen. 

*  The  mother  of  this  young  man,  at  a  recent  meeting  of  Mormon  women  in 
Salt  Lake  City,  related  substantially  the  s^me  story,  and  added  that  she  aided  to 
consign  seventeen  of  the  bodies  into  a  dry,  deep  well,  "  rather  than  leave  the  dead 
to  the  fiends  who  had  murdered  them." 


CHAPTEE  XYII. 

THE  PROPHET  EESOLVED  TO  FIGHT  IT  OUT.— Faith  straggles  witli  Fate 
— Treason  in  the  Camp  of  the  Saints— Joseph  and  the  leading  Mormons  deliv- 
ered over  to  Gen.  Lucas — The  Prisoners  tried  by  Court-Martial — Sentenced  to 
be  shot  next  Morning — Gen.  Doniphan  protests  against  their  Execution — The 
Prophet  and  his  Brethren  sent  to  Jail — The  Eevelations  contradicted  by  Facts. 

0^  the  day  of  the  Haun's  Mills  massacre,  the  Governors 
army  was  surrounding  Far  West,  and  camped  within  a  mile  of 
that  place  for  the  night.  The  militia  of  Far  West  (Mormons) 
tlirew  up  some  temporary  fortifications  through  the  night,  and 
the  women  gathered  their  most  valuable  effects,  anticipating  a 
fight  in  the  morning  and  probably  a  hasty  departure.  The 
Mormons  evidently  concluded  to  fight  it  out,  though  the  Gen- 
tile militia  outnumbered  them  five  to  one.  It  was  at  this  time 
that  General  Atchison  retired  from  command. 

With  such  disparity  of  numbers  and  equipments,  the  Mor- 
mons could  not  have  entertained  any  great  hopes  of  success. 
The  Prophet  doubtless  counted  upon  heavenly  aid  as  well  as 
upon  the  desperation  of  his  brethren — fighting  as  they  were 
for  their  families  and  firesides.  It  is  an  ever-recurring  feature 
in  religious  history  that  repeated  evidences  of  defeat  are  never 
accepted  as  lessons  of  premonition.  On  the  contrary,  as  failure 
succeeds  failure  and  the  cause  seems  hopelessly  lost,  faith  rises 
with  increased  grandeur,  and  the  believer  expects  every  instant 
to  witness  a  Eed  Sea  victory  over  again.  The  whole  spirit  and 
genius  of  Joseph's  life  was  this  abounding  confidence. 

At  this  time  temporary  success  to  the  Mormons  was  possi- 
ble; but  it  would  have  demanded  an  unfailing  series  of  miracles 
to  have  made  it  available.  The  whole  country  was  in  sympa- 
thy with  the  mob,  the  militia,  and  the  Governor.  Temporary 
7  ' 


104 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


defeat  then  to  the  militia  was  certain  to  have  insured  their 
ultimate  success.  Unless  the  heavens  had  truly  decreed  the 
overthrow  of  all  things  that  opposed  the  Saints,  there  was  lit- 
tle chance  of  victory,  and  the  ''treason"  of  Colonel  Hinkle 
was  from  that  standpoint  an  opportune  ram  in  the  thicket. 

This  officer  was  an  elder  in  the  Church  and  in  the  command 
of  the  Caldwell  militia.  He  had  faced  the  mob  when  it  was 
purely  mob,  and  had  exhibited  no  lack  of  personal  devotion. 
When  he  saw  the  Governor's  officers  surrounding  Far  West,  it 
is  due  to  him  to  suppose  that  his  time  for  second  sober  thought 
had  been  reached.  He  sought  an  interview  with  General  Lucas 
on  the  morning  of  the  31st.  The  General  and  the  principal 
officers  met  him.  Col.  Hinkle  wanted  to  know  if  there  could 
not  be  some  compromise  or  settlement  of  the  difficulty  without 
a  resort  to  arms.  General  Lucas  made  him  acquainted  with 
the  Governor's  orders  for  extermination  or  expulsion  from  the 
State,  and  submitted  to  him  the  following  propositions : 

1.  To  give  up  their  [the  Church's]  leaders  to  be  tried  and  punished. 

2.  To  make  an  appropriation  of  their  property,  all  who  have  taken 
up  arms,  to  the  payment  of  their  debts,  and  indemnify  for  damage  done 
by  them. 

3.  That  the  balance  should  leave  the  State,  and  be  protected  out  by 
the  militia,  but  to  be  permitted  to  remain  under  protection  until  further 
orders  were  received  from  the  Commander-in-Chief. 

4.  To  give  up  the  arms  of  every  description,  to  be  receipted  for. 

Colonel  Hinkle  asked  for  time  to  consider  these  proposi- 
tions, and  General  Lucas  gave  him  till  the  following  morning 
to  decide,  requiring  of  him  in  the  mean  time  to  deliver  over 
Joseph  Smith,  Junr.,  Sidney  Rigdon,  Lyman  Wight,  Parley  P. 
Pratt,  and  George  W.  Robinson,  as  hostages  for  his  faithful 
compliance  with  the  terms.  On  his  part  the  General  pledged 
himself  and  his  officers  that  in  the  event  of  the  Colonel  declin- 
ing to  accept  those  terms,  the  hostages  should  be  returned  in 
the  morning ;  but  in  case  the  terms  were  accepted,  that  the 
hostages  would  be  held  for  trial  as  a  part  of  the  first  stipula- 
tion. To  bring  the  persons  called  for.  Col.  Hinkle  was  allowed 
till  "  one  hour  by  sun  in  the  evening,"  and  the  troops  were  or- 
dered to  be  ready  to  march  against  Far  West  half  an  hour 
earlier.    The  afternoon  was  already  advanced. 


"TREASON"  OF  COLONEL  HINKLE. 


105 


Colonel  Hinkle  waited  upon  the  Prophet  and  his  friends 
named,  and  informed  them  that  the  officers  of  the  militia  de- 
sired to  talk  with  them,  hoping  that  the  difficulty  which  threat- 
ened would  be  settled  without  having  occasion  to  carry  into 
effect  the  exterminating  orders  of  the  Governor.  Joseph  and  his 
friends  immediately  complied  with,  this  request,  and,  accompanied 
by  Colonel  Hinkle,  went  out  to  the  place  of  rendezvous  with 
General  Lucas.    They  were  immediately  seized  as  prisoners. 

It  is  asserted  by  the  Mormon  historian  that  Col.  Hinkle, 
when  he  met  with  General  Lucas,  said  :  "  Here  are  the  prison- 
"  ers  I  agreed  to  deliver  to  you."  Henceforth  he  was  branded 
as  a  traitor  by  the  Mormons. 

With  a  full  knowledge  of  the  facts  occurring  at  the  time,  a 
modification  of  this  charge  may  be  entertained.  Col.  Hinkle 
was  evidently  satisfied  that  "the  Lord  "  was  not  going  to  fight 
the  battles  of  the  Saints,  and  he  was  as  fully  convinced  that 
General  Lucas  would  fight  those  of  Missouri.  Aware  of  the 
numerical  superiority  and  advantages  of  his  enemies,  with  no 
possibility  of  final  success  on  the  part  of  his  friends,  there  was 
nothing  left  him  but  to  surrender.  Most  persons  would  have 
^preferred  to  have  acquainted  Joseph  and  the  leading  Mormons 
with  the  terms  submitted  by  the  Missouri  generals,  and  to 
have  left  the  decision  and  responsibility  with  them;  Colonel 
Hinkle's  contrary  course  was  probably  prompted  by  the  con- 
viction that  the  Saints  would  never  consent  to  give  up  their 
leaders,  and  that  within  two  hours  the  fight  would  commence 
in  which  helpless  women  and  children  would  be  slaughtered  in 
the  general  vengeance  with  which  they  were  threatened. 
Colonel  Hinkle  had  previously  exhibited  no  cowardice;  he 
gained  nothing  by  giving  up  the  leaders,  but  knew  well  that 
he  would  lose  all  by  doing  so,  and  from  the  fact  that  the  Mor- 
mon authorities,  with  all  their  undying  hate  against  him,  have 
never  affixed  other  crime  to  his  name,  it  is  pretty  certain  that 
Colonel  Hinkle  was  not  corrupted  by  the  hopes  of  personal 
advantages. 

The  Prophet  and  his  associates  were  marched  through  the 
lines  of  the  militia  amid  yells  and  whoopings  and  general  re- 
joicing. At  night  they  were  forced  to  make  their  couch  on 
the  earth  without  either  mattress  or  covering,  much  to  their 


106 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


chagrin,  and  correspondingly  to  the  enjoyment  of  the  Missouri- 
ans.  A  Mormon  of  the  name  of  Carey  had  "  got  his  skull 
"  split  "  in  the  morning  of  this  day  j  no  medical  attendance  or 
anything  to  assuage  the  sufferings  of  this  unfortunate  were  per- 
mitted him,  but  in  the  evening  he  was  taken  home  by  his 
brethren  and  died  in  a  few  hours. 

Next  morning — ^November  1st — Joseph's  brother  Hyrum 
and  Amasa  Lyman  were  brought  into  camp,  and  a  court-mar- 
tial was  immediately  held,  composed  "  of  nineteen  militia  offi- 
'^cers,  and  seventeen  preachers  of  various  sects ^  who  had  served 
"  as  volunteers  against  the  Mormons,"  ^  and  the  Prophet  and 
his  associates  were  condemned  to  be  shot  in  the  public  square 
of  Far  West,  in  the  presence  of  their  families  and  friends  ! 

While  the  court-martial  was  being  held,  the  troops,  break- 
ing through  the  feeble  restraint  that  was  imposed  upon  them, 
committed  all  sorts  of  excesses  in  Far  West.  The  General  com- 
manding had  previously  demanded  the  arms  of  the  Mormons  ; 
they  were,  therefore,  now  helpless  and  unable  to  resist  the  in- 
sult and  outrage  of  their  women,  or  to  protect  their  own  lives. 

General  Doniphan  opposed  the  decision  of  the  court-mar- 
tial to  shoot  the  Prophet  and  the  leaders  of  the  Church,  and 
to  his  firmness  and  the  determination  that  neither  he  nor  his 
brigade  should  take  part  in  "  a  cold-blooded  murder,"  the 
lives  of  the  Mormon  chiefs  were,  fortunately  for  the  honour  of 
Missouri,  at  that  time  spared.f 

After  gratifying  his  troops  with  a  march  through  the  streets 
of  Far  West,  and  to  let  the  Mormons  see  their  force.  General 
Lucas  ordered  General  Wilson  to  escort  the  prisoners  to  Inde- 
pendence, Jackson  county,  the  headquarters  of  the  former. 
It  was  with  some  difiiculty  that  the  Mormon  prisoners  obtained 
permission  to  bid  good-bye  to  their  families ;  and,  that  over, 
they  were  hurried  away  from  their  destitute  families,  and  from 
the  afflicted  and  sadly  grieved  Saints. 

*  Rev.  Mr.  OaswelPs  "  Prophet  of  the  Nineteenth  Century,"  p.  1'78. 

f  "  This  is  the  same  Gen.  Doniphan  who,  as  colonel  of  a  regiment  of  Missouri 
volunteers-,  afterwards  conquered  Chihuahua,  and  gained  the  splendid  victories  of 
Bracito  and  Sacramento.  Among  all  the  officers  of  the  Missouri  militia  operating 
against  the  Mormons,  Gen.  Doniphan  was  the  only  one  who  boldly  denounced  the 
intended  assassination  of  the  prisoners  under  the  colour  of  law.  So  true  it  is  that 
the  truly  brave  man  is  most  apt  to  be  merciful  and  just." — "  History  of  Illinois,"  p.  260. 


THE  PROPHET  CONDEMNED  TO  BE  SHOT. 


107 


At  a  time  of  sucli  deep  affliction  it  would  be  heartless  cru- 
elly to  mock  the  faith  of  any  sincere  people,  such  as  the  Mor- 
mons have  proved  themselves  to  be ;  but  in  an  impartial  his- 
tory of  Mormonism  it  is  but  proper  that  a  "  revelation,"  given 
only  six  months  and  a  few  days  preceding  that  event,  concern- 
ing that  same  Far  West,  should  be  placed  together  with  the 
narrative  of  the  final  expulsion  of  the  Saints  from  that  highly 
favoured  land. 

"  Let  the  city,  Far  West,  be  a  holy  and  consecrated  land  unto  me,  and 
it  shall  be  called  most  holy,  for  the  ground  upon  which  thou  standest  is 
holy  ;  therefore,  I  command  you  to  build  a  house  unto  me,  for  the  gather- 
ing together  of  my  Saints  that  they  may  worship  me ;  and  let  there  be  a 
beginning  of  this  work,  and  a  foundation,  and  a  preparatory  work  this 
following  summer,  and  let  the  beginning  be  made  on  the  fourth  day  of 
July  next ;  and  from  that  time  forth  let  my  people  labour  diligently  to 
build  a  house  unto  my  name,  and  in  one  year  from  this  day  let  them  re- 
commence laying  the  foundation  of  my  house ;  thus  let  them  from  that 
time  forth  labour  diligently  until  it  shall  be  finished  from  the  corner-stone 
""hereof  unto  the  top  thereof,  until  there  shall  not  anything  remain  that  is 
not  finished/'  * 

In  their  eflforts  at  harmonizing  the  failures  of  revelation 
with  facts,  the  Mormon  Apostles  apply  that  other  convenient 
revelation  that  tells  them  how,  when  "  the  Lord  "  commands 
the  Saints  to  do  anything  and  their  enemies  hinder  them,  He 
will  not  require  it  at  their  hands.  This  explanation  is  good,  so 
far  as  settling  with  whom  rests  the  responsibility,  but  it  changes 
in  nothing  the  inference  here  of  "  the  Lord's  "  ignorance  of  the 
forthcoming  expulsion  of  the  Saints  from  Missouri,  and  His 
utter  inability  to  prevent  it.  At  the  time  when  this  revelation 
was  given,  the  Prophet  Joseph  was  in  excellent  and  robust 
faith,  and  his  sentiments  on  that  occasion  express  his  sanguine- 
ness  in  the  future.  In  the  same  revelation  he  calls  upon  the 
Saints  to — 

"  Arise  and  shine  forth,  that  thy  light  may  be  a  standard  for  the  na- 
tions, and  that  the  gathering  together  upon  the  land  of  Zion,  and  upon 
her  stakes,  may  be  for  a  defence,  and  for  a  refuge  from  the  storm,  and  from 
wrath  when  it  shall  be  poured  out  without  mixture  upon  the  whole  earth." 

*  "  Revelation  given  at  Far  West,  April  26,  1 838,  making  known  the  will  of  God 
concernincf      building  up  of  this  place  and  of  the  Lord''s  House^^''  etc. 


108 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


With  all  these  predictions  in  favour  of  the  future  great- 
ness of  Far  West,  and  the  glory  that  awaited  Independence  in 
the  erection  of  the  Great  Temple  that  was  to  be  "recom- 
"menced  and  continued  till  completion^^^  no  ordinary  men 
could  have  been  carried  away  prisoners  from  the  one  place  to 
the  other  without  strange  questionings  about  the  predictions 
of  the  modern  Prophet ;  but  Joseph  was  in  no  way  dis- 
couraged. 

On  the  way  to  Independence  some  of  the  brethren  were 
cast  down  and  disheartened.  On  the  second  morning  of  their 
travels  Joseph  cheered  them  with  a  revelation.  "  Be  of  good 
"  courage,  brethren,"  said  he ;  "  the  word  of  the  Lord  came 
"  to  me  last  night,  that  our  lives  should  be  given  to  us,  and 
"  that,  whatsoever  we  may  suffer  during  this  captivity,  not  one 
"of  our  lives  shall  be  taken." 

On  their  arrival  at  Independence  they  were  treated  kindly 
by  some  and  rudely  by  others.  Among  the  strangers  visiting 
the  Prophet  and  Apostles  some  woman  asked  questions.  This 
afforded  Joseph  the  opportunity  of  preaching  to  her  and  her 
companions,  which  the  Mormon  historian  claims  was  the  fulfil- 
ment of  a  prediction  "  that  a  sermon  should  be  preached  in 
"Jackson  county  by  one  of  our  elders  before  the  close  of 
"1838."  On  just  as  slight  a  foundation  has  the  fulfilment  of 
many  a  prediction  been  claimed. 


CHAPTEE  XVIII. 


THE  MISSOUEIANS  TEIUMPHANT.— Grandiloquent  Speech  of  Gen.  Clark- 
Mormons  ordered  to  leave  the  State— Examination  of  the  Prisoners— The  Prophet 
not  suhdued— The  Legislature  memorialized— The  Saints  wavering— Joseph  re- 
views the  Situation. 

General  Clark,  entrusted  with  the  superior  command  of 
the  militia  of  Missouri,  arrived  at  Far  West  on  the  ith  of  No- 
vember, too  late  to  participate  in  the  glories  of  General  Lucas. 
But  there  was  much  yet  to  be  done  to  carry  out  the  Governor's 
order  of  expulsion  or  extermination.  From  first  to  last,  the 
troops  sent  to  Far  West  under  the  different  commands  were 
probably  altogether  six  thousand  men.  Before  his  departure 
for  Independence,  General  Lucas  disbanded  nearly  all  the  mi- 
litia. General  Clark  arrived  with  sixteen  hundred  others.  The 
Mormon  militia  here,  about  five  hundred  in  number,  had  al- 
ready given  up  their  arms.  They  were  now  called  out  of  their 
houses  and  ordered  into  line.  From  a  paper  that  had  been 
furnished  to  General  Clark,  the  names  of  fifty-six  of  their  num- 
ber were  read,  and  as  they  answered  they  were  called  out  and 
sent  to  Eichmond  jail  (Ray  county),  without  being  informed  of 
what  they  were  accused.  Before  they  departed,  the  General 
made  the  following  speech  : 

"Gentlemen — You  whose  names  are  not  attached  to  this  list  of 
names,  will  now  have  the  privilege  of  going  to  your  fields,  and  of  provid- 
ing corn,  wood,  etc.,  for  your  families.  Those  who  are  now  taken  will  go 
from  this  to  prison,  be  tried,  and  receive  the  due  demerit  of  their  crimes ; 
but  you  (except  such  as  charges  may  hereafter  be  preferred  against)  are  at 
liberty  as  soon  as  the  troops  are  removed  that  now  guard  the  place,  which 
I  shall  cause  to  be  done  immediately.  It  now  devolves  upon  you  to  fulfil 
a  treaty  that  you  have  entered  into,  the  leading  items  of  which  I  shall 
now  lay  before  you.  The  first  requires  that  your  leading  men  be  given  up 


110 


THE  ROCKY  M0UNTAI2>  SAIKTS. 


to  be  tried  according  to  law  ;  this  you  have  already  complied  with.  The 
second  is  that  you  deliver  up  your  arms ;  this  has  been  attended  to.  The 
third  stipulation  is  that  you  sign  over  your  properties  to  defray  the  ex- 
penses of  the  war.  This  you  have  also  done.  Another  article  yet  remains 
for  you  to  comply  with,  and  that  is  that  you  leave  the  State  forthwith. 
And  whatever  may  be  your  feeling  concerning  this,  or  whatever  your  in- 
nocence, it  is  nothing  to  me.  General  Lucas  (whose  military  rank  is  equal 
with  mine)  has  made  this  treaty  with  you ;  I  approve  of  it.  I  should 
have  done  the  same  had  I  been  here.  I  am  therefore  determined  to  see  it 
.executed.  The  character  of  this  State  has  suffered  almost  beyond  re- 
demption, from  the  character,  conduct,  and  influence  that  you  have  ex- 
erted ;  and  we  deem  it  an  act  of  justice  to  restore  her  character  to  its 
former  standing  among  the  States  by  every  proper  means.  The  orders  of 
the  Governor  to  me  were  that  you  should  be  exterminated  and  not  allowed 
to  remain  in  the  State.  And  had  not  your  leaders  been  given  up,  and 
the  terms  of  the  treaty  complied  with,  before  this  time  you  and  your  fami- 
lies would  have  been  destroyed,  and  your  houses  in  ashes.  There  is  a 
discretionary  power  vested  in  my  hands,  which,  considering  your  circum- 
stances, I  shall  exercise  for  a  season.  You  are  indebted  to  me  for  this 
clemency.  I  do  not  say  that  you  shall  go  now,  but  you  must  not  think 
of  staying  here  another  season  or  of  putting  in  crops,  for  the  moment  you 
do  this  the  citizens  will  be  upon  you ;  and  if  I  am  called  here  again  in 
case  of  a  non-compliance  of  a  treaty  made,  do  not  think  that  I  sliall  do 
as  I  have  done  now.  You  need  not  expect  any  mercy,  but  extermination^ 
for  I  am  determined  the  Governor'' s  order  shall  he  executed.  As  for  your 
leaders,  do  not  think,  do  not  imagine  for  a  moment,  do  not  let  it  enter 
into  your  minds  that  they  will  be  delivered  and  restored  to  you  again,  for 
their  fate  is  Jixed,  their  die  is  cast,  their  doom  is  sealed,  I  am  sorry,  gen- 
tlemen, to  see  so  many  apparently  intelligent  men  found  in  the  situation 
that  you  are ;  and  oh  !  if  I  could  invoke  that  Great  Spirit,  the  unknown 
God,  to  rest  upon  and  deliver  you  from  that  awful  chain  of  superstition, 
and  liberate  you  from  those  fetters  of  fanaticism  with  which  you  are 
bound,  that  you  no  longer  do  homage  to  a  man.  I  would  advise  you  to 
scatter  abroad  and  never  organize  yourselves  with  bishops,  presidents, 
etc.,  lest  you  excite  the  jealousies  of  the  people,  and  subject  yourselves  to 
the  same  calamities  that  have  now  come  upon  you.  You  have  always 
been  the  aggressors,  you  have  brought  upon  yourselves  these  difficulties 
by  being  disaffected,  and  not  being  subject  to  rule.  And  my  advice  is 
that  you  become  as  other  citizens,  lest  by  a  recurrence  of  these  events  you 
bring  upon  yourselves  irretrievable  ruin." 

After  Joseph  had  been  with  his  fellow-prisoners  a  few 
days  in  Independence,  Colonel  Sterling  G.  Price  brought 
orders  from  General  Clark  and  took  them  to  Richmond,  Ray 
county.     There  they  were  chained  by  the  ankles  and  had 


GENERAL  CLARK'S  MAGNILOQUENT  SPEECH. 


Ill 


to  sleep  together  in  a  row  upon  their  backs  and  without  any 
covering. 

General  Clark  was  zealous  and  left  nothing  undone.  In  a 
dispatch  to  Governor  Boggs,  dated  November  10th,  he  reveals 
the  complexion  of  his  mind  on  the  Mormon  question  : 

"  There  is  no  crime,  from  treason  down  to  petit  larceny,  but  these  peo- 
ple, or  a  majority  of  them,  have  been  guilty  of — all,  too,  under  the  coun- 
sel of  Joseph  Smith,  Junr.,  the  Prophet.  They  have  committed  treason, 
murder,  arson,  burglary,  robbery,  larceny,  and  perjury.  They  have  soci- 
eties formed  under  the  most  binding  covenants  in  form  and  the  most  hor- 
rid oaths  to  circumvent  the  laws,  and  put  them  at  defiance ;  and  to  plun- 
der and  burn  and  murder,  and  divide  the  spoils  for  the  use  of  the 
Church."  * 

Everything  was  now  against  the  Mormons ;  the  leaders  of 
the  first  mob  had  triumphed,  and  they  were  now  sitting  in  judg- 
ment over  the  prisoners  and  dictating  terms  to  the  Saints.  The 
Governor  was  resolved  to  make  a  final  work  of  it.  He  in- 
structed General  Clark  "  to  settle  the  whole  matter  complete- 
ly." If  the  Mormons  as  a  body  were  disposed  to  vohmtarily 
leave  the  State,  he  was  to  favour  that  course  ;  but  upon  no  ac- 
count to  allow  "the  ringleaders  to  escape  the  punishment  they 
"  deserve."    They  were  to  be  made  an  example  to  the  others. 

General  Clark  strained  every  nerve  to  have  these  prisoners 
tried  before  a  court-martial ;  but  he  had  finally  to  remand 
them  to  Austin  A.  King,  of  the  Circuit  Court,  and  to  Adam 
Black,  that  justice  of  the  peace  whose  affidavit  against  Joseph 
and  Lyman  "Wight  was  the  commencement  of  their  troubles. 
The  examination  lasted  three  days ;  and  is  reported  by  the 
Mormons  to  have  been  a  mere  farce,  as  nearly  all  the  witnesses 
who  might  have  been  of  service  to  the  prisoners  were  thrust 
into  prison,  and  those  who  did  appear  in  their  behalf  were 
threatened,  intimidated,  and,  in  some  cases,  "  actually  run  out 

*  This  has  always  been  represented  by  the  Mormon  writers  as  a  totally  un- 
founded charge  and  the  work  of  a  bitter  partisan  seeking  the  blood  of  the  Saints  ; 
but  the  perusal  of  the  testimony  taken  before  Judge  Austin  A.  King,  at  that  very 
time,  supports  General  Clark  in  this  representation.  The  answer  of  a  Mormon 
apologist  that  the  testimony  referred  to  was  given  by  men  who  had  left  the  Church 
and  apostatized,  could  be  of  no  weight  with  him.  There  were  doubtless  exaggerations 
on  both  sides,  but  General  Clark's  letter  to  the  Governor  was  a  faithful  reflex  of  what 
he  heard ;  and  he  witnessed  enough  to  partially  confirm  it.    Vide  Senate  Document 


112 


THE  EOCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


"  of  the  court."  It  was  the  beginning  of  that  "  border  ruffianism  " 
that  afterwards  so  much  disgraced  both  Kansas  and  Missouri. 
At  the  close  of  the  examination  sixty  prisoners  were  "  honour- 
"  ably  acquitted,"  or  held  to  bail ;  but  the  Prophet,  his  brother 
flyrum,  Sidney  Eigdon,  Lyman  Wight,  Alexander  McKae, 
and  Caleb  Baldwin  were  sent  to  jail  in  Liberty,  Clay  county, 
to  await  their  trial  on  the  charges  of  treason  and  murder.*^ 
The  "treason,"  says  Joseph,  '^for  having  whipped  the  mob 
"  out  of  Davies  county  and  taking  their  cannon  from  them, 
"  and  '  murder,'  for  the  man  killed  in  the  Bogart  battle." 
Having  "  whipped  "  the  mob,  sounds  as  if  Joseph  hugely  en- 
joyed that  part  of  his  experience.  The  other  prisoners — 
Parley  P.  Pratt,  Morris  Phelps,  Luman  Gibbs,  Darwin  Chase 
and  Normon  Shearer,  were  placed  in  Eichmond  jail  to  await 
their  trial  on  the  same  charges. 

The  body  of  the  Saints  were  to  leave  the  State  in  the 
spring,  and  their  labours  were  devoted  to  preparation  for  that 
exclusively ;  but  it  was  exceedingly  difficult  to  procure  the 
necessary  means.  The  banditti  that  roamed  through  the  coun- 
ties where  the  Mormons  resided,  after  the  militia  was  dis- 
banded, swept  away  everything  that  was  valuable,  and  wan- 
tonly destroyed  what  they  could  not  use. 

Some  of  the  leading  Mormons  sent  a  memorial  to  the  State 
Legislature  representing  the  terribly  impoverished  condition 
of  the  Saints,  and  asking  for  redress  and  the  rescinding  of  the 
Governor's  order  of  expulsion.  The  documents  presented  by 
the  Mormons  were  fairly  dealt  with  by  many  members  of  the 
Legislature  who  were  ashamed  at  the  course  of  the  Governor 
and  for  the  unconstitutionality  of  his  orders  for  expulsion ;  but 
the  majority  of  the  Legislature  were  against  the  Mormons,  and 

*  The  evidence  given  during  this  examination  revealed  the  most  disgraceful  con- 
duct on  the  part  of  some  of  the  witnesses  of  the  Book  of  Mormon,  and  this  evi- 
dence, too,  was  given  by  the  orthodox  Mormons  in  fellowship  with  Joseph  Smith.  A 
document  draughted  by  Sidney  Rigdon,  cind  subscribed  by  eighty-four  Mormons, 
addressed  to  Oliver  Cowdery,  David  Whitmer,  John  Whitmer,  Wm.  W.  Phelps,  and 
Lyman  E.  Johnson,  exhibits  these  witnesses,  and  apostles,  and  their  associates,  to 
have  been  unmitigated  scamps.  "  The  Lord  "  could  not  well  have  chosen  a  more 
despicable  set  of  thieves  and  liars  than  they  were — taking  the  testimony  of  their 
brethren  as  evidence.  Mormonism  did  little  for  them  in  the  way  of  reformation  and 
grace.  They  must  have  been  "  a  hard  lot "  before  they  accepted  the  new  revelation. 


MORMONISM  BEFORE  THE  LEGISLATURE. 


113 


$200,000  was  voted  to  meet  the  expenses  of  the  war  !  To  aid 
the  people  of  Davies  and  Caldwell,  $2,000  was  ordered  to  be 
distributed;  but  of  that  the  Mormons  had  a  small  share. 

All  hope  of  receiving  aid  from  the  State  was  now  extin- 
guished, and  the  Saints  had  to  depend  upon  their  own  exer- 
tions during  the  winter  to  provide  themselves  with  the  neces- 
sary means  of  travel.  Joseph,  in  the  mean  time,  was  busy  in 
prison  writing  letters  of  encouragement  to  the  Saints,  and  at- 
tacking with  bitterness  his  enemies,  especially  the  "  apostates." 
His  letter  of  December  16th  is  a  curious  mixture  of  "  grace, 
"  mercy,  and  the  peace  of  God  abide  with  you,"  with  severe 
and  coarse  denunciation  of  the  renegade  witnesses  of  the  Book 
of  Mormon,  and  other  chief  men  who  had  deserted  him.  It 
was,  in  fact,  an  exhortation  to  the  practice  of  the  highest  moral- 
ity, a  general  review  of  the  charges  against  the  Saints,  a  de- 
nunciation to  the  efiect  that  "  he  or  she  was  a  liar  "  who  "  rep- 
"  resents  anything  otherwise  than  what  we  now  write,"  and  a 
tapering  off  with  the  words  : 

"  We  commend  you  to  God  and  the  work  of  His  grace,  which  is  able 
to  make  us  wise  unto  salvation.    Amen. — Joseph  Smithy  JunrJ''' 

Some  of  the  Saints  had  been  greatly  shaken  by  the  disas- 
ters in  Missouri,  and  upon  Brigham  Young  (then  President  of 
the  Twelve  Apostles)  the  responsibility  of  keeping  together 
the  Church  devolved.  In  a  meeting  held  at  Far  West,  Brig- 
ham  expressed  himself  thoroughly  satisfied  with  the  Prophet. 
Heber's  faith  was  as  good  as  ever ; "  Simeon  Carter  "  did  not 
"  think  that  Joseph  was  a  fallen  prophet,"  still  he  thought  that 
Joseph  had  not  acted  in  all  things  according  to  the  best  wis- 
dom."  Thomas  Grover  was  "  firm  in  the  faith,"  and  believed 
that  "  the  time  would  come  when  Joseph  would  stand  before 
"  kings  and  speak  marvellous  words."  Solomon  Hancock  be- 
lieved in  all  the  Church  books,  was  satisfied  that  "  brother  Jo- 
seph  was  not  a  fallen  prophet,  but  will  yet  be  exalted  and 
"  become  very  high."  Another  brother  was  "  stronger  than 
"  ever  in  the  faith,"  thought  that  the  scourging  they  had  got 
was  necessary ;  and  another  brother,  following  after  this  one, 
"  felt  ready  to  praise  God  in  prisons,  and  in  dungeons,  and  in 
"  all  circumstances."  Such  might  be  regarded  as  a  representa- 


114 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


tion  of  the  faith  of  the  people  generally  at  this  epoch  of  their 
history.  They  had  been  greatly  afflicted  and  cast  down,  had 
some  doubts  of  the  wisdom  of  their  leaders,  and  acknowledged 
that  the  brethren  had  brought  upon  themselves  much  of  their 
trouble  ;  but,  nevertheless,  Joseph  was  still  their  prophet.  In 
his  autobiography  he  views  the  course  of  events,  closing  with 
the  following  pointed  queries  : 

"  But  can  they  hide  the  Governor's  cruel  order  of  banishment  or  exter- 
mination ?  Can  they  conceal  the  facts  of  the  disgraceful  treaty  of  the 
generals  with  their  own  officers  and  men  at  Far  West  ?  Can  they  conceal 
the  fact  that  twelve  or  fifteen  thousand  men,  women,  and  children  have 
been  banished  from  the  State  without  trial  or  condemnation  ?  And  this 
at  the  expense  of  two  hundred  thousand  dollars — and  this  sum  appropri- 
ated by  the  State  Legislature,  in  order  to  pay  the  troops  for  this  act  of 
lawless  outrage  ?  Can  they  conceal  the  fact  that  we  have  been  imprisoned 
for  many  months,  while  our  families,  friends,  and  witnesses  have  been 
driven  away  ?  Can  they  conceal  the  blood  of  the  murdered  husbands  and 
fathers,  or  stifle  the  cry  of  the  widow  or  fatherless  ?  Nay  !  The  rocks 
and  mountains  may  cover  them  in  unknown  depths,  the  awful  abyss  of 
the  fathomless  deep  may  swallow  them  up,  and  still  the  horrid  deeds 
stand  forth  in  the  broad  light  of  day  for  the  wondering  gaze  of  angels  and 
men  !  They  cannot  be  hid  I  .  .  .  Thus,  in  a  free  land,  in  the  town  of 
Liberty,  Clay  county,  Missouri,  I  and  my  fellow-prisoners,  in  chains,  dun- 
geons, and  jail,  saw  the  close  of  1838," 


CHAPTEE  XIX. 


IN  PEISON.— The  New  Year  opens  Dark  and  Dreary— The  Mormons  suffer--'!  he 
Missouri  Legislature  consider  the  "  Persecutions  "  of  the  Saints— Brigham  Yomg 
flees  from  Missouri— Joseph  indites  an  Epistle  from  Prison— The  Prisoners  in- 
dicted— They  escape  from  Missouri. 

The  instinctive  buoyancy  of  feelings  that  ever  greets  a  new 
year  was  little  shared  by  the  imprisoned  Prophet  at  the  open- 
ing of  1839.  His  first  burst  of  awakening  thought  was  dedi- 
cated to  the  nation  : 

"  0  Columbia,  Columbia,  how  art  thou  fallen  I  The  land  of  the  free, 
the  home  of  the  brave  1-— the  asylum  of  the  oppressed — oppressing  thy 
noblest  sons  in  a  loathsome  dungeon,  without  any  provocation,  only  that 
they  have  claimed  to  worship  the  God  of  their  fathers,  according  to  his 
own  word,  and  the  dictates  of  their  own  consciences  III" 

There  is  a  charming  innocence  in  such  spurts  of  eloquence. 
Joseph  never  doubted  the  right  of  his  own  position,  and  expect- 
ed every  one  to  look  at  everything  from  his  standpoint,  failing 
which  they  were  certain  to  be  corrupt  and  worthy  of  damna- 
tion, and  the  world's  liberty  was  a  farce. 

His  youthful  claims  to  be  a  prophet  had  in  a  measure  with- 
drawn him  from  the  ordinary  experience  of  the  world.  He 
knew  little  of  the  diversity  and  wide  range  of  human  thought 
and  the  influence  of  circumstances  upon  human  judgment. 
The  sentiments  of  his  Arabian  brother — "  Great  is  Allah  !  and 
"  Mohammed  is  his  Prophet,"  was  the  true  interpretation  of 
his  thoughts.  Joseph  always  believed  that  he  ought  to  be  the 
first  subject  of  interest  to  the  whole  world,  as  his  mission  was 
its  salvation  or  damnation.  It  has  ever  been  diflBcult  to  pre- 
vent men  of  his  kind  from  drawing  down  fire  from  heaven. 

During  the  winter  the  lawless  and  unscrupulous  in  Upper 


116 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


Missouri  were  very  cruel  to  the  Saints.  ISi  o  Mormon's  life  was 
safe  outside  the  settlements  of  that  people,  and  any  attempt  to 
gather  up  the  remnant  of  their  farm  property  was  certain  to 
meet  with  fierce  opposition  and  personal  violence.  A  recital 
of  barbarity  is  to  be  met  with  in  the  records  of  those  times, 
such  as  would  scarcely  be  credited  now  had  not  the  "  Jayhawk- 
"  ing  raids  "  in  Missouri  and  Kansas  rendered  easy  of  belief 
the  worst  stories  related  by  the  Mormons."^ 

The  Missouri  Legislature  was  not  at  rest  concerning  the  ex- 
pulsion of  the  Mormons.  They  felt  that  there  was  something 
wrong.  The  free  States  were  liberal  in  their  denunciation  of 
the  slave  State,  and  many  honourable  gentlemen  in  Missouri 
felt  the  justice  of  the  reproach.  Even  Governor  Boggs  is  re- 
ported to  have  acknowledged  the  unconstitutionality  of  his  ex- 
terminating order,  and  was  desirous  of  preventing  the  cruel 
excesses  to  which  the  remaining  Mormons  were  subjected,  and 
General  Atchison  again  appeared  in  their  defence  in  the  Leg- 
islature. 

A  joint  committee  of  two  senators  and  three  representa- 
tives was  appointed  to  investigate  the  causes  of  the  late  dis- 
turbance between  "  the  people  called  Mormons  and  other  in- 
habitants  of  this  State,  and  the  conduct  of  the  military 
operations  in  repressing  them."  This  was  of  no  service  to 
the  Mormons.  The  committee  was  to  meet  on  the  first  Mon- 
day in  May,  and  by  that  time  the  Mormons  were  nearly  all  out 
of  the  State,  and  the  testimony  could  only  be  heard  from  their 
enemies. 

*  "  That  many  of  these  fanatics  are  great  scoundrels  we  are  very  well  aware ; 
out  who  after  reading  the  following  horrible  details  will  have  any  sympathy  for 
cheir  oppressors  ?  We  speak  of  tyranny  and  oppression  abroad,  we  sympathize 
with  scoundrels,  pour  out  our  blood  and  money  like  water  for  graceless  vagabonds, 
such  as  Keller  and  his  clique^  and  neglect  the  sterner  duties  of  humanity  at  home. 
It  appears  that  after  the  Missouri  mob  had  captured  Joe  Smith,  Rigdon,  and  others, 
the  mob  entered  the  town  of  the  Mormons  and  perpetrated  every  conceivable  act 
of  brutality  and  outrage,  forcing  fifteen  or  twenty  Mormon  girls  to  yield  to  their  bru- 
tal passions  II  *  Of  these  things,'says  a  respectable  authority,  *  I  was  assured  by  many 
persons  while  I  was  at  Far  West,  in  whose  veracity  I  have  the  utmost  confidence  ;  I 
conversed  with  many  of  the  prisoners,  who  numbered  about  eight  hundred,  among 
whom  I  recognized  many  old  acquaintances  who  had  seen  better  days.  There  were 
many  young  and  interesting  girls  among  them,  and  I  assure  you  a  more  distracrted 
tfet  of  creatures  I  never  saw.*  "—iV.  Y.  Herald,  Dec.  20,  1838. 


THE  EXODUS  FROM  MISSOURI. 


117 


Brigham  Young  and  the  other  apostles  and  elders  still  at 
jiberty  were  in  the  mean  time  devoting  their  best  energies  to 
prepare  for  a  thorough  exodus.  The  brethren  covenanted  to 
put  all  their  property  into  the  hands  of  a  committee  for  this 
purpose  so  that  the  poor  who  had  been  plundered  of  everything 
could  leave  as  well  as  those  who  were  more  favoured. 

Illinois  was  greatly  moved  by  the  recital  of  their  wrongs, 
and  offered  the  exiles  an  asylum.  In  that  State,  land  was 
plentiful,  offers  were  numerous,  and  terms  liberal.  Universal 
sympathy  with  affliction  was  apparent.  The  citizens  vied  with 
each  other  in  acts  of  kindness  to  the  helpless.  But  it  was  im- 
possible as  yet  to  decide  upon  a  locality  for  their  gathering- 
place.  Joseph  was  still  in  prison.  The  banks  of  the  Mississippi, 
however,  seemed  to  be  appropriate  for  the  general  rendezvous. 

The  persecution  that  had  centred  on  Joseph  now  fell  upon 
Brigham,  and  in  the  middle  of  February  he  had  to  escape  from 
Far  West  to  save  his  life.  He  directed  his  fleeting  steps  towards 
Quincy,  Illinois,  whither  many  of  the  Saints  had  preceded  him. 

After  some  investigation  in  Missouri  had  taken  place,  Sid- 
ney Eigdon  was  released,  but  had  for  safety  to  return  to  prison 
till  a  favourable  opportunity  offered  for  making  his  escape  out 
of  the  State.    He  also  in  due  time  reached  Quincy, 

Joseph  protested  against  being  tried  before  Austin  A.  King, 
of  the  Circuit  Court.  In  one  of  the  early  difficulties  in  Jack- 
son county  a  brother-in-law  of  Judge  King  had  been  killed. 
His  Honour  had  also  presided  at  some  meeting  hostile  to  the 
Mormons,  and  Joseph  concluding  that  the  Judge's  impartiality 
would  not  be  of  the  clearest  stamp,  resolved  to  get  out  of  his 
jurisdiction.  A  petition  "  to  Judge  Tompkins,  or  either  of  the 
"judges  of  the  Supreme  Court  for  the  State  of  Missouri,"  was 
presented  to  the  former,  asking  for  the  issue  of  a  writ  of  habeas 
corpus^  that  the  prisoners  might  be  heard  in  their  defence. 
This  failing,  Joseph  resolved  to  escape  from  prison.  He  tried, 
but  did  not  succeed. 

With  the  Saints  fleeing  from  Missouri  and  wandering  like 
sheep  without  a  shepherd,  it  appeared  that  the  end  of  Mor- 
monism  had  been  reached ;  but  it  was  far  otherwise.  There  is 
vitality  in  prophecy,  and  Joseph's  faith  rose  with  his  difficulties. 

Shortly  after  his  failure  to  escape  from  prison  he  issued  a 


HQ  THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 

• 

letter  to  the  Saints  which  perhaps  may  be  considered  the  most 
interesting  document  of  his  life — one  which  gives  the  reader 
ideas  more  characteristic  of  the  man  than  anything  he  ever 
published.  When  surrounded  by  clerks  and  literary  men  the 
Prophet  is  not  always  discernible  in  the  papers  that  bear  his 
name,  but  in  those  issued  from  Liberty  Prison  the  very  man 
himself  is  visible  in  every  word.  The  differences  of  style  in  this 
document,  his  arguments  in  one  place  and  the  bursting  forth 
of  the  exuberance  of  his  soul  in  prayer  and  prophecy  in  another 
furnish  the  key  to  his  revelations.  At  one  moment  he  humbly 
supplicates,  and  at  another  the  remembrance  of  the  wTongs 
that  he  had  suffered  fires  him  with  indignation  and  carries  him 
beyond  himself. 


The  Prophef  s  Flight  from  Missouri. 


In  April,  the  Prophet  and  his  fellow  prisoners  were  indicted 
in  Davies  county  on  charges  of  "treason,  murder,  larceny, 
theft  and  stealing."  The  trial  never  occurred.  The  prison- 
ers asked  for  a  change  of  venue  to  Marion  county,  as  the  same 
men  who  sat  on  the  grand  jury  during  the  day  acted  as  their 
guard  at  night.  They  were  granted  a  change  of  v»enue  to 
Boone  county,  and  while  being  conveyed  thither,  the  sheriff 
who  had  them  in  charge  gave  them  permission  to  escape.  The 
State  authorities  were  evidently  anxious  to  get  rid  of  them,  and 
the  prisoners  longing  for  freedom  availed  themselves  of  the 
sheriff's  courtesy  and  fled  from  "  the  land  of  promise." 

Joseph  turned  his  back  for  ever  upon  the  soil  of  the  new 
Jerusalem.   Jackson  county,  with  all  the  marvels  and  magnifi- 


FLIGHT  FROM  THE  PROMISED  LAND. 


119 


cence  that  had  been  decreed  for  her  during  "  this  generation," 
was  hereafter  only  to  be  sung  in  song.  Forty  years  have  al- 
ready passed  away  since  the  revelation  was  given,  and  there  is 
not  a  single  Mormon  acknowledging  the  leadership  of  Brigham 
Young  upon  all  the  holy  land. 

Notwithstanding  all  that  has  transpired,  many  of  the  aged 
Saints  in  Utah  have  not  lost  their  faith,  and  yet  look  for  some- 
thing marvellous  to  occur  in  the  ever-changing  wheel  of  fime, 
to  favour  the  day  when  the  promises  of  the  Prophet  Joseph 
will  be  fulfilled  !  The  frequency  with  which  Brigham  has  al- 
luded to  the  return  of  the  faithful  Saints  in  Utah  to  Jackson 
county  has  shaken  a  great  deal  the  credit  that  has  been  ac- 
corded to  him  for  sincerity  of  faith.  For  many  years  he  held 
the  most  positive  language  on  this  point ;  but  latterly  he  has 
prudently  added — "  If  the  Lord  will."  Before  he  goes  down 
to  his  grave  he  will  probably  taper  even  that  off  with  the 
affirmation  that  "  the  Lord  "  has  tried  the  faith  of  his  Saints, 
and  is  now  satisfied,  and  will  not  require  them  to  fulfil  the 
prophecies  in  "  this  generation."  Brigham  Young's  love  of 
the  wealth  which  he  has  acquired  in  Utah  is  an  effectual  bar- 
rier against  his  ever  fulfilling  that  prophecy. 


8 


t 


CHAPTER  XX. 

THE  EXILES  EIND  AN  ASYLUM  IN  ILLINOIS.— The  Prophet  again  at  lib- 
erty—Nauvoo  selected  for  a  New  Zion— A  City  rapidly  Built— Brigham  Young 
sent  to  England— The  Saints  importune  Congress  for  Kedress— Joseph  visits 
President  Van  Buren— The  Mormons  still  cling  to  the  Promises  of  Zion  in 
Missouri. 

The  abandonment  of  Missouri  sliook  the  faith  of  many  of 
the  disciples,  but  the  majority  were  unchanged — 

"  They  lived  and  spoke  and  thought  the  same." 

The  Missourians  had  been  victorious  they  knew,  but  what 
Joseph  had  said  about  the  coming  glories  of  Zion,  the  ISTew  Je- 
rusalem, and  the  Temple  in  Jackson  county,  was,  they  neverthe- 
less believed,  true  and  from  heaven.    All  would  yet  be  right. 

Of  those  who  abandoned  the  faith,  some  remained  in  Mis- 
souri, and  others  returned  to  their  former  homes  in  the  eastern 
States  ;  and,  in  the  language  of  an  ancient  record,  "  even  unto 
"  this  day  "  they  may  be  found — half  Mormon  and  half  noth- 
ing else  —  scattered  throughout  Ohio,  New  York,  Indiana, 
Pennsylvania,  and  most  of  the  New  England  States. 

Early  in  the  spring  the  citizens  of  Quincy  saw  a  large  in- 
crease to  their  numbers  of  poor,  destitute  Mormons.  They 
were  utterly  helpless,  and  many  of  them  bordering  on  starva- 
tion. Meetings  were  called  and  measures  adopted  for  their 
particular  benefit.  At  the  same  time,  the  ignorant  were  as- 
sured that  the  Mormons  had  no  design  of  lowering  the  prices 
of  labour,  but  were  only  seeking  "  to  procure  something  to 
"  save  them  from  starving,"  and  that  they  were,  "  by  every 
"law  of  humanity,  entitled  to  sympathy  and  commiseration." 
Those  were  humble  days  ;  but  they  were  soon  to  change. 


NAUVOO  THE  ZION  OF  THE  SAINTS. 


123 


Joseph  himself,  like  the  Angel  of  Deliverance,  came  bound- 
ing into  their  midst.  The  gloom  of  death  that  so  darkly  over- 
hung their  horizon  vanished  before  the  beams  of  the  Prophet's 
rising  sun.  His  chief  advisers  had  already  received  and  debated 
the  offers  of  sections  of  land;  it  was  now  for  him,  with  the 
guidance  of  Heaven,  to  decide. 

The  east  bank  of  the  Mississippi,  forty  miles  above  Quincy 
and  twenty  miles  southwest  of  Burlington,  Iowa,  was  the  favour- 
ed spot.  Here  on  a  bend  of  the  river,  upon  rising  ground  that 
commanded  a  magnificent  view  of  the  winding  Mississippi  for 
many  miles,  was  to  be  the  new  home  of  the  Saints.  A  group 
of  huts  and  houses  called  Commerce  was  the  place  selected  ; 
but  the  name  was  an  every-day  word.  The  "  Reformed  Egyp- 
"tian"  of  the  Book  of  Mormon  supplied  a  better  name — 
"  Nauvoo  " — the  beautiful.  By  revelation  the  scattered  Saints 
from  Missouri  and  from  all  parts  of  the  earth  were  now  com- 
manded to  gather  to  this  new  Zion. 

The  apostle  Parley  P.  Pratt,  and  the  other  leading  elders 
who  had  been  imprisoned  in  Missouri,  after  great  suffering  and 
privations,  also  made  their  escape  and  reached  Illinois.  They 
laid  the  foundation  of  new  homes  at  Nauvoo,  but  "  the  Lord  " 
deemed  it  prudent  that  they  should  not  remain  in  the  United 
States,  and  in  August  and  September  the  principal  apostles 
and  elders  were  appointed  missions  to  England.  Among  these 
were  Brigham  Young,  Parley  P.  Pratt,  Orson  Pratt,  and 
George  A.  Smith.  Heber  C.  Kimball,  who  had  already  been 
to  that  country,  returned  in  company  with  Brigham  Young. 

Nauvoo  soon  became  an  important  city.  The  foundation 
of  the  first  house  was  laid  in  1839,  and  in  less  than  two  years 
over  two  thousand  dwellings  were  erected,  besides  school- 
houses  and  public  edifices.  The  foundation  of  the  Temple 
was  laid,  and  scores  of  mechanics  and  labourers  were  engaged 
on  "  the  House  of  the  Lord."    Everything  was  going  smoothly. 

In  the  mean  time,  a  statement  of  the  losses  of  the  Saints  in 
Missouri  was  carefully  prepared,  and  in  October,  Joseph,  Sid- 
ney Rigdon,  and  Judge  Elias  Higbee  visited  T/ ashington  to 
petition  Congress  in  their  behalf,  and  to  seek  redress. 

President  Martin  Yan  Buren  received  the  petitioners  cour- 
teously, and  listened  patiently  to  them ;  but  the  sovereignty 


124 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


of  tlie  States  was  then  in  the  fulness  of  its  glory,  and  the  Chief 
Executive  of  the  Eepublic  replied  :  Gentlemen,  your  cause  %8 
"just,  hut  lean  do  nothing  for  you^ 

The  petitioners  thoroughly  understood  the  President — the 
support  of  Missouri  could  not  be  risked.  The  reply  of  "  Matty," 
as  Joseph  ever  afterwards  contemptuously  styled  President 
Van  Buren,  will  never  be  forgotten  by  the  Mormons.  It  has 
served  as  the  text  for  thousands  of  sermons  at  home  and  abroad 
on  "  the  Persecutions  of  the  Saints,"  and  it  is  to  be  found  in 
nearly  every  declaration  of  grievance  against  the  Government. 

In  a  statement  of  their  sufferings,  published  by  Orson 
Pratt,  Washington,  January,  1854,  reference  is  thus  made  to 
that  circumstance : 

"  After  fifteen  thousand  American  citizens  had  been  driven  from  the 
State  of  Missouri  under  the  exterminating  orders  of  Governor  Boggs,  hav- 
ing previously  appUed  to  the  judicial  and  legislative  authority  of  that 
State  in  vain,  they  sent  their  delegates  with  a  memorial  to  the  President 
and  to  Congress,  who  had  the  unblushing  impudence  to  refer  them  for 
redress  to  the  very  State  whose  Governor  had  driven  them  from  her  bor- 
ders, and  whose  Legislature  had  voted  two  hundred  thousand  dollars  to 
pay  her  troops  for  their  bloodthirsty  and  unconstitutional  acts.  Yes,  they 
were  told  to  go  and  seek  redress  from  their  murderers,  and  from  the  mur- 
derers of  their  wives  and  children."  * 

.  At  this  time  Sidney  Rigdon,  as  a  native  of  Pennsylvania, 
addressed  a  memorial  to  the  Senate  and  House  of  Eepresenta- 
tives  of  that  State,  setting  forth  what  he  and  his  co-rcHgionists 
had  suffered,  and  as  the  authorities  of  Missouri  had  refused 
him  redress,  he  asked  that  "  the  whole  delegation  of  Pennsyl- 
"  vania,  in  both  houses,  be  instructed  to  use  all  their  influence 
"in  the  national  councils  to  have  redress  granted."  ISTothing 
advantageous  to  the  exiles  was  ever  heard  from  either  the  me- 
morial to  Congress  or  that  to  the  Legislature  of  the  "  Keystone 
"  State."  By  revelation,  Joseph  had  been  instructed  to  "  se^k 
"  redress  from  the  least  in  authority  even  to  the  greatest."  In 
Missouri  they  began  their  petitions  with  the  Justice  of  the 
Peace,  and  then  ascended  in  regular  gradation  till  they  reached 
the  Chief  Executive  of  the  State.  They  had  finished  their 
task  for  the  time  being,  when  they  had  memoralized  Congress 

*  "Seer,"  p.  197. 


MORMOK  HATRED  OF  THE  NATION. 


125 


and  laid  their  petition  before  the  President  of  the  United 
States.  By  their  perseverance,  and  the  official  negative  re- 
sponse that  they  everywhere  received,  it  is  understood  by  the 
Mormons  that  the  whole  national  authority  is  culpable  in  the* 
sight  of  Heaven,  as  participators  in  shedding  the  blood  of  the 
Saints  in  Missouri.  This  is  the  key  to  the  bitterness  of  senti- 
ment that  may  be  heard  in  the  Mormon  Tabernacle,  or  read  in 
the  Mormon  press,  and  the  nation  may  be  assured  of  this,  that 
there  never  will  be  an  end  to  it  while  Mormonism  exists."^ 
The  claim  to  their  lands  in  Jackson  county  will  never  be  aban- 
doned, nor  will  the  Government  be  forgiven  till  the  Mormons 
are  restored  to  their  "  inheritances  "  in  Missouri.  They  will 
never  be  silent,  and  when  they  reach  the  halls  of  Congress  their 
senators  and  their  representatives  will  be  heard  for  ever  de- 
manding redress  and  restoration.  It  cannot  be  denied  that 
there  is  justice  in  their  claim. 

Satisfied  that  compensation  for  the  past  was  not  to  be  hoped 
for  at  the  seat  of  government,  the  Prophet  and  his  friends 
returned  to  Nauvoo.  Protection  for  the  future  was  only  to  be 
found  in  their  own  ability  to  cope  with  their  enemies,  and  with 
that  conclusion  they  set  themselves  to  work  to  provide  for  con- 
tingencies. 

*  "If  the  Government  cannot  protect  citizens  in  their  lives  and  property,  it  is 
an  old  granny,  anyhow,  and  I  prophesy,  in  the  name  of  the  Lord  God  of  Israel,  that 
unless  the  United  States  redress  the  wrongs  committed  upon  the  Saints  in  the  State 
of  Missouri,  and  punish  the  crimes  committed  by  her  officers,  that  in  a  few  years 
the  Government  will  be  utterly  overthrown  and  wasted,  and  there  will  not  be  so 
much  as  a  potsherd  left,  for  their  wickedness  in  permitting  the  murder  of  men, 
women,  and  children,  and  the  wholesale  plunder  and  extermination  of  thousands 
of  her  citizens,  to  go  unpunished." — Joseph  SmitJCs  Autobiography. 


f 


CHAPTER  XXI. 

THE  PKOPHET'S  POLITICAL  LIFE  BEGINS.— New  Men  gather  round  him— 
A  Ee organization  of  the  Quorum  of  Apostles  " — Another  Temple  to  be  erected 
— "  The  Lord"  commands  the  Saints  to  build  a  "  Boarding-House  " — Kings  are 
invited  to  the  aid  of  Zion. 

In  Nanvoo  the  Prophet  saw  himself  and  his  people  in  cir- 
cumstances totally  different  from  those  in  Missouri.  He  had 
scattered  the  Mormons  in  that  State  in  order  that  they  might 
become  the  possessors  of  the  land  surrounding  the  "  New  Jeru- 
salem," and  that  they  might  preserve  it  as  "  an  everlasting  in- 
"heritance  for  the  Saints."  In  Illinois  he  had  now  to  concen- 
trate them.  Other  circumstances  demanded  other  tactics.  He 
had  sent  off  the  preaching  apostles  to  England  ;  he  now  drew 
around  him  politicians.  From  this  time  an  entirely  different 
class  of  men  became  prominent  in  Mormon  history  and  flut- 
tered around  the  Prophet. 

A  Whiff  Senator  and  a  Whig  Representative  had  intro- 
duced the  memorial  to  Congress.  The  Democratic  Association 
in  Quincy  had  rendered  the  exiles  some  services  when  they 
came  fleeing  from.  Missouri.  Both  Whigs  and  Democrats  real- 
ized the  strength  of  a  united  vote,  and  that  Joseph  could  com- 
mand it,  and  they  sought  to  gratify  his  wishes.  Thus  in 
apparent  triumph  he  became  enmeshed  in  that  whirlpool  which 
was  destined  to  engulph  him. 

Eelease  from  the  long  imprisonment  in  Missouri,  and  from 
the  terrible  anxieties  that  preceded  that  confinement,  brought 
fully  back  to  Joseph  his  natural  buoyancy  of  feeling.  He 
appreciated  the  kindly  reception  of  the  Saints  in  Illinois,  and 
the  general  sympathy  extended  everywhere  to  the  Mormons, 
on  account  of  their  recent  sufferings,  inspired  him  with  the 


THE  SECOND  ORGANIZATION  OF  APOSTLES. 


127 


hope  of  a  brighter  future.  With  the  devotion  of  his  brethren 
and  sisters  to  him  in  the  hour  of  their  greatest  trials,  and  the 
alacrity  with  which  they  rallied  again  at  his  call,  he  was  greatly 
touched,  and,  as  new  men  of  considerable  talent  and  social 
standing  in  the  world  were  gathering  around  him,  and  Saints 
were  flocking  to  his  standard  from  Europe,  he  naturally  appre- 
ciated his  position. 

Among  the  prominent  men  who  were  attracted  towards 
Mormonism  and  sought  alliance  with  Joseph  at  this  time  was 
one  Dr.  John  0.  Bennett,  who  was  destined  to  occupy  a  dis- 
tinguished position  in  the  Prophet's  history.  Some  others  also 
about  this  time  joined  the  Church,  no  doubt  honestly  hoping 
that  it  might  realize  their  spiritual  requirements,  and  there 
were  others  who  joined  from  more  interested  motives.  Among 
the  politicians  who  sought  his  early  acquaintance  and  political 
influence  in  Illinois  was  Senator  Steplien  A.  Douglas,  whose 
name  for  many  years  was  held  in  reverence  by  the  Saints. 

In  all  his  intercourse  the  Prophet  was  confiding,  frank  and 
open.  He  realized  that  he  was  the  tallest  tree  in  the  forest, 
and  was  never  afraid  of  being  overtopped.  He  gave  to  every 
man  the  fullest  scope  for  the  development  of  talent  or  useful- 
ness, and  the  heavens  were  never  slow  in  sanctioning  and  ap- 
proving of  his  preferments. 

In  a  very  short  time  Dr.  Bennett  was  a  very  useful  man, 
and  soon  became  the  mouth-piece  of  the  Prophet.  Under  the 
nom  de  plume  of  "  Joab,  a  general  in  Israel,"  he  told  Missouri 
of  her  evil  deeds,  of  her  wrongs  to  the  Saints,  and  the  retribu- 
tion that  awaited  her, 

A  very  lengthy  revelation  was  received  by  Joseph  on  the 
19th  of  January,  1841,  placing  everyone  in  his  proper  position, 
reorganizing  the  Quorum  of  the  Twelve  Apostles,  and  extend- 
ing a  kindly  word  to  every  prominent  man.  Many  of  the  first 
apostles  had  "  fallen  away,"  and  it  was  necessary  to  commence 
again  and  fill  up  the  quorum.  "  The  Lord  "  made  the  follow- 
ing selection : 

"  I  give  unto  you  my  servant  Brigham  Young  to  be  a  President  over 
the  Twelve  travelling  council,  which  twelve  hold  the  keys  to  open  up  the 
authority  of  my  kingdom  upon  the  four  corners  of  the  earth,  and  after 
that  to  send  my  word  to  every  creature  ;  they  are  Heber  C.  Kimball,  Par- 


128 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


ley  P.  Pratt,  Orson  Pratt,  Orson  Hyde,  William  Smith,  John  Taylor,  John 
E.  Page,  Wilford  Woodruff,  Willard  Kichards,  George  A.  Smith ;  David 
Patten  I  have  taken  unto  myself ;  behold  his  priesthood  no  man  taketh 
from  him  ;  but  verily  I  say  unto  you,  another  may  be  appointed  unto  the 
same  calling." 

Colonel  Lyman  Wight  was  elected  to  fill  this  vacancy.  The 
Viembers  of  the  quorum  were  afterwards  thus  flatteringly 
designated  by  W.  W.  Phelps : 

"Brigham  Young,  the  Lion  of  the  Lord  ;  Parley  P.  Pratt, 
"  the  Archer  of  Paradise  *j  Orson  Hyde,  the  Olive  Branch  of 

Lsrael ;  Willard  Richards,  the  Keeper  of  the  Bolls ;  John 
"  Taylor,  the  Champion  of  Bight  j  William  Smith,  the  Pat/ri- 

archal  JacoVs  Staff  *  Wilford  Woodruff,  the  Banner  of  the 
"  Gospel ;  George  A.  Smith,  the  Entdblatnre  of  Truth ;  Orson 
"Pratt,  the  Gauge  of  Philosophy;  John  E.  Page,  the  Sun 
''Dial;  and  Lyman  Wight,  the  Wild  Bam  of  the  Moun- 
"  tains, '^^ 

This  new  revelation  extended  to  forty-six  paragraphs,  and 
in  the  light  of  subsequent  as  well  as  of  preceding  event's  it  is 
very  interesting.  It  is  a  marvellous  revelation.  It  heals  up 
the  wounds  of  the  Jackson  county  Saints  and  declares  for  their 
future  guidance  that  whatever  "the  Lord  "  may  command  them 
to  do  and  their  enemies  may  prevent  them  from  doing,  "  the 
"Lord  "will  accept  the  unfinished  work  at  their  hands  the 
same  as  if  it  had  been  accomplished.  Another  Temple  was 
ordered  to  be  erected  "  to  the  name  of  the  Lord  ;  "  and,  for  the 
convenience  of  travellers  visiting  Nauvoo,  "the  Lord"  also 
commanded  "  a  boarding-house  to  be  built !  " 

"  And  now  I  say  unto  you,  as  pertaining  to  my  boarding-house  which 
I  have  commanded  you  to  build  for  the  boarding  of  strangers,  let  it  be 
unto  my  name,  and  let  my  name  be  named  upon  it,  and  let  my  servant 
Joseph  and  his  house  have  place  therein  from  generation  to  generation  ; 
for  this  anointing  have  I  put  upon  his  head,  that  his  blessing  shall  also 
be  put  upon  the  head  of  his  posterity  after  him ;  and  as  I  said  unto  Abra- 
ham concerning  the  kindreds  of  the  earth,  even  so  I  say  unto  my  servant 
Joseph,  In  thee  and  in  thy  seed  shall  the  kindreds  of  the  earth  be  blessed. 
Therefore  let  my  servant  Joseph,  and  his  seed  after  him,  have  place  in  that 
house  from  generation  to  generation,  for  ever  and  for  ever,  saith  the  Lord, 
and  let  the  name  of  that  house  be  called  the  Nauvoo  House,  and  let  it  be 
a  delightful  habitation  for  man,  and  a  resting-place  for  the  weary  travellei 
that  he  may  contemplate  the  glory  of  Zion  and  the  glory  of  this  the  cor- 


THE  LORD'S  "BOARDING-HOUSE." 


129 


ner-stone  thereof,  that  he  may  receive  also  the  counsel  from  those  whom  I 
have  set  to  be  plants  of  renown,  etc." 

This  revelation  excludes  all  "  dead-heads  "  and  speculators. 
The  lowest  amount  of  stock  was  to  be  $50,  the  highest  to  any 
one  man  $5,000,  and  none  of  it  was  to  be  handed  over  till  the  ^ 
money  was  paid  down  in  full^  and  the  whole  was  to  be  kept 
by  the  posterity  of  the  purchasers,  and    not  to  be  sold  by  them, 

from  generation  to  generation."  These  stock  purchasers  were 
also  required  to  be  believers  in  the  Book  of  Mormon.  Some 
prominent  men  were  commanded  by  name  to  take  stock  in  it. 
Dr.  Isaac  Galland,  who  was  designated  as  "  a  notorious  horse- 
"  thief  and  counterfeiter  in  his  early  life,"  ^  is  instructed  to 
"  put  stock  into  that  house,"  for  "  I,  the  Lord,  love  him  for  the 
"work  he  hath  done,  and  will  forgive  all  his  sins."  All  the 
prominent  moneyed  men  are  similarly  kindly  instructed  for 
the  benefit  of  themselves  and  their  seed  after  them, "  from  gen- 

eration  to  generation." 
Robert  B.  Thompson  is  called  to  help  Joseph  to  write  a 
proclamation  after  this  fashion  : 

"  Awake !  0  kings  of  the  earth  !  Come  j^e  !  oh,  come  ye,  with  your 
gold  and  your  silver,  to  the  help  of  my  people,  to  the  house  of  the  daugh- 
ter of  Zion." 

To  this  work  "  My  servant  John  C.  Bennett  "  is  also  called 
to  assist  Joseph  "  in  sending  my  word  to  the  king^  of  the  peo- 
"  pie  of  the  earth,  and  [to]  stand  by  you,  even  to  you,  my  ser- 
"  vant  Joseph  Smith,  in  the  hour  of  affliction,  and  his  reward 
"  shall  not  fail  if  he  receive  counselT  Eobert  D.  Foster  is 
next  instructed  to  "  build  a  house  for  my  servant  Joseph,  ac- 
"  cording  to  the  contract  which  he  has  made  with  him,"  and  to 
"repent"  and  quit  grumbling,  and  "  hearken  unto  the  counsel 
"of  my  servants,  Joseph,  Hyrum,  and  "William  Law,"  and  "  it 
"  shall  be  well  with  him  for  ever  and  for  ever.  E\^n  so.  Amen." 

To  make  room  for  the  elevation  of  a  new  man  at  this  time, 
Joseph  retired  his  brother  Hyrum  from  the  Presidency  of  the 
Church,  but  still  preserved  him  in  rank  almost  equal  to  his 
own.    This  same  revelation  instructed  that — 

**  "Mysteries  and  Crimes  of  Mormonism,"  p.  61. 


130 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


"  My  servant  William  [Law]  be  appointed,  ordained,  and  anointed  as  a 
counsellor  unto  my  servant  Joseph,  in  the  room  of  my  servant  Hyrum ; 
that  my  servant  Hyrum  may  take  the  office  of  priesthood  and  patriarch, 
which  was  appointed  unto  him  by  his  father,  by  blessing  and  also  by 
right,"  etc.,  etc. 

"  My  servant  William  "  at  this  time  was  a  wealthy  mer- 
chant, and  an  influential  man  among  the  Mormons ;  but,  un- 
fortunately for  the  Prophet,  he  proved  to  be  unprepared  for 
the  richer  developments  of  the  patriarchal  relations  that  were 
"  to  burst  from  the  heavens  "  upon  the  Church,  and  in  course 
of  time  he  became  one  of  Joseph's  fiercest  opponents. 


LIEUTENANT-GENERAL    JOSEPH  SMITH. 
[Prophet,  Seer,  and  Revelator.] 


CHAPTEE  XXII. 


THE  FICKLE  EOKTUNE  OF  POLITICS.— The  Legislature  liberal  to  the  Saints 
— The  Prophet  becomes  a  Lieutenant-General — ^Foundation  of  the  Temp.e  laid— 
Grand  Military  Display — Joseph  at  the  Height  of  his  Glory — Missouri  seeks  to 
recapture  him. 

The  Saints  had  contributed  largely  to  the  success  of  the 
Whig  ticket  in  1840,  and  the  Democrats  comprehended  clearly 
the  advantage  it  would  be  to  them  to  secure  their  influence. 
When  Joseph's  agents  presented  themselves  to  the  Legislature 
of  Illinois,  during  the  session  of  ISiO-l,  asking  for  a  city 
charter  for  Nauvoo,  and  the  incorporation  of  the  militia  into  a 
body  to  be  called  "  the  Nauvoo  Legion,"  they  were  very  kindly 
received  and  their  wishes  hastily  granted.  The  charters  were 
passed  without  a  dissenting  voice. 

The  eleventh  section  of  the  city  charter  read  thus  : 

"  All  power  is  granted  to  the  city  council  to  make,  ordain,  establish, 
and  execute  all  ordinances  not  repugnant  to  the  Constitution  of  the  State 
or  of  the  United  States,  or,  as  they  may  deem  ntcessary  for  the  peace  and 
safety  of  said  city,'''* 

This  was  all  that  Joseph  required.  It  was  now  for  him  to 
decide  what  was  necessary,"  and,  had  troubles  not  afterwards 
arisen  in  Illinois,  the  liberality  of  the  charter  would  probably 
never  have  been  regretted,  for  at  tliat  date  Joseph  was,  in  the 
sight  of  every  law-abiding  citizen,  justified  in  seeking,  by  every 
means  that  had  the  appearance  of  constitutional  law,  to  pre- 
serve himself  and  the  people  against  the  demands  of  Missouri. 

The  city  charter  provided  for  a  mayor,  four  aldermen,  and 
nine  councillors,  a  mayor's  court,  with  exclusive  jurisdiction  in 
all  cases  arising  under  the  city  ordinances  ;  a  municipal  court. 


134 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


with  the  mayor  as  chief  justice,  and  the  four  alderinen  as  associ- 
ates, with  power  to  issue  writs  of  habeas  corpus.  The  Legion 
was  organized,  and  was  rendered  independent  of  all  the  militia 
officers  of  the  State,  save  the  Governor  as  commander-in-chief. 
It  established  its  own  court-martial,  and  provided  for  every- 
thing within  itself.  Dr.  Bennett  was  elected  mayor  of  the  city, 
and  Joseph  Smith  lieutenant-general  of  the  Legion. 

The  city  council  immediately  prepared  for  eventualities, 
and  passed  an  ordinance  that  no  citizen  could  be  taken  from 
Nauvoo  by  any  process  of  law  whatever,  without  the  endorse- 
ment of  the  mayor  as  to  its  legality.  The  charter  admitted  of 
this,  and  almost  any  construction  that  the  city  council  chose  to 
give  it.  The  Governor,  who  had  signed  the  charter,  soon  after- 
wards perceived  the  blunder,  and  before  long  saw  his  own  war- 
rant for  the  arrest  of  Joseph  set  aside.  In  a  communication, 
dated  September  7th,  1842,  he  says: 

"  I  must  express  my  surprise  at  the  extraordinary  assumption  of  power 
by  the  board  of  aldermen,  as  contained  in  said  ordinance;  from  my  recol- 
lection of  the  charter,  it  authorizes  the  municipal  court  to  issue  writs  of 
liabeas  corpus^  in  all  cases  of  imprisonment  or  custody,  arising  from  the 
authority  of  the  ordinances  of  said  city;  'but  that  power  was  granted  or 
intended  to  le  granted  to  release  persons  held  in  custody  under  the  authority 
of  writs  issued  ly  the  courts  or  the  executive  of  the  State^  is  most  absurd  and 
ridiculous^  and  an  attempt  to  exercise  it  is  a  gross  usurpation  of  power 
that  cannot  be  tolerated." 

"  Absurd  and  ridiculous  "  as  the  assumption  of  such  powers 
might  seem  twenty  months  after  his  Excellency,  Governor  Car- 
lin,  had  attached  his  signature  to  the  charter  approving  of  it, 
at  the  time  of  its  passage  through  the  Legislature,  no  such 
language  was  held  by  any  one.  At  a  later  date  Governor  Ford, 
his  successor,  had  to  be  more  explicit.  He,  too,  was  embar- 
rassed by  the  liberality  of  the  charter,  and  he  saddles  the 
responsibility  of  Joseph's  interpretation  where  it  justly  be- 
longs : 

"  The  powers  conferred  were  expressed  in  language  at  once  ambiguous 
and  undefined,  as  if  on  purpose  to  allow  of  misconstruction.  The  great 
law  of  the  separation  of  the  powers  of  government  was  wholly  disregard- 
ed. The  mayor  was  at  once  the  executive  power,  the  judiciary,  and  part 
of  the  Legislature.  The  common  council,  in  passing  ordinances,  were  re- 
strained only  by  the  Constitution.    One  would  have  thought  that  these 


THE  CLIMAX  OF  THE  PROPHET'S  GLORY. 


135 


charters  (the  city,  the  Legion,  and  the  Xauvoo  House)  stood  a  poor  chance 
of  passing  the  Legislature  of  a  republican  people,  jealous  of  their  liber- 
ties. Nevertheless,  they  did  pass  unanimously  through  both  houses. 
Messrs.  Little  and  Douglas  managed  with  great  dexterity  with  their  re- 
spective parties.  Each  party  was  afraid  to  object  to  them  for  fear  of  los- 
ing the  Mormon  vote,  and  each  believed  that  it  had  secured  their  favour. 
A  city  government  under  the  charter  was  organized  in  1841,  and  Joe  [Jo- 
seph] *  Smith  was  elected  mayor. 

"  In  this  capacity  he  presided  in  the  common  council  and  assisted  in 
making  the  laws  for  the  government  of  the  city,  and  as  mayor  also  he  was 
to  see  these  laws  put  into  force.  He  was  ex-qfficio  judge  of  the  mayor's 
court,  and  chief-justice  of  the  municipal  court,  and  in  these  capacities  he 
was  to  interpret  the  laws  which  he  had  assisted  to  make.  The  Nauvoo 
Legion  was  also  organized  with  a  great  multitude  of  higli  officers.  It  was 
divided  into  divisions,  brigades,  cohorts,  regiments,  battalions,  and  compa- 
nies. Each  division,  brigade,  and  cohort  had  its  general,  and  over  the 
whole,  as  commander-in-chief,  Joe  [Joseph]  Smith  was  appointed  lieu- 
tenant-general. These  officers,  and  particularly  the  last,  were  created  by 
an  ordinance  of  the  court-martial,  composed  of  the  commissioned  officers 
of  the  Legion. 

"  Thus  it  was  proposed  to  re-establish  for  the  Mormons  a  government 
within  a  government,  a  legislature  with  power  to  pass  ordinances  at  war 
with  the  laws  of  the  State ;  courts  to  execute  them,  with  but  little  de- 
pendence upon  the  constitutional  judiciary,  and  a  military  force  at  their 
own  command,  to  be  governed  by  its  own  lav/s  and  ordinances,  and  sub- 
ject to  no  State  authority  but  that  of  the  Governor."  t 

In  ecclesiastical  affairs  "  the  cause  "  was  quite  as  prosper- 
ous. The  British  mission  was  a  grand  success.  The  apostles 
and  elders  found  ^'  the  harvest  "  ripe  and  ready  for  the  sickle. 
Thousands  had  been  converted.  The  Book  of  Mormon  had 
been  re-published,  a  book  of  hymns  adapted  to  the  new  faith 
had  been  issued,  and  the  Millennial  Star  was  founded.  Wealth 
came  with  the  new  converts,  and  a  goodly  immigration  poured 
into  Nauvoo.  Under  such  favourable  conditions  the  corner- 
stones of  the  "  House  of  the  Lord  "  in  Nauvoo  w^ere  laid  on 
the  6th  of  April,  1841 — the  eleventh  anniversary  of  the  organi- 
zation of  the  Church.  This  was  the  most  pleasant  season  of 
Joseph's  life  ;  but  his  happiness  was  of  short  duration.    As  so 

*  As  Governor  Ford  thought  it  no  coadescension  to  address  the  Prophet,  while 
living,  as  "  President,"  "  General,"  "  Honourable,"  and  Mr.  Snjith,"  the  Author 
assumes  the  liberty  of  correcting  the  appellation  "^Joe"  wherever  it  appears  in 
these  quotations. 

t  Ford's    History  of  Dlinois,"  p.  265. 


136 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


long  an  account  of  his  tribulations  lias  been  given,  the  reader 
may  now,  perhaps,  glance  with  interest  at  his  short-lived 
glory. 

Consistent  with  the  character  of  the  great  mission  that  was 
ever  uppermost  in  his  mind,  it  was  to  him  very  appropriate 
that  the  military  on  this  occasion  should  be  blended  with  the 
ecclesiastical  in  laying  the  foundation  of  the  Temple.  As  the 
Church  was  advancing  to  "power  and  great  glory,"  it  was 
proper  that  the  Lieutenant-General  should  take  precedence  of 
the  Prophet.  The  Legion  was,  therefore,  the  first  in  the  pro- 
gramme. 

The  Times  and  Seasons — the  organ  of  the  Church  at  Nau- 
voo — furnishes  the  picture  of  that    great  day  in  Israel "  : 

"  At  an  early  hour  the  Lieutenant-General  was  informed  that  the  Le- 
gion was  ready  for  review,  and  accompanied  by  his  staff,  consisting  of  four 
aides-de-camp  and  twelve  guards,  nearly  all  in  splendid  uniforms,  took  his 
march  to  the  parade  ground.  On  their  approach  they  were  met  by  the 
band,  beautifully  equipped,  who  received  them  with  a  flourish  of  trump- 
ets and  a  regular  salute,  and  then  struck  up  a  lively  air,  marching  in  front 
to  the  stand  of  the  Lieutenant-General.  On  his  approach  to  the  parade 
ground  the  artillery  were  again  fired,  and  the  Legion  gave  an  appropriate 
salute.  This  was  indeed  a  glorious  sight,  such  as  we  never  saw,  nor  did 
we  ever  expect  to  see  such  a  one  in  the  West.  The  several  companies  pre- 
sented a  beautiful  and  interesting  spectacle,  several  of  them  being  uni- 
formed and  equipped,  while  the  rich  and  costly  dresses  of  the  officers 
would  have  become  a  Buonaparte  or  a  Washington. 

"After  the  arrival  of  Lieutenant-General  Smith,  the  ladies,  who  had 
made  a  beautiful  silk  flag,  drove  up  in  a  carriage  to  present  it  to  the  Le- 
gion. Major-Gen eral  Bennett  very  politely  attended  on  them,  and  con- 
ducted them  in  front  of  Lieutenant-General  Smith,  who  immediately 
alighted  from  his  charger  and  walked  up  to  the  ladies,  who  presented  the 
flag,  making  an  appropriate  address.  Lieutenant-General  Smith  acknowl- 
edged the  honour  conferred  upon  the  Legion,  and  stated  that  as  long  as 
he  had  the  command  it  should  never  be  disgraced,  and  then  politely  bow- 
ing to  the  ladies,  gave  it  into  the  hands  of  Major-General  Bennett,  who 
placed  it  in  possession  of  Cornet  Kobinson,  and  it  was  soon  seen  gracefully 
waving  in  front  of  the  Legion.  During  the  time  of  presentation  the  band 
struck  up  a  lively  air,  and  another  salute  was  fired  from  the  artillery. 

"After  the  presentation  of  the  flag,  Lieutenant-General  Smith,  accom- 
panied by  his  suite,  reviewed  the  Legion,  which  presented  a  very  imposing 
appearance,  the  different  officers  saluting  as  he  passed.  Lieutenant-Gen- 
eral Smith  then  took  his  former  stand,  and  the  whole  Legion  passed  before 
him  in  review." 


FOUNDATION  OF  THE  NAUYOO  TEMPLE  LAID. 


137 


As  soon  as  this  was  ended  a  procession  was  formed  with  the 
Lieutenant-General-Prophet  at  its  head,  followed  by  his  aidea^ 
brigadiers,  military  band,  infantry,  and  cavalry,  and  "  a  troop 

of  young  ladies,  eight  abreast."  On  arrival  at  the  Temple 
block,  the  generals,  with  their  staffs  and  the  distinguished  vis- 
itors, took  their  position  inside  the  foundation  ;  the  ladies 
formed  on  the  outside  next  the  wall,  the  gentlemen  and  in- 
fantry behind,  and  the  cavalry  in  the  rear.  When  all  was 
ready  the  signal  was  given,  and  the  choir  burst  forth  with  a 
new  hymn.  Sidney  Eigdon  was  the  orator,  and  passed  in  re- 
view the  history  of  the  Saints  from  their  small  beginnings,  their 
constant  persecutions,  mobbings,  and  drivings,  till  now  they  had 
got  where  they  could  in  peace  lay  the  foundation  of  a  Temple 
with  the  prospect  of  completing  it  without  the  interruption  of 
mobs.  Another  hymn  and  the  invocation  of  the  blessing  of  the 
Almighty,  prepared  the  Prophet  for  the  ceremony  of  laying  the 

first  corner-stone  of  the  Temple  of  Almighty  God."  The 
entire  proceeding  terminated  with  the  Prophet  offering  a  sol- 
emn prayer,  imploring  the  favour  of  Heaven  for  the  Saints  that 
they  might  be  prospered  and  preserved  to  build  that  house  in 
which  to  worship  the  God  of  their  fathers.  The  Times  and 
Seasons^  inspired  by  the  glory  of  the  day,  presaging,  as  the 
Saints  believed,  the  beginning  of  a  new  era,  gave  expression  to 
a  hope  of  peace,  which  proved  sadly  delusive  : 

"  It  was  a  gladsome  sight  and  extremely  affecting  to  see  the  old  revolu- 
tionary patriots,  who  had  been  driven  from  their  homes  in  Missouri,  strike 
hands  and  rejoice  together  in  a  land  where  they  Tcnew  they  would  le  pro- 
tected from  mods  J  and  where  they  could  again  enjoy  the  liberty  for  which 
they  had  fought  many  a  hard  battle.  The  day  was  indeed  propitious ; 
heaven  and  earth  combined  to  make  the  scene  as  glorious  as  possible." 

Alas  !  how  soon  this  sunshine  of  prosperity  was  to  be  cloud- 
ed, and  this  rejoicing  in  peace  to  be  turned  into  mourning ! 

Governor  Boggs  was  not  yet  through  with  the  Prophet.  He 
made  a  requisition  upon  Governor  Carlin,  of  Illinois,  to  sur- 
render Joseph  Smith,  Sidney  Eigdon,  and  other  leading  Mor- 
mons,  "  as  fugitives  from  justice."  A  writ  was  issued  for  their 
arrest,  but  the  sheriff  "  could  not  find  them  !  "  The  writ  was 
returned,  and  the  matter  for  the  time  dropped.  Public  opin 
9 


138 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


ion  was  everywhere  against  Missouri,  and  the  press  sustained 
the  Mormons. 

Some  months  afterwards  Joseph  was  arrested  on  the  same 
charge,  and  on  a  writ  of  habeas  corjpus  the  case  was  heard  be- 
fore Judge  Stephen  A.  Douglas,  of  the  Circuit  Court,  and  the 
prisoner  was  discharged  on  the  ground  that  the  writ,  having 
been  previously  returned  to  the  Governor,  was  null  and  void. 


CHAPTEE  XXIII. 


POLITICAL  DIFFICULTIES.— The  Prophet  balances  between  the  Whigs  and  the 
Democrats — The  Neighbours  of  the  Mormons  become  dissatisfied — Joseph 
charged  with  Designs  upon  the  Life  of  Governor  Boggs — He  is  arrested  on  a 
Charge  of  Treason — Ways  that  are  dark — Governor  Ford  explains — The  First 
Budding  of  Polygamy — The  Beginning  of  the  End— Serious  Charges  are  made. 

The  people  of  Illinois  were  now  becoming  better  acquainted 
with  their  new  fellow-citizens  and  comprehending  the  inevita- 
ble political  issue  between  a  community  voting  as  a  unit  and 
the  divisional  voting  of  promiscuous  citizens.  Their  immedi- 
ate neighbours  were  now  as  dissatisfied  with  their  presence  as 
were  the  Missourians  formerly,  and  serious  charges  were  pre- 
ferred against  them. 

Joseph  Smith  and  the  Mormons  had  their  own  purposes 
and  advancement  to  serve,  and  they  used  the  Whigs  or  the 
Democrats  as  best  suited  them.  This  the  politicians  fully  ap- 
preciated and  were  ready  for  any  measure  that  would  rid  them 
of  the  power  that  threatened  to  control  them.  Meetings  and 
conventions  were  held  and  an  anti-Mormon  organization  was 
formed  for  the  purpose  of  urging  the  Legislature  to  cancel  the 
liberal  charter  that  had  been  granted  to  Nauvoo,  to  disband 
the  Legion  and,  if  possible,  to  get  rid  of  the  Mormons  alto- 
gether. Whigs  and  Democrats  were  equally  hostile  and 
equally  zealous  in  the  work,  but  the  Prophet  for  a  time  out- 
generalled  them  all  and  maintained  his  own. 

A  citizen  of  Nauvoo,  in  his  narrative  of  those  days  and  cir- 
cumstances, groups  together  the  facts  and  fears  that  then  agi- 
tated the  anti-Mormons : 

"  The  issue  was  for  the  first  time  clearly  drawn,  the  election  in  due  time 
came  off,  and  the  Prophet  was  triumphant.    He  had  elected  everything 


140 


THE  KOCKY  MOUNTAm  SAINTS. 


on  the  county  ticket.  By  his  combinations  he  had  completely  defeated 
the  anti-Mormon  movement  and  had  for  county  officers  his  trusty  friends 
devoted  to  his  interests.  If  his  enemies  chose  to  appeal  from  the  decision 
of  the  polls,  he  was  ready  for  them.  His  battalions  were  models  of  disci- 
pline, devoted  to  his  service,  numbered  by  thousands,  and  armed  with  an 
efficiency  which  distinguished  no  other  troops  in  America.  The  walls  of 
the  Temple  were  progressing  rapidly.  The  anti-Mormons  looked  upon 
the  structure  with  many  doubts  and  apprehensions.  Everything  the  Mor- 
mons did  was  veiled  in  mystery.  This  structure  resembled  no  church,  its 
walls  of  massive  limestone  were  impervious  to  the  shot  of  the  hea\iest 
cannon.  It  had  two  tiers  of  circular  windows  which  looked  to  the  won- 
dering Gentiles  very  much  as  if  they  were  port-holes  for  the  manoeuvring 
of  cannon.  The  building  was  near  the  centre  of  a  square  of  four  acres, 
to  be  surrounded  by  a  massive  wall  ten  feet  in  height  and  six  in  thickness. 
This  the  Mormons  said  was  for  a  promenade ;  the  anti-Mormons  would 
have  told  you,  it  could  have  been  constructed  for  no  other  purpose  than  a 
fortification,  and  one  which  would  have  stood  a  heavy  bombardment  with- 
out being  breached."  * 

To  add  to  the  feverish  excitement,  an  attempt  was  made  to 
shoot  -3x-Governor  Boggs,  of  Missouri,  at  his  residence  in  In- 
dependence. The  would-be  assassin  in  firing  through  the  win- 
dow missed  the  fatal  aim,  but  the  ex-Governor  was  severely 
wounded  in  the  head.  Charges  were  preferred  against  Jo- 
seph Smith  and  Orrin  Porter  Rockwell  f — the  former  as  the 
instigator  and  the  latter  as  the  instrument  in  this  attempt  at 
murder.  An  indictment  was  found  to  this  effect  and  a  requi- 
sition was  made  upon  Governor  Ford  for  the  person  of  Josejoh 
Smith. 

A  writ  was  issued  in  August,  1842,  but  the  Prophet  was 
protected  by  a  writ  of  habeas  corpus^  and  the  matter  was  heard 
in  January  following  before  Judge  N.  Pope,  in  the  United 
States  District  Court,  at  Springfi.eld,  w4iich  resulted  in  "an 

*  This  reported  enormous  strength  of  the  Temple  and  wall  was  purely  imaginary. 

f  "  Port,"  as  he  is  generally  termed,  is  commonly  credited  with  being  the  chief 
of  the  Danites.  He  was  a  faithful  friend  of  Joseph,  and  in  moments  of  danger  was 
ever  near  the  Prophet.  He  was  apprehended  and  tried  on  this  charge,  but  was  able 
to  prove  that  he  was  a  few  miles  distant  from  the  place  at  the  time  of  the  attempt 
at  assassination.  The  firing  was  probably  the  act  of  another,  but  - he,  doubtless, 
was  no  stranger  to  the  Mormons.  The  Governor  owed  his  preservation  to  the  mis- 
direction  of  the  assassin's  pistol,  caused  by  the  reflection  of  the  light  upon  the 
"  window  glass."  It  is  said  that  Joseph  promised  "  Port "  protection  to  his  life  so 
long  as  his  locks  were  uncut.  This  story  smacks  something  of  Samson  and  De- 
lilah ;  "  Port,"  however,  still  wears  unshorn  locks. 


ATTEMPTED  ASSASSINATION  OF  GOVERNOR  BOGGS. 


"  honourable  acquittal ;  "  the  Judge  directing  "  this  decision 
"  to  be  entered  on  the  records  in  such  a  way  that  Mr.  Smith 
"be  no  more  troubled  about  the  matter."  Another  demand 
for  Joseph  soon  followed  from  Missouri ;  this  time  on  a  charge 
of  treason,  and  the  sheriffs  of  Jackson  county,  Missouri,  and 
Carthage,  Illinois,  stole  in  upon  him  while  visiting  at  some  dis- 
tance from  Nauvoo ;  but  the  sleepless  vigilance  of  the  Mor- 


Orrin  Porter  Rockwell. 


mons  discovered  the  Prophet's  critical  situation  in  time  to  ef- 
fect his  rescue  before  the  sheriffs  could  run  him  into  Missouri. 
A  writ  of  habeas  corpus  brought  Joseph  and  them  to  Nauvoo, 
where  the  municipal  court  discharged  the  prisoner  trom  arrest 
"  on  the  merits  of  the  case,"  and  upon  the  further  groimd  of 
substantial  defects  in  the  writ  issued  by  the  Governor  of  Illi- 
nois. 

The  sheriffs  had  used  freely  the  muzzles  of  their  revolvers 
against  the  ribs  of  the  Prophet  to  hasten  his  travel  from  the 
neighbourhood  of  his  friends,  and  by  way  of  revenge,  on  their 
arrival  in  Nauvoo,  he  made  them  guests  at  his  "  mansion,"  and 
was  profuse  in  kindness  to  them.    Subsequently  he  sued  them 


142 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


for  false  imprisonment  and  for  using  unnecessary  violence  in 
his  arrest,  recovering  damages  and  costs  of  suit. 

The  Missourians,  still  eager  for  the  man  who  had  so  often 
baffled  their  attempts  to  take  him  back  to  that  State,  made 
another  application  to  Governor  Ford,  asking  him  to  call  out 
the  militia  of  Illinois  to  effect  the  Prophet's  arrest,  but  the 
Governor  refused  to  do  so,  fearing  to  lose  the  political  influence 
of  the  Mormons,  which  just  at  that  time  was  particularly  valu- 
able to  the  Democratic  party. 

In  those  troublous  times  the  jurisdiction  of  the  municipal 
court  of  Nauvoo  was  a  constant  subject  of  controversy,  and 
especially  in  this  assertion  of  its  right  to  discharge  Joseph 
from  arrest  upon  the  writ  of  the  Governor  of  the  State.  Cy- 
rus Walker,  a  leading  Whig  politician  and  able  lawyer,  sustained 
the  municipal  court,  and  was  successful  in  securing  the  libera- 
tion of  Joseph  ;  in  gratitude  for  which  the  latter  promised  the 
former  his  vote  at  the  pending  election  for  members  of  Con- 
gress. The  Democratic  party  in  the  mean  time  were  at  work 
with  others  of  the  leading  Mormons,  and  "  the  Lord  "  was  with 
them — a  circumstance  probably  unique  of  its  kind  in  political 
experience. 

Mr.  Walker  very  naturally  highly  estimated  the  promise 
of  Joseph's  vote,  and  with  this  imagined  Mormon  aid  he  could 
"  read  his  title  clear  "  to  the  House  of  Representatives,  but,  in 
the  last  moments  preceding  the  election,  Joseph's  brother, 
Hyrum,  received  "  a  revelation  "  commanding  the  Mormons  to 
vote  for  Mr.  Hoge,  the  Democrat.  Here  was  a  dilemma !  Jo- 
seph kept  his  word  to  Mr.  Walker  and  personally  voted  for 
him,  but  left  the  people  to  vote  for  whom  they  pleased,  assur- 
ing them  before  the  election  that  he  "  never  knew  his  brother 
"  Ilyrum  to  tell  a  lie  in  his  life,"  and  thus  Hoge  was  overwhelm- 
ingly elected. 

Joseph  doubtless  intended,  when  he  promised  his  personal 
vote  to  Walker,  that  the  Mormons  should  vote  the  Whig 
ticket ;  but  when  subsequently  the  demand  was  made  by  Mis- 
souri that  Illinois  should  call  out  the  militia  and  take  the 
Prophet  back  to  Missouri,  Governor  Ford's  refusal  to  so  employ 
the  militia  of  Illinois,  and  the  Lord's  "  revelation  command- 
ing the  Mormons  to  vote  the  Democratic  ticket,  were  plainly* 


THE  PKOPHET  OUTWITS  A  POLITICIAN. 


143 


a  very  earthly  negotiation.  The  Governor  denies  having  been 
a  party  to  this  negotiation  with  the  Mormons,  but  he  admits 
that  three  years  afterwards  he  learned  that  a  prominent  Dem- 
ocrat had  given  such  a  pledge  in  his  name. 

Politics,  under  the  most  favourable  circumstances,  have 
never  been  classified  with  the  highest  morality,  and,  to  the  Mor- 
mons of  Hancock  county,  the  life  and  libertj^  of  Joseph  Smith 
were  of  more  importance  than  the  election  of  Mr.  Walker.  Be- 
sides, the  disappointed  candidate  could  be  consoled  with  Jo- 
seph's kindly  recognition  and  patronage  in  the  world  to  come 
— a  promise  which  the  Prophet  Smith  was  never  slow  to  make 
to  those  who  served  him. 

This  little  strategy  had,  however,  an  unlooked-for  and  a 
^ very  unpleasant  issue.  Governor  Ford,  in  his  "political  his- 
"  tory  of  Illinois,"  exhibits  its  bearing  on  the  worldly  destiny 
of  the  modern  Prophet : 

"  It  appears  that  the  Mormons  had  been  directed  by  their  leaders  to 
vote  the  Whig  ticket  in  the  Quincy  as  well  as  the  Hancock  district.  In 
the  Quincy  district  Judge  Douglas  was  the  Democratic  candidate,  O.  H. 
Browning  the  candidate  of  the  Whigs.  The  leading  Mormons  at  Nauvoo 
having  never  determined  in  favour  of  the  Democrats  until  a  day  or  two 
before  the  election,  there  was  not  sufficient  time,  or  it  was  neglected,  to 
send  orders  from  Nauvoo  into  the  Quincy  district  to  effect  a  change  there. 
The  Mormons  in  that  district  voted  for  Browning.  Douglas  and  his 
friends  being  afraid  that  I  might  be  in  his  way  for  the  United  States  Sen- 
ate, in  1846,  seized  hold  of  this  circumstance  to  affect  my  party-standing, 
and  thereby  give  countenance  to  the  clamour  of  the  Whigs,  secretly  whis- 
pering it  about  that  I  had  not  only  influenced  the  Mormons  to  vote  for 
Hoge,  but  for  Browning  also.  This  decided  many  of  the  Democrats  in 
favour  of  the  expulsion  of  the  Mormons."  * 

Of  Nauvoo,  in  its  first  flush  of  power,  the  Governor  con 
tinues : 

"  Ko  further  demand  for  the  arrest  of  Joe  [Joseph]  Smith  having  been 
made  by  Missouri,  he  became  emboldened  by  success.  The  Mormons  be- 
came more  arrogant  and  overbearing.  In  the  .winter  of  1843-4  the  com- 
mon council  passed  some  further  ordinances  to  protect  their  leaders  from 
arrest  on  demand  from  Missouri.  They  enacted  that  no  writ  issued  from 
any  other  place  than  Nauvoo  for  the  arrest  of  any  person  in  it  should  be 
executed  in  the  city,  without  an  approval  endorsed  thereon  by  the  mayor; 
that  if  any  public  officer,  by  virtue  of  any  foreign  writ,  should  attempt  to 

*  Ford's  "History  of  Illinois,"  p.  320. 


144 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


make  an  arrest  in  tlie  city,  without  such  approval  of  his  process,  he  should 
be  subject  to  imprisonment  for  life,  and  that  the  Governor  of  the  State 
should  not  have  the  power  of  pardoning  the  offender  without  the  consent 
of  the  mayor.  When  these  ordinances  were  published  they  created  general 
astonishment.  Many  people  began  to  believe  in  good  earnest  that  the 
Mormons  were  about  to  set  up  a  separate  government  for  themselves  in 
defiance  of  the  laws  of  the  State." 

This  was  certainly  an  extraordinary  municipal  jurisdiction, 
but  remembering  tbe  expulsion  of  the  Saints  from  Missouri, 
and  the  constantly  recurring  demands  of  its  authorities,  en- 
dorsed by  the  writs  of  the  Governor  of  Illinois,  for  the  person 
of  Joseph  Smith  (with  the  view,  as  was  generally  averred,  by 
both  Saints  and  sinners,  of  murdering  him),  it  is  evident  that 
the  Nauvoo  municipality  fally  comprehended  the  desperation 
of  their  situation.  Add  to  this  the  sequel  of  the  dastardly  as- 
sassination of  the  Prophet  and  his  brother,  while  in  jail  await- 
ing trial,  under  the  promised  protection  of  the  Governor  of  the 
State,  and  the  adoption  of  any  means,  however  unconstitution- 
al, which  promised,  if  nothing  more,  temporarj^  protection  to 
the  Prophet,  can  be  readily  understood. 

But  the  trials  of  the  Prophet  were  not  only  with  the  "  out- 
"  siders."  Trouble  from  within  was  brooding  over  the  Church. 
Polygamy  was  dawning  upon  the  minds  of  the  Prophet  and 
a  few  of  the  leading  elders,  and  preceding  shadows  of  some- 
thing resembling  "  affinity,"  and  what  was  termed  the  "  spirit- 
"  ual-wife  "  doctrine,  began  to  develop  in  the  lives  of  some 
prominent  men.  This  period  of  Mormon  history  is  a  perfect 
muddle  of  affirmation  and  denial,  charge  and  counter- charge, 
oath  and  counter-oath.  Men  like  John  C.  Bennett  were 
charged  by  the  Mormon  leaders  with  the  grossest  corruption 
and  marital  infidelity.  They,  in  turn,  reversed  the  responsibil- 
ity, and  charged  Joseph  with  teaching  it  to  them.  Councils 
were  afterwards  held,  trials,  witnesses,  "  confessions,"  and 
"  forgiveness  "  were  recorded,  then  soon  after  some  new  phase 
of  the  same  kind  of  dark  work  was  again  revealed,  the  accused 
were  "excommunicated"  for  their  "iniquities"  and  "corrupt 
"practices,"  and  an  irreconcilable  breach  was  made.  The  testi- 
mony on  both  sides  is  so  perfectly  bewildering  that  even  to-day 
may  be  found,  in  Salt  Lake  City,  a  husband  and  wife  in  the 


MARITAL  DIFFICULTIES  AMONG  THE  SAINTS. 


145 


Mormon  Church,  much  affected  by  a  circumstance  of  these 
times,  wlio  are  still  as  valiant  as  ever — th^e  husband  in  asserting 
the  immaculate  purity  of  the  Prophet,  and  the  wife  as  stoutly 
asserting  the  opposite — from  her  own  knowledge. 

Surrounded,  as  Joseph  Smith  was  at  that  time,  with  so 
many  difficulties,  it  would  be  reasonable  to  expect  that  he 
would  have  been  extraordinarily  circumspect  in  the  introduc- 
tion of  any  proposed  change  in  the  marital  relations  ;  but  with 
all  his  caution  he  was  unsuccessful  in  protecting  himself  from 
charges  of  the  gravest  description.  His  revelation  on  polyg- 
amy contains  sufficient  evidence  that  he  regarded  the  Christian 
marriage  as  utterly  wrong,  and  that  the  ceremony  of  any  priest 
was  valueless  in  comparison  with  his  own  order  of  priesthood ; 
but  that  he  advocated,  or  in  any  way  countenanced,  the  jpro- 
misGuous  intercourse  that  was  charged  to  him  by  such  men  as 
Bennett,  the  Author  has  been  unable  to  find  any  evidence  be- 
yond that  of  the  one  lady  alluded  to,  and  whose  statement  is 
somewhat  neutralized  by  the  fact  that  it  is  made  as  a  counter- 
charge to  one  of  Joseph's,  accusing  Bennett  of  the  outrage  of 
an  absent  husband.  Many,  however,  believe  the  lady's  state- 
ment. 

Bennett  made  a  tour  through  the  West,  lecturing  on  the 
enormities  of  Mormonism,  and  stirring  up  the  people  to  mob- 
violence,  while  Francis  M.  Higbee  had  Joseph  arrested  for 
defamation  of  character,  on  a  writ  granted  by  the  circuit  court 
of  Hancock  county.  But  the  municipal  court  of  Nauvoo,  ever 
ready  at  his  call,  protected  him  with  a  writ  of  habeas  corpus^ 
and  on  examination  he  was  discharged  on  the  ground  that  the 
suit  was  instituted  through  malice. 


CHAPTER  XXIY. 


JOSEPH  PEEDICTS  THE  EOCKY  MOUNTAIN  ZION.— He  designs  to  found 
there  an  Independent  State — Becomes  a  Candidate  for  the  Presidency  of  the 
United  States — Assails  Clay  and  Calhoun — Great  Trouble  with  Apostates — Poli- 
tics and  Polygamy  threaten  to  engulf  him — The  Nauvoo  Expositor  founded  and 
destroyed— Writs  issued  for  the  Arrest  of  the  Prophet — He  resolves  on  Plight. 

Harassed  by  prosecutions  from  every  side,  in  constant  dan- 
ger of  being  surprised  and  carried  off  to  Missouri,  and  realiz- 
ing that  political  jealousies  were  working  up  the  State  of  Illi- 
nois against  him  and  the  Mormon  people,  the  Prophet  turned 
his  eyes  towards  the  Pacific  to  find  there  an  abiding-place  for 
Zion.  As  early  as  1842,  he  prophesied  that  the  Saints  would 
remove  to  the  Rocky  Mountains,  and  in  the  spring  of  1844, 
while  troubles  were  increasing  upon  him,  he  selected  a  com- 
pany of  men  to  explore  that  unknown  region,  prophesying  at 
the  same  time  that  within  five  years  from  that  date,  the  Saints 
should  be  located  there  beyond  the  influence  of  mobs.    In  his 

private  history  he  writes  under  date  of  February  20th,  1844 : 

• 

"I  instructed  the  Twelve  Apostles  to  send  out  a  delegation  and  investi- 
gate the  localities,  California  and  Oregon,  and  hunt  out  a  good  location 
where  we  can  remove  to  after  the  Temple  is  completed  and  where  we  can 
build  a  city  in  a  day  and  have  a  government  of  our  own :  get  up  into  the 
'^mountains  where  the  devil  cannot  dig  us  out,  and  live  in  a  healthy  cli- 
mate where  we  can  live  as  old  as  we  have  a  mind  to." 

His  design  was  to  found  an  independent  State  somewhere 
west  of  the  Pocky  Mountains,  and  to  further  that  end  he  sent 
a  delegation  to  Washington  seeking  the  countenance  and,  if 
possible,  the  cooperation  of  the  Government  to  his  scheme. 
The  apostle  Hyde,"^  as  chief  of  that  delegation,  wrote  from  the 

*  This  is  the  same  Hyde  who  apostatized  and  left  the  Church  in  Missouri.  He 
repented,  pleaded  with  Joseph  and  the  Church,  aud  was  roinstalled  in  full  feather. 


THE  PROPHET  ON  NATIONAL  POLITICS.  147 

seat  of  government,  April  25,  1844,  that  the  Prophet's  propo- 
sition to  go  West  found  great  favour  with  leading  senators,  es- 
pecially with  Senator  Stephen  A.  Douglas,  and  some  memi)ers 
of  the  Cabinet,  but  the  Government  feared  that  a  misunder- 
standing might  arise  with  England.  Oregon  was  then  by 
treaty  jointly  occupied  by  both  nations,  and  it  was  apprehended 
that  going  as  the  emigrants  would,  as  something  like  an  armed 
force  and  in  such  numbers,  it  might  be  regarded  by  England 
as  an  infraction  of  that  treaty,  and  so  the  Government  declined 
any  recognition  of  the  proposed  exodus. 

Inexplicable  enough,  as  it  seemed  to  the  uninitiated,  at  the 
very  time  that  this  proposition  was  made  by  Joseph  to  move 
to  the  West,  his  name  was  put  forth  as  a  candidate  for  the 
Presidency  of  the  United  States,  and  hundreds  [Governor  Ford 
says  "  two  or  three  thousand  "]  of  the  elders  were  sent  over 
the  States  preaching  Mormonism  and  electioneering  for  Joseph. 
At  that  time  Clay  and  Calhoun  were  rival  candidates,  and  Jo- 
seph failed  not  to  ask  them  categorically  what  their  course  of 
action  would  be  towards  the  Mormons  in  case  of  election.  The 
Prophet  was  never  without  a  double  string  to  his  bow — if  it 
were  possible  to  have  two,  and  when  he  apprehended  that  per- 
sonally he  might  fail  in  reaching  the  chair  of  Washington,  he 
wanted  to  know  what  either  of  the  other  candidates  would  do 
before  he  cast  the  Mormon  vote  in  Illinois. 

Joseph  was  dissatisfied  with  both  Clay  and  Calhoun.  He 
handled  them  severely  in  lengthy  communications  for  the  inde- 
finite answers  they  had  sent  him,  and  issued  his  own  "  Address 
"to  the  American  people"  on  the  leading  topics  of  the  day. 

It  is  difficult  to  believe  that  Joseph  meant  more  in  giving 
his  name  as  a  candidate  than  simply  to  place  before  the  public 
his  views  upon  national  policy,  and  exhibit,  as  he  believed,  his 
fitness  as  a  statesman  to  become  the  chief  executive  of  the 
nation. 

The  incidents  in  the  historv  of  ISTauvoo  from  this  time  to 

t/ 

the  assassination  of  Joseph  Smith,  and  after  that  to  the  expul- 
sion of  the  Mormons  from  Illinois,  are  intensely  interesting,  and 
as  Governor  Ford's  record  of  the  circumstances  of  those  times 
is  in  a  measure  official,  citations  from  it  are  doubly  valuable 
and  will  be  freely  used.    No  writer  on  either  side  of  a  conten- 


148 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


tion  could  well  be  perfectly  unbiased  or  even  strictly  truthful, 
as  he  could  not  personally  know  the  movements  of  both  sides. 
The  reader  will,  therefore,  receive  with  caution  even  the  Gov- 
ernor's statement,  observing,  however,  that  whatever  colouring 
there  may  be  here  and  there  against  the  Mormons,  it  is  more 
than  balanced  by  the  damaging  admissions  he  makes  against 
their  enemies.    He  says : 

"  Soon  after  these  institutions  were  established,  Joe  [Joseph]  Smith 
began  to  play  the  tyrant  over  several  of  his  followers.  The  first  act  of  this 
sort  which  excited  attention  was  an  attempt  to  take  the  wife  of  William 
Law,  one  of  his  most  talented  and  principal  disciples,  and  make  her  his 
spiritual  wife.  By  means  of  his  common  council,  without  the  authority 
of  law,  he  established  a  recorder's  office  in  Nauvoo,  in  which  alone  the 
titles  of  property  could  be  recorded.  In  the  same  manner  and  with  the 
same  want  of  legal  authority,  he  established  an  ofilce  for  issuing  marriage 
licenses  to  the  Mormons,  so  as  to  give  him  absolute  control  of  the  marry- 
ing propensities  of  his  people.  He  proclaimed  that  none  in  the  city  should 
purchase  real  estate  to  sell  again,  but  himself.  He  also  permitted  no  one 
but  himself  to  have  a  license  in  the  city  for  the  sale  of  spirituous  liquors ; 
and  in  many  other  ways  he  undertook  to  regulate  and  control  the  business 
of  the  Mormons.  This  despotism  administered  by  a  corrupt "  and  un- 
principled man  soon  became  intolerable.  William  Law,  one  of  the  most 
eloquent  preachers  of  the  Mormons,  who  appeared  to  me  to  be  a  deluded 
but  conscientious  and  candid  man,  Wilson  Law,  his  brother,  major-gen- 
eral of  the  Legion,  and  four  or  five  other  Mormon  leaders,  resolved  upon  a 
rebellion  against  the  authority  of  the  Prophet.  They  designed  to  enlighten 
their  brethren  and  fellow-citizens  upon  the  new  institutions,  the  new  turn 
given  to  Mormonism  and  the  practices  under  the  new  system,  by  procur- 
ing a  printing-press  and  establishing  a  newspaper  in  the  city,*  to  be  the 
organ  of  their  complaints  and  views.  But  they  never  issued  but  one  num- 
ber. Before  the  second  could  appear  the  press  was  demolished  by  an  or- 
der of  the  common  council,  and  the  conspirators  were  ejected  from  the 
Mormon  Church. 

"  The  Mormons  themselves  published  the  proceedings  of  the  council 
in  the  trial  and  destruction  of  the  heretical  press ;  from  which  it  does  not 
appear  that  any  one  was  tried,  or  that  the  editor  or  any  of  the  owners  of 
the  property  had  notice  of  the  trial,  or  were  permitted  to  defend  in  any 
particular. 

"  The  proceeding  was  an  ex-parte  proceeding,  partly  civil  and  partly 
ecclesiastical,  against  the  press  itself.  No  jury  was  called  or  sworn,  nor 
were  the  witnesses  required  to  give  their  evidence  upon  oath.  The  coun- 
cillors stood  up,  one  after  another,  and  some  of  them  several  times,  and 
related  what  they  pretended  to  know.    In  this  mode  it  was  abundantly 

*  The  Nauvoo  Expositor, 


\ 


DESTRUCTION  OF  THE  NAUVOO  "  EXPOSITOR.'*  149 

proved  that  the  owners  of  the  proscribed  press  were  sinners,  whoremasters, 
thieves,  swindlers,  counterfeiters  and  robbers,  the  evidence  of  which  is  re- 
ported in  the  trial  at  full  length.  It  was  altogether  the  most  curious  and 
irregular  trial  that  ever  was  recorded  in  any  civilized  country;  and  one 
tinds  difficulty  in  determining  whether  the  proceedings  of  the  council  were 
more  the  result  of  insanity  or  depravity.  The  trial  resulted  in  the  convic- 
tion of  the  press  as  a  public  nuisance,  the  mayor  was  ordered  to  see  it 
abated  as  such,  and  if  necessary  to  call  the  Legion  to  his  assistance. 

The  mayor  issued  his  warrant  to  the  city  marshal,  who,  aided  by  a 
portion  of  the  Legion,  proceeded  to  the  obnoxious  printing-office,  and 
destroyed  the  press  and  scattered  the  types  and  other  materials."  * 

The  editor  and  seceding  Mormons  hastened  to  Carthage, 
and  writs  were  issued  for  the  arrest  of  the  mayor  of  Nauvoo, 
Joseph  Smitli,  and  others  engaged  in  the  destruction  of  the 
Expositor.  The  municipal  court  of  Nauvoo  set  aside  the 
writs  and  discharged  the  prisoners.  Aroused  by  the  inflamma- 
tory reports  of  what  the  Mormons  were  charged  with  contem- 
plating, and  believing  that  there  was  an  irrepressible  conflict " 
at  hand,  a  committee  was  appointed  at  Carthage  to  visit  the 
Governor  and  ask  that  the  militia  be  called  out  to  execute  that 
writ.  The  Governor  determined  to  investigate  in  person  the 
complaints,  and  immediately  visited  Carthage.  On  his  arrival 
he  found  an  armed  force  already  assembled  and  hourly  increas- 
ing under  the  summons  and  direction  of  the  constable  of  the 
county,  to  serve  as  a  ;posse  comitatus^  to  assist  in  the  execution 
of  that  writ.  The  general  of  the  brigade  had  called  upon  the 
militia  of  the  counties  of  McDonough  and  Schuyler,  and  a  con- 
siderable number  had  been  gathered  at  Warsaw  under  com- 
mand of  Col.  Levi  Williams. 

Governor  Ford  informed  the  mayor  and  council  of  Nauvoo 
of  the  complaint,  and  requested  a  committee  to  be  sent  to  meet 
him,  to  lay  before  him  their  statement  of  the  difficulty.  Such 
acknowledgments  were  made  by  this  committee  that  the  Gov- 
ernor readily  concluded  what  the  facts  really  were.    He  says  : 

"  Convinced  that  the  Mormon  leaders  had  committed  a  crime  in  the 
destruction  of  the  press,  and  had  resisted  the  execution  of  process,  I  de- 
termined to  exert  the  whole  force  of  the  State,  if  necessary,  to  bring  them 
to  justice.  But  seeing  the  great  excitement  in  the  public  mind,  and  the 
manifest  tendency  of  this  excitement  to  run  into  mobocracy,  I  was  of  opm- 

*  Ford's  "  History  of  Ulinois,"  pp.  322-3-4. 


150 


IHE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


ion  that  before  I  acted,  I  ought  to  obtain  a  pledge  from  the  officers  and 
men  to  support  me  in  strictly  legal  measures,  and  to  protect  the  prisoners 
in  case  they  surrendered ;  for  I  was  determined,  if  possible,  the  laws  of 
the  land  should  not  be  made  a  cats-paw  of  a  mob  to  reduce  these  people 
to  a  quiet  surrender,  as  the  convenient  victims  of  popular  fury.  I  there- 
fore called  together  the  whole  force  then  assembled  at  Carthage,  and  made 
an  address,  explaining  to  them  what  I  could,  and  what  I  could  not,  legally 
do,  and  also  adducing  to  them  various  reasons  why  they  as  well  as  the 
Mormons  should  submit  to  the  laws  ;  and  why,  if  they  had  resolved  upon 
revolutionary  proceedings,  their  purpose  should  be  abandoned.  The  as- 
sembled troops  seemed  much  pleased  with  the  address,  and  upon  its  con- 
clusion, the  officers  and  men  unanimously  voted  with  acclamation  to  sus- 
tain me  in  a  strictly  legal  course,  and  that  the  prisoners  should  be  protect- 
ed from  violence.  Upon  the  arrival  of  additional  forces  from  Warsaw, 
McDonough,  and  Schuyler,  similar  addresses  were  made  with  the  same 
result. 

"  It  seemed  to  me  that  these  votes  fully  authorized  me  to  promise  the 
accused  Mormons  the  protection  of  the  law  in  case  they  surrendered. 
They  were  accordingly  duly  informed  that  if  they  surrendered  they  would 
be  protected,  and  if  they  did  not  the  whole  force  of  the  State  would  be 
called  out,  if  necessary,  to  compel  their  submission.  A  force  of  ten  men 
was  dispatched  with  the  constable  to  make  the  arrests,  and  to  guard  the 
prisoners  to  headquarters. 

"  In  the  mean  time,  Joe  [Joseph]  Smith,  as  lieutenant-general  of  the 
ISTauvoo  Legion,  had  declared  martial  law  in  the  city  ;  the  Legion  was  as- 
sembled and  ordered  under  arms ;  the  members  of  it  residing  in  the  coun- 
try were  ordered  into  town.  The  Mormon  settlements  obeyed  the  sum- 
mons of  their  leader,  and  marched  to  his  assistance.  Nauvoo  was  one 
great  military  camp,  strictly  guarded  and  watched,  and  no  ingress  or 
egress  was  allowed,  except  upon  the  strictest  examination  

"  However,  upon  the  arrival  of  the  constable  and  guard,  the  mayor 
and  common  council  at  once  signified  their  willingness  to  surrender,  and 
stated  their  readiness  to  proceed  to  Carthage  next  morning  at  eight 
o'clock.  Martial  law  had  previously  been  abolished.  The  hour  of  eight 
o'clock  came,  and  the  accused  failed  to  make  their  appearance.  The  con- 
stable and  his  escort  returned.  The  constable  made  no  effort  to  arrest  any 
of  them,  nor  would  he  or  the  guard  delay  their  departure  one  minute  be- 
yond the  time,  to  see  whether  an  arrest  could  be  made.  Upon  their  re- 
turn they  reported  that  they  had  been  informed  that  the  accused  had  fled 
and  could  not  be  found."  * 

The  crisis  had  arrived.  Writs  for  his  apprehension,  and 
writs  of  habeas  corpus  for  his  discharge,  had  in  turn  done  their 
work  till  the  culmination  had  been  reached.    Joseph  resolved 

*  Ford's  "  ffistory  of  Illinois,"  pp.  332-3. 


THE  PROPHET  AGAIN  MEDITATES  FLIGHT. 


151 


on  flight.  He  crossed  the  river  to  Montrose,  where  he  could 
conceal  himself  till  ready  for  his  departure  for  the  Eastern 
States  or  the  Canadas,  as  reported  by  some,  or  for  the  Eocky 
Mountains,  as  reported  by  others.*^ 

*  The  apostle  John  Taylor  says:  "It  was  Brother  Joseph's  opinion  that,  should 
we  leave  for  a  time,  public  excitement,  which  wasjbhen  so  intense,  would  be  allayed; 
that  it  would  throw  on  the  Governor  the  responsibility  of  keeping  the  peace ;  that 
in  the  event  of  any  outrage,  the  onus  would  rest  on  the  Governor,  who  was  amply 
prepared  with  troops,  and  could  command  all  the  forces  of  the  State  to  preserve 
order ;  and  that  the  acts  of  his  own  men  would  be  an  overwhelming  proof  of  their 
seditious  designs,  not  only  to  the  Governor,  but  to  the  world.  He  moreover  thought 
that,  in  the  Eascv where  he  intended  to  go,  public  opinion  would  be  set  right  in  re- 
lation to  these  matters,  and  its  expression  would  partially  influence  the  West,  and 
that,  after  the  first  ebulition,  things  would  assume  a  shape  that  would  justify  his 
return, " 


CHAPTER  XXy. 

THE  PROPHET  SURRENDERS  TO  THE  LAW.— The  Governor  pledges  the 
Protection  of  the  State  for  his  Safety — The  Country  intensely  excited — The  De- 
struction of  the  Nauvoo  Expositor  a  Fatal  Error — The  Militia  in  Arms — The  Mur- 
der of  the  Prophet  planned — His  Enemies  resolve  to  kill  him  while  Governor 
Ford  visits  Nauvoo — A  Review  of  the  Prophet's  Life  and  Works. 

Mrs.  Emma  Smith,  to  whom  Joseph  was  warmly  devoted, 
notwithstanding  the  number  of  the  other  Mrs.  Smiths,  held 
empire  in  his  heart,  and  at  this  critical  monient  was  used  by 

some  ^'faint-hearted 
"  brethren  "  to  beg 
Joseph's  return  to 
Nauvoo.  The  lady 
is  said  to  have  writ- 
ten, to  him  and  to  his 
brother  Hyrum  who 
was  witli  him,  "  a 
"  cruel  and  indignant 
^'  letter/'  reproaching 
them    as  coward 

The  Prophet  surrenders  to  the  Law.  "  shcphcrds  who  had 

"left  the  sheep  in 

"  danger  and  fled."  Joseph  was  anything  but  a  "  coward," 
and  though  he  seemed  to  fully  comprehend  the  danger  of  his 
position,  he  resolved  at  once  to  return  to  Nauvoo  and  give 
himself  up  to  the  oflftcers  of  the  law. 

Governor  Ford  furnishes  the  incidents  leading  to  the  assas- 
sination of  the  two  brothers : 

"  On  the  23rd  or  24th  day  of  June,  Joe  [Joseph]  Smith,  the  mayor  of 
Nauvoo,  together  with  his  brother  Hyrum  and  aU  the  members  of  the 


THE  PROPHET  IN  JAIL. 


153 


council,  and  all  others  demanded,  came  into  Carthage  and  surrendered 
themselves  prisoners  to  the  constable  on  the  charge  of  riot.  They  all 
voluntarily  entered  into  a  recognizance  before  the  justice  of  the  peace  for 
their  appearance  at  court  to  answer  the  charge,  and  all  of  them  were  dis- 
charged from  custody  except  Joe  [Joseph]  and  Hyrum  Smith,  against 
whom  the  magistrate  had  issued  a  new  writ  on  a  complaint  of  treason. 
They  were  immediately  arrested  by  the  constable  on  this  charge  and  re- 
tained in  his  custody  to  answer  it.  .  .  , 

"  Soon  after  the  surrender  of  the  Smiths,  at  their  request  I  dispatched 
Captain  Singleton  with  his  company,  from  Brown  county,  to  Nauvoo  to 
guard  the  town,  and  I  authorized  him  to  take  command  of  the  Legion. 
He  reported  to  me  afterwards  that  he  called  out  the  Legion  for  inspec- 
tion ;  and  that  upon  two  hours'  notice,  two  thousand  of  them  assembled, 
all  of  them  armed,  and  this  after  the  public  arms  had  been  taken  away 
from  them.  So  it  appears  that  they  had  a  sufficiency  of  private  arms  for 
any  reasonable  purpose. 

"  After  the  Smiths  had  been  arrested  on  the  new  charge  of  treason,  the 
justice  of  the  peace  postponed  the  examination  because  neither  of  the  parties 
were  prepared  with  their  witnesses  for  trial.  In  the  mean  time  he  com- 
mitted them  to  the  jail  of  the  county  for  greater  security.  .  .  .  Neither 
they  nor  I  seriously  apprehended  an  attack  on  the  jail  through  the  guard 
stationed  to  protect  it.  Nor  did  I  apprehend  the  least  danger  on  their 
part  of  an  attempt  to  escape ;  for  I  was  very  sure  that  any  such  attempt 
would  have  been  the  signal  of  their  immediate  death."  * 

If  his  Excellency's  lieart  was  void  of  all  ranconr  against  the 
Prophet,  his  head  might  possibly  deceive  itself  respecting  the 
better  disposition  of  others  towards  the  prisoners ;  but  it  re-  • 
quired  no  great  acumen  to  discover  a  plan  and  purpose  to  com- 
pass the  death  of  the  Smiths.  In  the  midst  of  such  excitement 
and  threatenings  as  those  which  he  witnessed  and  heard,  no 
promises  from  those  in  arms — partly  mob  and  partly  militia — 
should  have  been  asked ;  not  the  slightest  confidence  could  be 
placed  in  them  !  The  Governor's  pledge  oi  protection  based 
on  his  own  personal  honour,  the  honour  of  the  officers  under 
his  command  and  the  honour  of  the  State,  was  too  great  a  trust 
to  be  committed  to  the  hands  of  Captain  Smith  of  the  Car- 
thage Grays.  With  such  surroundings  and  associations  while 
in  Carthage,  the  Governor's  repeated  assurances  of  protection 
lacked  evidence  of  that  good  faith  which  marks  a  resolute  and 
reliable  man. 

In  prison,  on  the  26th,  Governor  Ford  pledged  himself  to 

*  Ford's  "  History  of  Illinois,"  pp.  337-8. 
10 


154 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


the  Prophet  that  he  would  not  go  to  Nauvoo,  as  he  then  pro- 
posed, without  taking  him  and  his  brother  Hyrnm  with  him  ; 
but  on  the  following  morning  he  did  set  out  without  them  for 
the  City  of  the  Saints.  To  the  Prophet  and  his  friends  this 
violation  of  his  pledge  was  regarded  'as  the  beginning  of  the 
doom  in  store  for  them  : 

"The  force  assembled  at  Carthage  amounted  to  about  twelve  or  thir- 
teen hundred  men,  and  it  was  calculated  that  four  or  five  hundred  more 
were  assembled  at  Warsaw.  Nearly  all  that  portion  resident  in  Hancock 
were  anxious  to  be  marched  into  Nauvoo.  This  measure  was  supposed  to 
be  necessary  to  search  for  counterfeit  money,  and  the  apparatus  to  make 
it,  and  also  to  strike  a  salutary  terror  into  the  Mormon  people  by  an  exhi- 
,    bition  of  the  force  of  the  State  

"  Two  or  three  days'  preparation  had  been  made  for  this  expedition.  I 
observed  that  some  of  the  people  became  more  and  more  excited  and  in- 
flammatory the  further  the  preparations  were  advanced.  Occasional 
threats  came  to  my  ears  of  destroying  the  city  and  murdering  or  expelling 
the  inhabitants.  I  had  no  objection  to  ease  the  terrors  of  the  people  by 
such  a  display  of  force,  and  was  most  anxious  also  to  search  for  the  alleged 
apparatus  for  making  counterfeit  money  :  and  in  fact  to  inquire  into  all 
the  charges  against  that  people  if  I  could  have  been  .assured  of  my  com- 
mand against  mutiny  and  insubordination.  But  I  gradually  learned  to 
my  entire  satisfaction  that  there  was  a  plan  to  get  the  troops  into  Nauvoo, 
and  there  to  begin  the  war,  probably  by  some  of  our  own  party  or  some 
of  the  seceding  Mormons,  taking  advantage  of  the  night  to  fire  on  our 
own  force,  and  then  laying  it  on  the  Mormons.  I  was  satisfied  there  were 
•those  amongst  us  fully  capable  of  such  an  act,  hoping  that  in  the  alarm, 
bustle,  and  confusion  of  a  militia  camp  the  truth  could  not  be  discovered, 
and  that  it  might  lead  to  the  desired  collision."  * 

The  Governor  urged  these  considerations  upon  a  council  of 
officers,  but  "  such  was  the  blind  fury  prevailing  at  this  time," 
that  the  majority  of  the  council  adhered  to  the  first  resolution 
of  marching  into  ISTauvoo.  This  induced  him  to  disband  the 
troops  both  at  Carthage  and  Warsaw,  with  the  exception  of 
three  companies,  two  of  which  were  retained  as  a  guard  to  the 
jail,  and  the  other  to  accompany  him  to  Nauvoo.  After  es- 
saying to  excuse  himself  from  the  censure  of  liaving  placed  the 
Smiths  under  the  guard  of  the  Carthage  Grays — their  well- 
known  enemies — the  Governor  continues : 

"  Having  ordered  the  guard,  and  left  General  Demming  in  command 
in  Carthage  and  discharged  the  residue  of  the  militia,  I  immediately  de- 

*  Ford's  "  History  of  Ulinois,"  p.  339-40. 


ARRESTED  FOR  TREASON. 


155 


parted  for  Kauvoo,  eighteen  miles  distant,  accompanied  by  Colonel  Buck- 
master,  quartermaster-general,  and  Captain  Dunn's  company  of  dragoons. 

"  After  we  had  proceeded  four  miles,  Colonel  Buckmaster  intimated  to 
me  a  suspicion  that  an  attack  would  be  made  on  the  jail.  He  stated  the 
matter  as  a  mere  suspicion,  arising  from  having  seen  two  persons  converse 
together  at  Carthage  with  some  air  of  mystery.  I  myself  entertained  no 
suspicion  of  such  an  attack ;  at  any  rate,  none  before  the  next  day  in  the 
afternoon,  because  it  was  notorious  that  we  had  departed  from  Carthage 
with  the  declared  intention  of  being  absent  at  least  two  days.  I  could 
not  believe  that  any  person  would  attack  the  jail  whilst  we  were  in  Nau- 
voo,  and  thereby  expose  my  life  and  the  life  of  my  companions  to  the  sud- 
den vengeance  of  the  Mormons  upon  hearing  of  the  death  of  their  lead- 
ers. Nevertheless,  acting  upon  the  principle  of  providing  against  mere 
possibilities,  I  sent  back  one  of  the  company  with  a  special  order  to  Cap- 
tain Smith  to  guard  the  jail  strictly  and  at  peril  of  his  life  until  my  re- 
turn." * 

From  the  moment  that  the  Mormon  leaders  arrived  at  Car- 
thage it  was  clearly  evident  that  there  was  a  determination  to 
murder  the  Prophet.  He  and  his  associates  went  there  to  an- 
swer for  the  destruction  of  the  Nauvoo  Expositor^  and  for  that 
alone.  On  the  morning  of  the  24th,  the  accused  appeared  be- 
fore Eobert  F.  Smith,  a  justice  of  the .  peace  and  captain  of 
the  Carthage  Grays,  and,  after  examination,  gave  bail,  each  in 
the  sum  of  $500,  to  appear  at  the  succeeding  term  of  the  Han- 
cock county  Circuit  Court.  Immediately  after  they  were  set 
at  liberty,  a  writ  was  sworn  out  against  Joseph  and  his  brother 
Hyrum  for  "  treason,"  by  Augustine  Spencer  and  a  man  named 
....  Norton — two  worthless  fellows."  This  treason  " 
consisted  in  "levying  war  against  the  State  of  Illinois,''  and 
found  its  interpretation  in  the  Prophet  fortifying  Nauvoo  and 
calling  out  the  Legion  to  resist  the  force  under  the  command 
"  of  the  Governor."  This  charge  was  a  mere  pretext  and  an 
act  of  gross  injustice  to  "  Lieu  tenant-General  "  Smith — what- 
ever his  religious  profession  might  be — for,  as  lieutenant-gen- 
eral of  the  Legion,  he  was  instructed  by  Governor  Ford  on 
the  outbreak  of  the  disturbances  to  call  out  the  militia  to  de- 
fend the  city  against  the  mobocracy  that  threatened  its  de- 
struction. For  treason,  no  bail  could  be  accepted  ;  and  as  nei- 
ther the  parties  for  the  prosecution  or  the  defence  were  ready 
to  go  to  trial,  but  desired  a  postponement  of  the  case,  the  jus- 

*  Ford's    History  of  Illmois,"  pp.  345-6. 


156 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


tice  of  the  peace  remanded  both  the  Prophet  and  the  patriarch 
back  to  prison. 

The  counsel  for  the  accused — two  very  able  "  Gentile  " 
lawyers — protested  against  the  commitment  of  their  clients 
without  a  hearing,  and  an  appeal  was  made  to  the  Governor, 
but — "he  was  sorry  that  the  thing  had  occurred  ;  that  he  did 
"  not  believe  the  charges ;  that  he  thought  the  best  thing  to 
"  be  done  was  to  let  the  law  take  its  course."  The  two  broth- 
ers were  now  in  the  snare  that  had  been  prepared  for  their 
feet,  and  they  quietly  submitted  to  incarceration. 

In  order  to  return  to  Carthage  that  same  night,  to  prevent, 
as  he  claims,  an  attack  upon  the  jail,  the  Governor  halted  the 
baggage  wagons  and  hurried  on  to  Nauvoo  with  his  company. 
He  arrived  there  about  four  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  of  the  27th 
of  June,  when  he  assembled  the  citizens  and  reviewed  the  situa- 
tion : 

"  In  this  address  I  stated  to  them  how,  and  in  what,  their  function- 
aries had  violated  the  laws,  also  the  many  scandalous  reports  in  circula- 
tion against  them,  and  that  these  reports,  whether  true  or  false,  were  gen- 
erally believed  by  the  people.  I  distinctly  stated  to  them  the  amount  of 
hatred  and  prejudice  which  prevailed  everywhere  against  them,  and  the 
causes  of  it,  at  length.  I  also  told  them  plainly  and  emphatically  that  if 
any  vengeance  should  be  attempted  openly  or  secretly,  against  the  persons 
or  property  of  the  citizens  who  had  taken  part  against  their  leaders,  that 
the  public  hatred  and  excitement  was  such  that  thousands  would  assemble 
for  the  total  destruction  of  their  city,  and  the  extermination  of  their  peo- 
ple, and  that  no  power  in  the  State  would  be  able  to  prevent  it.  During 
this  address  some  impatience  and  resentment  were  manifested  by  the  Mor- 
mons at  the  recital  of  the  various  reports  enumerated  concerning  them, 
which  they  strenuously  and  indignantly  denied  to  be  true.  They  claimed 
to  be  a  law-abiding  people,  and  insisted  that  as  they  looked  to  the  law 
alone  for  their  protection,  so  were  they  careful  themselves  to  observe  its 
provisions.  Upon  the  conclusion  of  this  address  I  proposed  to  take  a 
vote  on  the  question,  whether  they  would  strictly  observe  the  laws,  even 
in  opposition  to  their  Prophet  and  leaders.  The  vote  was  unanimous  in 
favour  of  this  proposition.  The  anti-Mormons  contended  that  such  a 
vote  from  the  Mormons  signified  nothing."  * 

In  the  narrative  of  "  the  martyrdom  of  Joseph  Smith  " 
there  is  a  very  different  version  given  of  the  spirit  and  intent 


*  Ford's    History  of  Illinois,"  p.  347. 


FATAL  ERROR  OF  THE  PROPHET. 


157 


of  the  whole  course  pursued  by  the  Governor  from  that  which 
his  own  pen  has  traced. 

The  apostle  Taylor's  relation  of  a  semi-conversation,  semi- 
discussion  between  Governor  Ford  and  the  Prophet  in  the  Car- 
thage jail  has  in  the  light  of  after-acts,  both  Mormon  and  anti- 
Mormon,  an  air  of  strict  truthfulness,  and  exhibits  Joseph  with 
the  advantage  of  the  argument  relative,  to  everything  in  ITau- 
voo  history  that  was  the  subject  of  conversation,  save  the  de- 
struction of  the  press.  There  the  Prophet  doubtless  realized 
that  his  action  as  mayor  had  not  the  support  of  legal  form,  and 
with  that  fact  the  Governor  made  his  strong  point  against  him, 
and  treated  all  his  statements  of  grievances  against  ''apos- 
^^tates"  and  anti-Mormons*  with  ill-concealed  indifference. 
"  The  press,"  said  his  Excellency,  "  in  the  United  States  is 
"  looked  upon  as  the  bulwark  of  freedom,  and  its  destruction 
"  in  Nauvoo  was  represented  and  looked  upon  as  a  high-handed 
"  measure  and  manifests  to  the  people  a  disposition  on  your 
"part  to  suppress  the  liberty  of  speech  and  of  the  press. 
"  That  act,"  added  his  Excellency,  "  together  with  the  refusal 
"  to  comply  with  the  requisitions  of  a  writ  were  the  principal 
"  causes  of  the  difficulty." 

The  Prophet  at  that  time,  however,  was  able  to  clear  him- 
self of  all  other  charges,  and  while  he  claimed  that  he  had 
acted  in  good  faith  in  destroying  the  press  "  as  a  nuisance," 
and  calling  out  the  Legion  to  protect  Nauvoo  on  the  instruc- 
tions of  the  Governor ;  he  also  announced  himself  ready  to 
meet  the  legal  liabilities  for  the  destruction  of  the  Expositor^ 
if  they  had  been  in  error.  But  it  was  now  too  late.  The  4ir- 
gument  of  the  Prophet  or  that  of  Governor  Ford  could  avail 
little;  his  enemies  had  determined  that  the  prisoners  should 
be  murdered,  and  the  Governor  was  not  the  man  to  fight  and 
conquer  the  contemplated  crime. 

The  eventful  history  of  the  Mormon  Prophet  is  now  draw- 
ing to  a  close.  The  singular  commencement  of  his  public  life, 
his  angel  visits,  his  visions  and  his  revelations,  have  been  given 
sufficiently  in  extenso  where  a  principle,  a  fact,  or  a  link  in 
history  was  necessary  to  elucidate  his  career.  The  insignifi- 
cant number  of  disciples  at  the  organization  of  his  Church,  the 
poverty  of  his  family,  his  lack  of  education  and  social  stand- 


158  THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 

ing  in  society,  and  the  barriers  that  crossed  the  path  in  which 
he  was  destined  to  tread,  have  been  already  portrayed  to  the 
reader. 

He  is  seen  surmounting  every  obstacle,  treating  his  defi- 
ciencies as  Heaven's  favours,  and  presenting  to  the  religious 
world  his  revelations  with  an  impetuosity  that  stamps  him  as  a 
man  of  extraordinary  faith,  or  the  boldest  of  impostors.  Dis- 
ciples gather  round  him,  hang  upon  his  words  as  to  life,  and 
subjugate  themselves  with  a  servile  humility  and  obedience  in- 
consistent with  the  age  and  the  natural  progress  of  the  hu- 
man race.  The  endearments  of  paternal  homes,  and  the  most 
sacred  associations  of  life  are  rent  asunder  that  the  faithful 
may  gather  at  his  word.  Intellect,  aspiration,  ambition, 
wealth,  and  personality  are  thrown  at  his  feet.  The  founda- 
tions of  cities  are  laid,  temples  are  erected,  missions  over  sea 
and  land  are  undertaken  at  his  bidding,  and  the  rude  life  of 
portentous  war  is  accepted  as  a  duty  as  readily  as  the  .preach- 
ing of  peace  and  salvation. 

The  poor  farm  labourer  merges  in  the  preacher,  the  preach- 
er becomes  a  translator,  a  prophet,  a  seer,  a  revelator,  a  banker, 
an  editor,  a  mayor,  a  lieutenant-general,  a  candidate  for  the 
presidency  of  the  world's  greatest  Republic,  and  last  of  all, 
though  not  the  least  difficult  of  his  achievements,  he  becomes 
the  husband  of  many  wives.  This  variety  of  work,  accom- 
plished within  the  short  space  of  fourteen  years,  exhibits  a  fer- 
tility of  brain,  and  a  restless  activity  which  stamps  Joseph 
Smith,  the  Mormon. Prophet,  as  one  of  earth's  most  remarka- 
bly men. 

From  the  beginning  to  the  end  of  his  public  career  he  never 
once  doubted'  his  mission — never  once  wavered  in  the  belief 
that  he  was  ordained  before  the  world  was,"  to  lay  in  this 
age  the  foundation  of  a  kingdom  whose  empire  should  cover 
the  habitable  globe,  and  reaching  by  doctrine,  by  principle,  by 
ordination,  by  endowment,  by  organization,  by  faith,  from 
earth  to  heaven,  make  of  the  posterity  of  Adam  one  grand  and 
universal  brotherhood.    Such  was  his  dream. 

He  knew  no  sectarianism  in  his  faith,  though  in  his  work- 
ing "  the  Saints  "  alone  were  the  favourites  of  Heaven,  and  the 
objects  of  its  peculiar  and  special  care.    There  was  nothing  of 


REVIEW  OF  THE  PROPHET'S  LIFE  AND  WORK. 


159 


mysterious  awe  associated  with  him.  In  one  hour  of  the  day 
he  might  be  found  locked  up  in  his  sanctum  with  his  amanuen- 
sis, giving  to  earth  the  secrets  of  the  Gods ;  ^  the  very  next 
hour  he  was  brooding  over  some  scheme  for  his  people's  ag- 
grandizement, or  it  might  be  that  the  hour  which  succeeded 
the  revelation  was  spent  in  his  favourite  wrestling  with  the 
strongest  of  the  brethren  whom  he  chanced  to  meet.  He 
would,  visit  the  sick,  administer  to  them  by  the  laying  on  of 
hands  in  holy  ordinance,  and  following  that,  as  likely  as  not,  he 
was  ready  to  kick  some  one  out  of  his  presence  who  had  insulted 
either  him  or  any  of  his  brethren.  He  was  sociable  with  every- 
body, and  was  convivial  at  times  with  his  special  friends.  In 
brief,  there  was  nothing  about  him,  outside  of  his  announced 
prophetic  mission,  to  create  reverence  or  inspire  his  disciples 
with  awe.  This  was  really  the  secret  of  his  unlimited  power 
and  influence  over  the  people.  In  his  presence  every  one  was 
at  ease.  His  eccentricities  or  errors  were  rather  virtues  than 
defects.  They  loved  him  because  he  was  to  them  so  human  and 
so  like  themselves,  and  yet,  when  necessary,  his  dignity  was 
ready,  and  his  mission  became  divine  in  their  wondering  eyes. 

His  success  was  not  due  to  studied  art ;  it  was  the  singular- 
ity of  a  nature  that  upheaves  itself  among  the  masses  of  hu- 
manitj^  at  but  rare  intervals  in  history.  He  was  only  suited 
to  what  he  did,  and  following  the  instincts  and  leadings  of  his 
nature  he  only  did  what  he  did.  Had  he  tried  another  role 
than  that  of  leader  of  a  peculiarly  believing  mass  who  needed 
just  such  a  leadership,  he  would  have  failed.  The  world  is 
sparsely  strewn  with  such  a  people.  He  was  their  prophet. 
When  he  essayed  the  banker  he  was  a  failure,  when  he  became 
the  merchant  he  was  muddled ;  but  when  he  talked  of  glory 
in  the  Temple,  or  on  his  military  charger  was  speaking  to  an 
audience  which  had  everything  to  hope  for— kingdoms,  thrones, 
dominions,  principalities,  powers,  and  universal  empire  were 
all  within  the  range  of  their  vision.  Finance  and  commerce 
required  the  method  and  control  of  close  calculation.  Method 
was  a  burden  to  him,  and  control  he  never  knew.    In  the  re- 

*  "  With  Gods  he  soared  in  the  realms  of  day, 
And  men  he  taught  the  heavenly  way." 

H^mn  290. 


160 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


gion  of  the  clouds,  in  the  far-distant  stars,  and  in  the  glory  of 
Kolob,  next  to  where  "  the  Greatest  dwells,"  he  was  perfectly 
at  home,  and  knew  it  all.  To  him  his  priesthood  was  the  key 
that  unlocked  the  mystery  of  the  past,  made  clear  the  present, 
and  laid  bare  the  future.  He  never  assumed  to  be  other  than 
mortal,  and  taught  every  one  to  "  be  natural."  He  confessed  his 
faults,  when  overtaken  in  public  in  moments  of  joyousness, 
with  the  simplicity  of  a  child  ;  but  in  his  projects  he  out- 
dreamed  humanity,  and  ambitioned  nothing  short  of  peerage 
with  the  Gods.*^ 

Such  was  the  man,  in  the  full-tide  of  his  popularity,  in  the 
flush  of  a  proud  manhood,  less  than  two-score  years  of  age, 
whom  the  reader  is  now  to  visit  in  Carthage  jail,  on  the  27th 
of  June,  1844. 

*  A  metrical  review  of  the  mission  and  greatness,  past,  present,  and  future,  of 
Joseph,  from  the  pen  of  the  apostle  Taylor,  illustrates  the  Mormon  idea  of  the 
Prophet's  dignity : 

"  Unclianged  in  death,  with  a  Saviour's  love, 
He  pleads  their  cause  in  the  courts  above. 

*'  His  home's  in  the  sky,  he  dwells  with  the  Gods^ 
Far  from  the  furious  rage  of  mobs. 


"  He  died  I  he  died  for  those  he  loved ; 
He  reigns  I  he  reigns  in  the  realms  above. 

"  Shout,  shout,  ye  Saints ;  this  boon  is  given— 
"We'll  meet  our  martyred  Seer  in  heaven." 


CHAPTER  ZXYI. 


LAST  HOUKS  OF  THE  PEOPHET.— The  Presentiment  of  his  Death— The  Mur- 
derers— The  Attack  upon  the  Jail — The  Assassination  of  the  Prophet  and  the 
Patriarch — An  Apostle  shot— Thrilling  Narrative  of  a  Survivor — "  Two  Minutes 
in  Jail." 

When  he  left  ITauvoo,  on  the  morning  of  the  23rd5  the 
Prophet  was  accompanied  to  Carthage  by  a  number  of  the 
leading  men  of  the  Church,  in  addition  to  those  summoned  to 
the  same  place  for  the  destruction  of  t}ie  Expositor.  After  bail 
had  been  accepted  for  the  appearance  of  the  accused,  they 
nearly  all  returned  to  Nauvoo,  leaving,  however,  behind  as 
many  of  his  friends  as  he  desired  to  stay  with  him. 

Between  this  time  and  his  death  a  number  of  gentlemen 
called  upon  him,  who  were  deeply  solicitous  for  his  safety,  yet 
hopeful  of  his  deliverance,  and  it  was  probably  not  until  after 
Governor  Ford's  departure  for  Nauvoo,  on  the  morning  of  the 
27th,  that  any  conversation  took  place  respecting  the  probabil- 
ity of  murder.  Had  that  issue  been  apprehended,  the  Mor- 
mons at  Nauvoo  would  have  delivered  him,  even  if  the  whole 
State  of  Illinois  had  forbidden  their  marching  to  his  aid.  The 
consequences  would  never  have  been  considered.  His  safety 
was  to  them  everything. 

But  the  hours  in  Carthage  jail  were  fleeting  with  that  omi- 
nous haste  that  ever  marks  the  ebbing  current  of  life's  career. 
As  the  shadows  on  the  prison  walls  announced  the  receding 
day,  the  approach  of  death  was  sensibly  felt  by  the  Prophet 
and  his  friends.  Dr.  Richards,  one  of  the  apostles,  proposed 
to  Joseph  that  if  his  life  might  be  accepted  in  the  Prophet's 
stead,  he  would  freely  give  it.  The  apostle  Taylor  asked  only 
permission,  and  "  in  five  hours  he  would  take  him  from  his 


1G4 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


"prison."  These  were  no  idle  offers.  Life  and  deliverance 
were  Lis  for  half  a  word;  but  at  this  critical  moment  Joseph 
seemed  to  forget  all  thoughts  of  life  and  of  the  world.  It  is 
claimed  by  the  believing  Saints  that  he  had  premonitions  of 
his  approaching  end,  and  that  on  some  occasions  previous  to  the 
ExjpositoT  difficulty,  he  had  spoken  of  the  termination  of  his 
mission.  So  long  had  his  bow  been  strung  to  its  utmost  tension, 
that  this  feeling  of  indifference  can  readily  be  appreciated  with- 
out either  miracle  or  divine  manifestation  ;  but  to  him  and  his, 
impressions  had  special  interpretations.  Add  to  this  the  gall- 
ing humiliation  of  being  chided  by  some  brethren  as  a  "  cow- 
"  ard  "  when  he  attempted  to  escape  on  the  presentation  of 
the  sheriff's  writ,  and  then  the  weariness  of  earthly  things  is 
easy  to  comprehend.  Life  at  last  had  lost  its  charm;  the 
charge  of  cowardice  had  stung  him,  and  he  was  ready  to  die. 
It  was  neither  want  of  friends  nor  want  of  ability  to  secure  his 
escape.  He  was  weary,  and  with  his  fertile  faith  it  was  easy 
to  listen  to  the  suggestion  of  those  ever-ready  w^ords — "  The 
"  blood  of  the  martyrs  is  the  seed  of  the  Church."  Besides,  a 
"  prophet  "  never  dies.  The  portals  of  another  world  hail  him 
as  the  advancing  conqueror,  and  the  field  of  his  labours  be- 
comes more  extended.  Joseph  was  ready  for  the  change.*  It 
is  stated  that  on  leaving  i^auvoo  for  Carthage  he  said :  "  I 

*  Notwithstanding  this  apparent  readiness  to  meet  death,  and  the  deep  and 
clear  divine  impressions  claimed  to  have  been  imparted  to  the  Prophet  of  his  forth- 
coming end,  it  is  understood  that  he  managed  to  send  from  prison  a  communication 
to  the  Mormon  officer  in  military  command  at  Nauvoo,  to  bring  with  all  possible 
dispatch  a  portion  of  the  Legion  to  protect  him  from  treachery,  and  from  that  as- 
sassination which  he  had  then  so  much  cause  to  apprehend.  This  military  com- 
mander put  the  Prophet's  communication  into  his  pocket  and  gave  no  heed  to  the 
call  for  help.  No  one  was  acquainted  with  the  contents  of  the  paper,  and  the  officer 
was,  therefore,  he  presumed,  safe  in  disregarding  it. 

After  the  Prophet's  death,  by  some  accident  or  other,  this  communication  was 
lost  and  was  picked  up  on  the  street  and  read.  The  intelligence  that  Joseph  had 
called  for  aid  and  none  had  been  rendered  him  was  soon  bruited  among  the  Saints, 
and  excited  their  deepest  indignation,  as  they  were  not  only  ready  to  march  at  a 
moment's  notice,  but  were  eager  for  the  opportunity. 

Some  time  afterwards,  when  all  was  quiet,  this  "  coward  and  traitor  "  as  some 
of  the  Mormons  called  him,  or  "  fool  and  idiot "  as  others  said,  was  sent  on  a  mis- 
sion  to  the  Western  frontiers,  accompanied  by  a  faithful  elder.  While  travelling 
alone  with  his  companion,  he  fell  ill  and  died,  it  is  said  of  dysentery.  His  companion 
buried  him. 


DEATH  BROODING  OVER  THE  PRISONERS.  165 


"  am  going  like  a  lamb  to  the  slaughter,  but  I  am  calm  as  a 
"summer  morning.  I  have  a  conscience  void  of  oflence  tow- 
"  ards  God  and  towards  all  men.  I  shall  die  innocent,  and  it 
"  shall  yet  be  said  of  me  '  He  was  murdered  in  cold  blood.'  "  * 

Governor  Ford  was  at  Nauvoo,  haranguing  the  Mormons, 
and  reading  to  them  homilies  on  obedience  to  law  ;  the  Prophet 
and  his  friends  were  in  Carthage  jail,  impressed  with  thoughts 
of  treachery,  abandonment,  and  probably  coming  death,  while 
at  the  same  instant  the  murderers  were  preparing  for  their 
tragic  role.    Death  was  on  the  wing. 

To  impress  the  Mormons  with  the  power  of  his  might,  the 
Governor  had  conceived  the  notion  of  parading  the  militia  un- 
der his  immediate  command  through  the  streets  of  Nauvoo ; 
but  intimations  of  possible  danger  had  at  the  last  hour  coun- 
selled the  abandonment  of  that  project. 

The  triumph  of  "  crowing  over  the  Mormons,"  as  expressed 
by  a  Gentile  writer,  was  a  natural  ambition  for  the  class  of 
men  who  had  rushed  to  arms  in  their  hatred  of  Mormonism 
and  its  Prophet ;  but  the  Governor's  timely  abandonment  of 
the  scheme  was  a  fortunate  decision.  The  march  of  two  thou- 
sand militia  through  a  city  containing  five  thousand  men  in- 
imical to  them,  with  arms  in  their  hands,  in  possession  of  every 
house,  and  these,  too,  men  as  ready  as  ever  fanatics  were,  to 
fight  the  world  for  their  religion  and  for  their  leader,  must  cer- 
tainly have  been  a  dangerous  experiment.  The  Governor 
claims  for  his  prudence  other  considerations,  but  the  disbanded 
militia  exclaimed  bitterly  against  their  disappointment. 

Golden's  Point,  about  six  miles  east  of  Nauvoo,  was  fixed 
upon  as  the  rendezvous  of  the  troops  on  the  morning  of  the 
27th.  Those  who  were  in  and  around  Carthage  were  at  once 
disbanded,  with  the  exception  of  one  company  of  the  Carthage 
Grays,  under  the  command  of  Captain  Smith,  who,  as  justice 
of  the  peace,  had  committed  the  Prophet  and  his  brother  for 
treason.  This  company  was  to  perform  the  double  duty  of  pro- 
tecting the  prisoners  and  repelling  any  attempt  at  their  rescue. 

The  regiment  from  the  southwest  part  of  the  county,  un- 
der the  command  of  Col.  Levi  Williams,  had  not  yet  reached 
Carthage.    The  Governor  selected  Thomas  C.  Sharpe,  the  edi- 

*  "  Doctrine  and  Covenants,"  p.  335. 


166 


THE  KOOKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


tor  of  the  Warsaw  Signal^  who  had  written  more  inflamma- 
tory articles  against  the  Mormons  than  all  the  others  put  to- 
gether, to  carry  the  orders  for  disbanding  his  regiment  to 
Colonel  Williams. 

The  Prophet  and  his  brethren  in  jail  "  felt  unusually  dull 
"  and  languid,  with  a  remarkable  depression  of  spirits."  One 
by  one  his  personal  friends  had  left  during  the  afternoon  to 
attend  to  some  matters  of  business  which  interested  the  prison- 
ers. These  the  guard  at  the  jail  from  this  time  would  not  per- 
mit to  return,  and  this  was  additional  cause  for  alarm.  One 
of  them  was  driven  at  the  point  of  the  bayonet  out  of  the  town, 
and  threatened  with  death  if  he  returned.    He  immediately 


The  Apostle  Taylor. 

repaired  to  Nauvoo  to  raise  men  to  protect  the  prisoners  ;  but 
the  opportunity  for  such  service  was  past.  Another  of  the 
brethren,  on  leaving  the  prison,  handed  his  revolver  to  the 
Prophet  and  this  was  the  only  weapon  that  Joseph,  Hyrum, 
and  the  two  apostles  had  among  them.  After  dinner  they  sent 
another  brother  for  some  wine,  for  they  "  were  dull  and  heavy ;  " 
and  he,  also,  was  not  permitted  to  return.  The  prisoners  hoped 
that  the  stimulant  "  would  revive  them,"  but  no  vinous  med- 
icament could  elevate  their  spirits  ; — death  was  brooding  over 
them.    Elder  Taylor  sang  Montgomery's  pathetic  hymn  : 

"  A  poor  wayfaring  man  of  grief," 


ASSASSINATION  OF  THE  PROPHET  AND  PATRIARCH.  167 


to  a  plaintive  air  as  appropriate  to  the  occasion  as  Mozart's 
"  Dead  Marcli  "  in  Saul,  "  It  was  very  mucli  in  accordance 
with  our  feelings  at  the  time,"  wrote  elder  Taylor,  "  for  our 
"  spirits  were  all  depressed,  dull,  gloomy  and  surcharged  with 
"  indefinite  ominous  forebodings."  After  a  little  while,  Hyrum 
asked  the  Elder  "  again  to  sing  that  song."  He  pled  that  he 
"  did  not  feel  like  singing,"  but  Hyrum  felt  the  cordiality  of  a  * 
responsive  soul,  and  they  continued : 

"  In  prison  I  saw  him  next  condemned 
To  meet  a  traitor's  doom  at  morn ; 
The  tide  of  lying  tongues  I  stemm'd, 

And  honoured  him  'mid  shame  and  scorn." 

The  Elder  had  just  got  through  with  the  last  comfort  he 
could  administer  to  his  friend  on  earth,  and  the  echoes  of  his 
sonorous  voice  had  hardly  died  away  when  the  closing  scene 
of  the  tragedy  opened. 

A  gentleman,  a  resident  then  and  now  of  Nauvoo,  uncon- 
nected with  either  the  Mormons  or  the  mob,  furnishes  the  Au- 
thor with  the  following  facts. 

"  The  afternoon  of  the  day  was  dull  and  quiet.  The  disbanded  troops 
had  returned  to  their  homes,  and  the  people  of  the  little  village  of  Car- 
thage congratulated  themselves  on  the  restoration  of  quiet  and  order 
about  their  homes.  Their  joy  at  their  deliverance  was,  however,  of  short 
duration.  Near  sunset  an  armed  force,  numbering  perhaps  one  hundred 
men,  was  seen  stealthily  approaching  in  single  file  upon  the  Nauvoo  road. 
Their  destination  was  evidently  the  jail,  as  they  bent  their  steps  in  that 
direction.  This  body  of  men  was  well  armed  with  rifles  and  muskets. 
Their  faces  were  disfigured  with  paint,  so  that  recognition  was  impossible. 
Their  march  was  silent  as  the  grave.  The  bewildered  by-standers  specu- 
lated on  the  meaning  of  the  apparition  of  these  silent  yet  grim  and  de- 
termined soldiers.  Many  supposed  it  was  a  party  of  armed  Mormons  in- 
tent on  the  rescue  of  their  leaders  from  imprisonment :  others,  who  were 
shrewder  or  in  possession  of  better  means  of  information,  thought  it 
meant  anything  but  a  happy  deliverance  for  the  imprisoned  Saints.  The 
silent  and  rapid  approach  of  the  intruders  soon  set  at  rest  all  occasion  for 
speculation.  On  their  arrival  at  the  jail  several  shots  were  fired,  and  a 
scufile  took  place  with  the  guard.  It  apparently  took  but  a  moment  to 
overcome  all  resistance,  and  the  triumphant  mob  forced  their  way  to  the 
front  door  of  the  jail  and  burst  into  the  lower  room,  which  was  immedi- 
ately filled  by  a  threatening  mass  of  men  with  disguised  and  determined 
faces.    They  advanced  up  the  narrow  stairway  which  led  to  the  room 


168 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


where  the  prisoners  were  confined.  Arriving  at  the  head  of  the  stairs,  a 
volley  was  instantly  fired  through  the  door  into  the  prisoners'  apartment. 
One  of  these  random  shots  passed  through  the  panel  with  force  suflicient 
to  inflict  a  mortal  wound  on  the  person  of  Hyrum  Smith,  from  which  he 
instantly  expired.  The  door  was  now  forced,  and  the  excited  mob  burst 
into  the  room,  firing  volley  after  volley.  The  contest  was  too  hot  and  too 
unequal  to  last  long.  The  Prophet  was  armed  with  a  revolver,  with  which 
•  he  defended  himself  with  the  haste  of  desperation.  He  discharged  his 
weapon  three  times,  and  it  is  said,  each  time  with  effect.  He  now  turned 
to  an  open  window,  with  a  view  to  escape,  but  the  mob  was  below  in  the 
prison  yard  as  well  as  around  him.  He  hesitated;  he  clutched  the  win- 
dow-sill to  which  he  was  suspended,  and  cast  a  wild  and  imploring  look 
below.  A  volley  was  fired  by  the  unrelenting  mob,  and  the  Prophet  fell 
to  the  ground,  if  not  lifeless,  at  least  insensible. 


"  The  mob  meant  sure  work.  The  mangled  and  bleeding  body  was 
set  up  against  a  well-curb  in  the  jail  yard,  and  a  volley  was  fired  at  the 
insensible  corpse,  and  thus  the  spirit  of  the  Prophet  was  released  from  its 
earthly  prison-house. 

The  act  of  the  mob  was  at  once  cool,  systematic,  and  ferocious.  To 
plan  and  consummate  such  an  act  of  violence  coolly,  in  the  centre  of  a 
village,  in  broad  daylight,  with  the  whole  community  looking  on,  required 
a  great  amount  of  boldness,  and  many  bold  men.  But  no  sooner  was  the 
deed  committed  than  they  appeared  to  be  appalled  and  terrified  at  their 
own  bloody  acts.  The  mob  broke  up  in  squads,  and  retreated  in  different 
directions.  In  an  incredibly  short  space  of  time  not  a  man  was  left  who 
had  had  any  connection  with  the  bloody  tragedy.  Their  retreat  was  wild 
and  precipitate. 

The  village  was  panic-stricken.  The  apprehension  was  universal  that 
the  news  of  the  death  of  the  Smiths  reaching  ISTauvoo  would  instantly 
cause  an  uprising  of  the  Mormons  ;  that  the  Nauvoo  Legion,  numbering 


The  End. 


THE  GOVERNOR'S  STORY. 


169 


its  thousands,  would  immec^ately  march  on  Carthage  and  take  complete 
and  sanguinary  vengeance  upon  the  town  and  its  inhabitants  for  the  death 
of  the  Smiths.  The  result  was  that  the  whole  population  fled,  with  the 
exception,  however,  of  one  family  who  were  persuaded  at  the  urgent  re- 
quest of  John  Taylor  and  Willard  Eichards  (who  were  confined  in  the  jail 
with  the  Smiths)  to  remain  and  take  care  of  the  dead  bodies.  It  was 
only  after  repeated  pledges,  and  the  strong  assurance  of  these  Mormon 
magnates,  that  the  family  in  question  was  induced  to  remain." 

The  Governor  on  his  return  from  Nauvoo  met  the  bearers 
of  the  dismal  tidings  to  the  Saints,  and  afraid  of  the  interpre- 
tation that  might  be  put  upon  his  part  of  the  tragedy,  he  ar- 
rested their  further  progress.  Of  his  fears  and  of  the  excite- 
ment in  the  country  he  gives  the  following  picture  : 

"  A  short  time  before  sun-down  we  departed  on  our  return  to  Carthage. 
When  we  had  proceeded  two  miles  we  met  two  individuals,  one  of  th^m 
a  Mormon,  who  informed  us  that  the  Smiths  had  been  assassinated  in  jail, 
about  five  or  six  o'clock  of  that  day.  The  intelligence  seemed  to  strike 
every  one  with  a  kind  of  dumbness.  As  to  myself,  it  was  perfectly  as- 
tounding ;  and  I  anticipated  the  very  worst  consequences  from  it.  The 
Mormons  had  been  represented  to  me  as  a  lawless,  infatuated,  and  fanati- 
cal people,  not  governed  by  the  ordinary  motives  which  influence  the  rest 
of  mankind.  If  so,  most  likely  an  exterminating  war  would  ensue,  and 
the  whole  land  would  be  covered  with  desolation. 

"  Acting  upon  this  supposition,  it  was  my  duty  to  provide  as  well  as  I 
could  for  the  event.  I  therefore  ordered  the  two  messengers  into  custody 
and  to  be  returned  with  us  to  Carthage.  This  was  done  to  get  time,  and 
make  such  arrangements  as  could  be  made,  and  to  prevent  any  sudden 
explosion  of  Mormon  excitement  before  they  could  be  written  to  by  their 
friends  at  Carthage.  I  also  dispatched  messengers  to  Warsaw  to  advise 
the  citizens  of  the  event,  but  the  people  there  knew  all  about  the  matter 
before  my  messengers  arrived.  They,  like  myself,  anticipated  a  general  at- 
tack all  over  the  country.  The  women  and  children  were  removed  across 
the  river,  and  a  committee  was  dispatched  that  night  to  Quincy  for  assist- 
ance. The  next  morning  by  day-light  the  ringing  of  the  bells  in  the  city 
of  Quincy  announced  a  public  meeting.  The  people  assembled  in  great 
numbers  at  an  early  hour.  The  Warsaw  Committee  stated  to  the  meeting 
that  a  party  of  Mormons  had  attempted  to  rescue  the  Smiths  out  of  jail ; 
'  that  a  party  of  Missourians  and  others  had  killed  the  prisoners  to  prevent 
their  escape  ;  that  the  Governor  and  his  party  were  at  Nauvoo  at  the  time 
when  intelligence  of  the  fact  was  brought  there  ;  that  they  had  been  at- 
tacked by  the  Nauvoo  Legion,  and  had  retreated  to  a  house  where  they 
were  then  closely  besieged.  That  the  Governor  had  sent  out  word  that 
he  could  maintain  his  positi(m  for  two  days,  and  would  be  certain  to  be 
massacred  if  assistance  did  not  arrive  by  the  end  of  that  time.    It  is  un- 


170 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


necessary  to  say  that  this  entire  story  is  a  fabrication.  It  was  of  a  piece 
with  the  other  reports  put  into  circulation  by  the  anti-Mormon  party  to 
influence  the  public  mind  and  call  the  people  to  their  assistance.  The  ef- 
fect of  it,  however,  was,  that  by  ten  o'clock,  on  the  28th  of  June,  between 
two  and  three  hundred  men  from  Quincy,  under  command  of  Major  Flood, 
embarked  on  board  a  steamboat  for  Nauvoo,  to  assist  in  raising  the  siege, 
as  they  honestly  believed. 

"  As  for  myself,  I  was  well  convinced  that  those,  whoever  they  were, 
who  assassinated  the  Smiths,  meditated  in  turn  my  assassination  by  the 
Mormons.  The  very  circumstances  of  the  case  fully  corroborated  the  in- 
formation which  I  afterwards  received,  that  upon  consultation  of  the 
assassins,  it  was  agreed  amongst  them  that  the  murder  must  be  committed 
whilst  the  Governor  was  at  Nauvoo ;  that  the  Mormons  would  naturally 
suppose  that  he  had  planned  it,  and  that  in  the  first  out-pouring  of  their 
indignation,  they  would  assassinate  him  by  way  of  retaliation.  And  that 
thus  they  would  get  clear  of  the  Smiths  and  the  Governor  all  at  once. 
They  also  supposed  that  if  they  could  so  contrive  the  matter  as  to  have 
the  Governor  of  the  State  assassinated  by  the  Mormons,  the  public  excite- 
ment would  be  greatly  increased  against  that  people,  and  would  result  in 
their  expulsion  from  the  State  at  least. 

"  Upon  hearing  of  the  assassination  of  the  Smiths,  I  was  sensible  that 
my  command  was  at  an  end ;  that  my  destruction  was  meditated  as  well  as 
that  of  the  Mormons,  and  that  I  could  not  reasonably  confide  longer  in 
one  party  or  in  the  other."  * 

Besides  the  above  statement,  the  act  of  assassination  was 
graphically,  though  hastily,  described  by  the  Apostle  "Willard 
Richards,  who  was  with  the  Prophet  at  the  time  of  his  murder, 
under  the  title  of 

"TWO  MINUTES  IN  JAIL. 

"  A  shower  of  musket  balls  was  thrown  up  the  stairway  against  the 
door  of  the  prison  in  the  second  story,  followed  by  many  rapid  footsteps. 
While  Generals  Joseph  and  Hyrum  Smith,  Mr.  Taylor,  and  myself,  who 
were  in  the  front  chamber,  closed  the  door  of  our  room  against  the  entry 
at  the  head  of  the  stairs,  and  placed  ourselves  against  it,  there  being  no 
lock  on  the  door  and  no  latch  that  was  usable — the  door  is  a  common 
panel — and  as  soon  as  we  heard  the  feet  at  the  stairs'  head,  a  ball  was  sent 
through  the  door,  which  passed  between  us,  and  showed  that  our  enemies 
were  desperadoes,  and  we  must  change  our  position.  General  Joseph  Smith, 
Mr.  Taylor,  and  myself  sprang  back  to  the  front  part  of  the  room,  and 
General  Hyrum  Smith  retreated  two-thirds  across  the  chamber,  directly 
in  front  of  and  facing  the  door.  A  ball  was  sent  through  the  door,  which 
hit  Hyrum  on  the  side  of  the  nose,  when  he  fell  backwards,  extended  at 

*  Ford's  "  History  of  Illinois,"  pp.  848-9. 


# 


TWO  MINUTES  IN  JAIL.  171 

length,  T7ithout  moving  his  feet.  From  the  holes  in  his  vest  (the  day  was 
warm,  and  no  one  had  on  a  coat  but  myself),  pantaloons,  drawers,  and 
shirt,  it  appears  evident  that  a  ball  must  have  been  thrown  from  without, 
which  entered  his  back  on  the  right  side,  and  passing  through  lodged 
against  his  watch  which  was  in  his  right  vest  pocket,  completely  pulveriz- 
ing the  crystal  and  face,  tearing  off  the  hands,  and  smashing  the  whole 
body  of  the  watch,  at  the  same  instant  the  ball  from  the  door  entered  his 
nose.  As  he  struck  the  floor  he  exclaimed,  emphatically,  '  I'm  a  dead 
man  !  '  Joseph  looked  towards  him,  and  responded  :  '  Oh,  dear  brother 
Hyrum ! '  and  opening  the  door  two  or  three  inches  with  his  left  hand, 
discharged  one  barrel  of  a  six-shooter  at  random  in  the  entry,  from 
whence  a  ball  grazed  Hyrum 's  breast,  and  entering  his  throat,  passed  into 
his  head,  while  other  muskets  were  aimed  at  him,  and  some  balls  hit  him. 
Joseph  continued  snapping  his  revolver  round  the  casing  of  the  door  into 
the  space  as  before,  three  barrels  of  which  missed  fire,  while  Mr.  Taylor, 
with  a  walking-stick,  stood  by  his  side  and  knocked  down  the  bayonets 
and  muskets  which  were  "being  constantly  discharged  through  the  door- 
way, while  I  stood  by  him,  ready  to  lend  any  assistance  with  another 
stick,  but  could  not  come  within  striking  distance  without  going  directly 
before  the  muzzles  of  the  guns.  When  the  revolver  failed  we  had  no  more 
fire-arms,  and  expected  an  immediate  rush  of  the  mob  into  the  room  and 
instant  death.  Mr.  Taylor  rushed  into  the  window,  which  is  some  fifteen 
or  twenty  feet  from  the  ground.  When  his  body  was  nearly  on  a  balance, 
a  ball  from  the  door  within  entered  his  leg  and  a  ball  from  without  struck 
his  watch,  a  patent  lever,  in  his  vest  pocket  near  his  left  breast,  and 
smashed  it  into  '  pie,'  leaving  the  hands  standing  at  five  o'clock  sixteen 
minutes  and  twenty-six  seconds — the  force  of  which  ball  threw  him  back 
on  the  floor,  and  he  rolled  under  the  bed  which  stood  by  his  side,  where 
he  lay  motionless.  The  mob  from  the  door  continued  to  fire  upon  him, 
cutting  away  a  piece  of  flesh  from  his  left  hip  as  large  as  a  man's  hand  ; 
and  were  hmdered  only  by  my  knocking  down  their  muskets  with  a  stick, 
while  they  attempted  to  reach  their  guns  into  the  room,  probably  left- 
handed,  and  aimed  their  weapons  so  far  around  as  almost  to  reach  us  in 
the  corner  of  the  room,  whither  we  retreated  and  dodged,  and  then  I 
recommenced  the  attack  with  my  stick  again.  Joseph  attempted,  as  the 
last  resort,  to  leap  through  the  same  window  from  whence  Mr.  Taylor  fell, 
when  two  balls  pierced  him  from  the  door,'  and  one  entered  his  right 
breast  from  without,  and  he  fell  outward,  exclaiming :  '  0  Lord  my 
God  !  '  As  his  feet  went  out  of  the  window  my  head  went  in,  the  balls 
whistling  all  around.  He  fell  on  his  left  side,  a  dead  man.  At  this  in- 
stant the  cry  was  raised  :  *  He's  leaped  the  window  !  '  and  the  mob  on  the 
stairs  and  in  the  entry  ran  out.  I  withdrew  from  the  window,  thinking  it 
of  no  use  to  leap  out  on  a  hundred  bayonets  then  around  General  Smith's 
body.  Not  satisfied  with  this,  I  again  reached  my  head  out  of  the  win- 
dow, and  watched  some  seconds  to  see  if  there  were  any  signs  of  life,  re- 
gardless of  my  own,  determined  to  see  the  end  of  him  I  loved.  Being 
11 


172 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


fully  satisfied  that  he  was  dead,  with  a  hundred  men  near  the  body,  and 
more  coming  around  the  corner  of  the  jail,  and  expecting  a  return  to  oHr 
room,  I  rushed  towards  the  prison  door  at  the  head  of  the  stairs,  and 
through  the  entry  from  whence  the  firing  had  proceeded,  to  learn  if  the 
doors  into  the  prison  were  open.  When  near  the  entry  Mr.  Taylor  called 
out :  '  Talce  me.''  I  pressed  my  way  until  I  found  all  doors  unbarred ; 
returned  instantly,  caught  Mr.  Taylor  under  my  arm,  and  rushed  by  the 
stairs  into  the  dungeon  or  inner  prison,  stretched  him  on  the  floor  and 
covered  him  with  a  bed  in  such  a  manner  as  not  likely  to  be  perceived, 
expecting  an  immediate  return  of  the  mob.  I  said  to  Mr.  Taylor  :  '  This 
is  a  hard  case  to  lay  you  on  the  floor ;  but  if  your  wounds  are  not  fatal  I 
want  you  to  live  to  tell  the  story.'  I  expected  to  be  shot  the  next  moment, 
and  stood  before  the  door  awaiting  the  onset." 

Who  committed  this  dastardly  deed  is  still  a  mystery  upon 
which  no  light  has  ever  yet  been  thrown.  The  foregoing  facts 
render  it  higlily  probable  that  the  plan  of  assassination  was 
devised  by  other  men  than  those  who  carried  it  into  execution. 

It  is  hardly  likely  that  Governor  Ford  had  anything  to  do 
with  the  concoction  of  the  project ;  but  it  is  impossible  to  dis- 
pel from  the  mind  the  idea  that  he  was  not  entirely. ignorant 
oF  the  possibility  of  such  an  event  being  anticipated,  if  indeed 
not  contemplated.  It  is  quite  probable  that  his  disbandment 
of  the  troops  was  seized  upon  by  greater  minds  than  his  own 
as  a  propitious  circumstance  that  favoured  the  accomplishment 
of  the  desperate  deed.  A  person  of  the  name  of  Daniels,  who 
was  a  private  in  the  regiment  commanded  by  Col.  Levi  Wil- 
liams, made  statements  preceding  and  during  the  trial  which 
afterwards  took  place,  to  the  effect  that  when  the  editor  of  the 
Warsaw  Signal^  Thomas  C.  Sharpe,  brought  dispatches  from 
the  Governor,  ordering  the  disbandment  of  the  troops,  on  the 
morning  of  the  27th,  the  intelligence  created  great  excitement. 
They  were  clamourous*  to  march  upon  Nauvoo,  and  were  al- 
ready a  few  miles  on  their  way  to  that  place.  When  the  order 
was  received,  the  troops  were  formed  into  line,  and  Sharpe  was 
invited  to  address  them.  This  Daniels  asserts  that,  in  his 
speech,  Sharpe  counselled  the  command  to  march  eastward  to 
Carthage,  take  the  jail  by  storm,  and  kill  the  Smiths ;  that 
the  Governor  had  already  gone  to  Nauvoo ;  and  that  the  Mor- 
mons, upon  hearing  of  the  death  of  the  Smiths,  would  kill  the 
Governor,  and  that  they  would  then  be  rid  of  his  interference. 


EMBALMED  IN  HISTORY. 


173 


Other  speakers  on  the  occasion  favoured  the  proposition  ;  but 
some  opposed  it,  maintaining  as  fiercely  their  opposition  to 
^-  killing  men  in  jail."  Finally,  a  call  was  made  for  volun- 
teers, whereupon  William  N.  Grover  was  the  first  to  advance, 
and  was  followed  by  the  company  that  committed  the  murder. 

The  assassination  of  Joseph  Smith  was  deplored  by  every 
right-thinking  person.  Aside  from  the  horror  and  detestation 
naturally  entertained  against  the  crime  of  murder,  it  was  read- 
ily seen  that  the  dignity  of  martyrdom  was  the  Prophet's 
crown  of  glory.  It  carved  for  him  a  place  in  history  to  which 
a  natural  death  would  never  have  conducted  liim."^ 

It  has  been  difficult  for  public  writers  to  agree  when  sum- 
ming up  his .  character.  To  one  class  he  has  appeared  as  the 
knave  and  the  impostor  ;  to  others,  the  fanatic  and  self-de- 
ceived ;  to  his  own  people  he  was  the  greatest  of  prophets ; 
while  others  still  have  suggested  that  he  was  the  victim  of  the 
extravagances  of  spirit-communications  with  an  imagination 
crude,  uncultivated,  and  superstitious.  Knowing  little  and 
believing  much,  every  impression  was  to  him  a  revelation,  and 
every  calamity  to  the  world  an  evidence  that  "  the  end  "  was 
nigh  at  hand.  An  English  writer,  closing  a  notice  of  the 
Prophet's  career,  says  of  him  : 

"  If  anything  can  tend  to  encourage  the  supposition  that  Joseph  Smith 
was  a  sincere  enthusiast,  maddened  with  reUgious  frenzies,  as  many  have 
been  before  and  will  be  after  him  ;  and  that  he  had  a  strong  invincible 
faith  in  his  own  high  pretensions  and  divine  mission,  it  is  the  probability 
that,  nnless  supported  by  such  feelings,  he  would  have  renounced  the  un- 
profitable and  ungrateful  task,  and  sought  refuge  from  persecution  and 
misery  in  private  life  and  honourable  industry.  But  whether  knave  or 
lunatic,  whether  a  liar  or  a  true  man,  it  cannot  be  denied  that  he  was  one 
of  the  most  extraordinary  persons  of  his  time,  a  man  of  rude  genius,  who 
accomplished  a  much  greater  work  than  he  knew,  and  whose  name,  what- 
ever he  may  have  been  whilst  living,  will  take  its  place  among  the  nota- 
bilities of  the  world."  t 

*  "  He  is  embalmed  in  the  affectionate  memory  of  thousands ;  and  as  time 
lends  a  halo  of  enchantment  to  encircle  his  name,  hymns  of  praise  and  legends  of 
his  holy  deeds  will  be  sung  and  cherished  by  those  who  behave  that  the  Prophet- 
Saint  of  earth  is  to  reign  a  god  over  a  brilliant  world  of  his  own  creation,  sur- 
rounded  by  happy  queens  and  carolling  children,  through  his  own  blessed  eternity." 
— Lieut.  Gunnison'' s  Work,  p.  165. 

f  "  The  Mormons,"  p.  165.  Mackay. 


174 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


The  Saints  in  ITauvoo  received  tlie  news  of  the  assassina- 
tion on  the  following  morning.  Their  grief  was  indescribable. 
It  was  "  a  day  of  sorrow  and  of  darkness — a  day  of  lamenta- 
"tion,  and  mourning,  and  of  woe." 

With  the  news  from  Carthage  came  the  recommendation 
from  the  apostles  Tayldr  and  Richards,  and  Samuel  II.  Smith 
(a  brother  of  the  murdered  men),  to  the  Saints  to  "  be  still — be 
"  patient."  The  Governor  added  to  that  brief  epistle  an  in- 
junction that  the  Mormons  should  act  apon  the  defensive  un- 
til protection  could  be  furnished  them. 

The  Legion  was  called  out  at  ten  o'clock  in  the  morning, 
and  addressed  by  W.  W.  Phelps,  Colonel  Buckm aster,  the 
Governor's  aide-de-camp^  and  others.  Preparations  were  made 
to  receive  the  last  remains  of  the  murdered  Prophet  and  his 
brother,  the  Patriarch. 

When  the  bodies  were  brought  to  the  city  in  the  afternoon, 
they  were  met  by  ten  thousand  people  of  every  age  and  of  both 
sexes,  who  followed  the  earthly  relics  of  the  martyrs  to  the 
Mansion  House,  and  there  Willard  Eichards,  Jiidge  Phelps,  and 
other  prominent  men,  addressed  the  multitude.  Every  heart 
was  stirred.  Sorrow  and  indignation  were  mingled  in  every 
breast,  and  a  desire  for  vengeance  smouldered  beneath  the  sen- 
timents of  wonder  and  grief. 

The  assembly  separated  peacefully,  resolved  to  trust  to  the 
law  for  justice  upon  the  assassins,  and,  if  that  failed,  their  im- 
plicit confidence  in  God  for  deliverance  remained  unshaken. 

*  The  interment  of  the  mortal  remains  of  the  Prophet  and  Patriarch  was  at- 
tended to  with  proper  solemnity,  and  a  sorrowing  multitude  accompanied  the  mourn- 
ers to  the  burial-place ;  but  there  was  a  sequel  to  the  public  services  which  the 
people  never  knew.  The  bodies  of  Joseph  and  Hyrum  were  not  in  that  funeral 
procession  :  they  were  reserved  for  private  interment.  It  was  believed  that  sacred 
as  the  tomb  is  always  considered  to  be,  there  were  persons  capable  of  rifling  the 
grave  in  order  to  obtain  the  head  of  the  murdered  Prophet  for  the  purpose  of  exhibit- 
ing it  or  placing  it  in  some  phrenological  museum — the  skull  of  Joseph  Smith  was 
worth  money.  This  apprehension  in  point  of  fact  proved  true,  for  the  place  where 
the  bodies  were  supposed  to  be  buried  was  disturbed  the  night  after  the  interment. 

The  coffins  had  been  filled  with  stones,  etc.,  to  about  the  weight  which  the  bodies 
would  have  been.  The  remains  of  the  two  brothers  were  then  secretly  buried  the 
same  night  by  a  chosen  few  in  the  vaults  beneath  the  Temple.  The  ground  was 
then  levelled  and  pieces  of  rock  and  other  debris  were  scattered  carelessly  over  the 
spot.  But  even  this  was  not  considered  a  sufficient  safeguard  against  any  violation 
of  the  dead,  and  on  the  following  night  a  still  more  select  number  exhumed  the 


THE  ASSASSINS  ACQUITTED. 


175 


The  Governor  from  tliis  time  did  everything  in  his  power 
for  the  preservation  of  peace,  but  this  momentary  check  was 
only  a  temporary  lull  in  the  storm.  Human  efforts  were  now 
ineffectual  to  stem  the  tide  of  trouble  which  rolled  in  upon 
the  Saints. 

At  the  October  term  of  the  Hancock  Circuit  Court  indict- 
ments were  found  by  the  Grand  Jury  against  Levi  "Williams, 
Thos.  C.  Sharpe,  M.  Aldrich,  Jacob  C.  Davis,  Wm.  K  Grover, 
John  AUyer,  Wm.  Davis,  John  Willis,  and  Wm.  Gallagher, 
for  the  murder  of  Joseph  and  Hyrum  Smith.  The  Governor, 
aware  of  the  unenviable  position  that  he  occupied  in  respect 
to  the  alleged  charges  of  complicity  with  the  mob,  resolved 
that  the  prosecution  should  be  ably  and  fairly  conducted,  and, 
in  addition  to  the  District  Attorney,  called  in  the  aid  of  the 
Attorney-General  for  the  State. 

Out  of  three  hundred  persons  summoned,  and  after  three 
days'  challenging,  a  jury  was  at  last  empanelled.  Of  the  in- 
dicted, four  only  were  arrested — Sharpe,  Grover,  Davis,  and 
Williams.  The  trial  lasted  nine  days,  when  the  jury  retired, 
and,  after  an  absence  of  three  hours,  returned  a  verdict  of 
Not  Guilty  ; "  a  conclusion  which  surprised  no  one. 

remains  and  buried  them  beneath  the  pathway  behind  the  Mansion  House.  The 
bricks  which  formed  the  path  were  carefully  replaced^,  and  the  earth  removed  was 
carried  away  in  sacks  and  thrown  into  the  Mississippi. 

[N.  B.  If  this  List  statement  is  true,  the  bodies  must  have  been  removed  a  third 
time,  as,  since  writing  the  above,  the  Author  has  it  on  unquestionable  authority  that 
they  now  repose  in  quite  a  different  place.] 

Brigham  Young  has  endeavoured  to  obtain  possession  of  the  remains  of  the 
Prophet,  that  they  might  be  interred  beneath  the  Temple  at  Salt  Lake.  It  is  stated 
by  Brigham  that  Joseph,  like  the  son  of  Jacob,  made  the  request  that  the  Saints 
when  they  went  to  the  Rocky  Mountains  should  carry  his  bones  with  them.  The 
family  of  Joseph  maintain  that  the  Prophet  never  expressed  any  such  desire,  but 
said  very  much  to  the  contrary.  It  is  affirmed  that,  "  previous  to  Joseph's  death, 
he  predicted  that  the  Church  would  be  scattered,  and  saw  that  the  time  might  come 
when  Brigham  Young  would  lead  the  Church ;  and  that  if  he  did,  he  would  lead  it 
to  perdition.  He  told  his  wife,  Emma,  to  remain  at  Nauvoo,  or  if  she  left,  to  go  to 
Kirtland,  and  not  to  follow  any  faction." 

To  have  given  the  bones  of  Joseph  into  Brigham's  charge  would  have  been  to 
confirm  the  Saints  in  the  Rocky  Mountain  Zion,  to  which  the  Smith  family  are  de- 
cidedly opposed.    The  remains  of  the  martyrs  are  destined  for  Zion  in  Missouri. 


CHAPTER  XXVII. 


POLYGAMY  IN  ILLINOIS.— Its  Introduction  among  tlie  Mormons— The  "  Keve- 
lation"  given  by  Joseph  Smith — The  Sons  of  the  Deceased  Prophet  dispute  the 
Polygamic  Marriages  of  their  Father — They  call  for  the  Posterity — The  Promise 
of  a  "  Kighteous  Seed"  fulfilled — Joseph  without  Issue  by  his  Score  of  Polyg- 
amic Wives — Married  Women  become  Ms  Wives"  without  Divorce  or  Sepa- 
ration from  their  Husbands. 

The  subject  of  this  chapter  may  suitably  be  divided  into 
two  parts — one  pertaining  to  the  announcement  of  the  revela- 
tion to  Joseph  Smith,  and  the  other  tracing  its  introduction 
among  the  Saints. 

Without  a  copy  of  the  Revelation  which  has  played  such 
an  important  part  in  the  development  of  the  Church,  any  his- 
tory of  Morinonism  would  be  incomplete  ;  that  document  is 
therefore  here  given  unabridged  and  intact,  and  it  will  doubt- 
less prove  of  special  interest  to  the  historical  student : 

CELESTIAL  MAKRIAG^:. 

A  Hev elation  on  the  Patriarchal  Order  of  Matrimony^  or  Plurality  of  Wives»  Given 
to  Joseph  Smithy  the  Seer^  in  Nauvoo^  July  1843.* 

L  "  Yerily,  thus  saith  the  Lord  unto  you,  my  servant  Joseph,  that  in- 
asmuch as  you  have  inquired  of  my  hand,  to  know  and  understand  where- 
in I,  the  Lord,  justified  my  servants  Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob ;  as  also 
Moses,  David,  and  Solomon,  my  servants,  as  touching  the  principle  and 
doctrine  of  their  having  many  wives  and  concubines  :  Behold  !  and  lo,  I 
am  the  Lord  thy  God,  and  will  answer  thee  as  touching  this  matter: 
Therefore,  prepare  thy  heart  to  receive  and  obey  the  instructions  which  I 
am  about  to  give  unto  you ;  for  all  those  who  have  this  law  revealed  unto 
them,  must  obey  the  same  ;  for  behold  !  I  reveal  unto  you  a  new  and  an 
everlasting  covenant ;  and  if  ye  abide  not  that  covenant,  then  are  ye 
damned ;  for  no  one  can  reject  this  covenant,  and  be  permitted  to  enter 

*"Seer,"  p.  7. 


THE  REVELATIOX  ON  POLYGAMY. 


177 


into  my  glory ;  for  all  who  will  have  a  blessing  at  my  hands  shall  abide 
the  law  which  was  appointed  for  that  blessing,  and  the  conditions  thereof, 
as  was  instituted  from  before  tke  foundation  of  the  world  :  and  as  per- 
taining  to  the  new  and  everlasting  covenant,  it  was  instituted  for  the  ful- 
ness of  my  glory ;  and  he  that  receiveth  a  fulness  thereof,  must,  and  shall 
abide  the  law,  or  he  shall  be  damned,  saith  the  Lord  God. 

II.  And  verily  I  say  unto  you,  that  the  conditions  of  this  law  are 
these :  All  covenants,  contracts,  bonds,  obligations,  oaths,  vows,  perfor- 
mances, connections,  associations,  or  expectations,  that  are  not  made  and 
entered  into,  and  sealed,  by  the  Holy  Spirit  of  promise,  of  him  who  is 
anointed,  both  as  well  for  time  and  for  all  eternity,  and  that  too  most  holy, 
by  revelation  and  commandment,  through  the  medium  of  mine  anointed, 
whom  I  have  appointed  on  the  earth  to  hold  this  power  (and  I  have  ap- 
pointed unto  my  servant  Joseph  to  hold  this  power  in  the  last  days,  and 
there  is  never  but  one  on  the  earth  at  a  time,  on  whom  this  power  and  the 
keys  of  this  Priesthood  are  conferred),  are  of  no  efficacy,  virtue,  or  force, 
in  and  after  the  resurrection  from  the  dead ;  for  all  contracts  that  are  not 
made  unto  this  end,  have  an  end  when  men  are  dead. 

III.  "  Behold  !  mine  house  is  a  house  of  order,  saith  the  Lord  God,  and 
not  a  house  of  confusion.  Will  I  accept  of  an  offering,  saith  the  Lord,  that 
is  not  made  in  my  name  !  Or,  will  I  receive  at  your  hands  that  which  I 
have  not  appointed  !  And  will  I  appoint  unto  you,  saith  the  Lord,  except 
it  be  by  law,  even  as  I  and  my  Father  ordained  unto  you,  before  the  world 
was  !  I  am  the  Lord  thy  God,  and  I  give  unto  you  this  commandment, 
that. no  man  shall  come  unto  the  Father  but  by  me,  or  by  my  word,  which 
is  my  lav7,  saith  the  Lord ;  and  everything  that  is  in  the  world,  whether  it 
be  ordained  of  men,  by  thrones,  or  principalities,  or  powers,  or  things  of 
name,  whatsoever  they  may  be,  that  are  not  by  me,  or  by  my  word,  saith 
the  Lord,  shall  be  thrown  down,  and  shall  not  remain  after  men  are  dead, 
neither  in  nor  after  the  resurrection,  saith  the  Lord  your  God  ;  for  what- 
soever things  remaineth,  are  by  me  ;  and  whatsoever  things  are  not  by  me, 
shall  be  shaken  and  destroyed. 

•IV.  ^'  Therefore,  if  a  man  marry  him  a  wife  in  the  world,  and  he  marry 
her  not  by  me,  nor  by  my  word  ;  and  he  covenant  with  her  so  long  as  he 
is  in  the  world,  and  she  with  him,  their  covenant  and  marriage  is  not  of 
force  when  they  are  dead,  and  when  they  are  out  of  the  world ;  therefore, 
they  are  not  bound  by  any  law  when  they  are  out  of  the  world  ;  therefore, 
when  they  are  out  of  the  world,  they  neither  marry,  nor  are  given  in 
marriage ;  but  are  appointed  angels  in  heaven,  which  angels  are  minister- 
ing servants,  to  minister  for  those  who  are  worthy  of  a  far  more,  and  an 
exceeding,  and  an  eternal  weight  of  glory ;  for  these  angels  did  not  abide 
my  law,  therefore  they  cannot  be  enlarged,  but  remain  separately  and 
singly,  without  exaltation,  in  their  saved  condition,  to  all  eternity,  and 
from  henceforth  are  not  Gods,  but  are  angels  of  God,  for  ever  and  ever. 

V.  "  And  again,  verily  I  say  unto  you,  if  a  man  marry  a  wife  and  make 
a  covenant  with  her  for  time  and  for  all  eternity,  if  that  covenant  is  not  bj 


178 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


me,  or  by  my  word,  whicli  is  my  law,  and  is  not  sealed  by  the  Holy  Spirit 
of  promise,  through  him  whom  I  have  anointed  and  appointed  unto  this 
power — then  it  is  not  valid,  neither  of  force  when  they  are  out  of  the 
world,  because  they  are  not  joined  by  me,  saith  the  Lord,  neither  by  my 
word;  when  they  are  out  of  the  world,  it  cannot  be  received  there,  because 
the  angels  and  the  Gods  are  appointed  there,  by  whom  they  cannot  pass ; 
they  cannot,  therefore,  inherit  my  glory,  for  my  house  is  a  house  of  order, 
saith  the  Lord  God. 

YI.  And  again,  verily  I  say  unto  you,  if  a  man  marry  a  wife  by  my 
word,  which  is  my  law,  and  by  the  new  and  everlasting  covenant,  and  it 
is  sealed  unto  them  by  the  Holy  Spirit  of  promise,  by  him  who  is  anointed, 
unto  whom  I  have  appointed  this  power,  and  the  keys  of  this  Priesthood ; 
and  it  shall  be  said  unto  them,  ye  shall  come  forth  in  the  first  resurrec- 
tion ;  and  if  it  be  after  the  first  resurrection,  in  the  next  resurrection ;  and 
shall  inherit  tlirones,  kingdoms,  principalities,  and  powers,  of  dominions, 
all  heights,  and  depths — then  shall  it  be  written  in  the  Lamb's  Book  of 
Life,  that  he  shall  commit  no  murder  whereby  to  shed  innocent  blood,  and 
if  ye  abide  in  my  covenant,  and  commit  no  murder  whereby  to  shed  inno- 
cent blood,  it  shall  be  done  unto  them  in  all  things  whatsoever  my  servant 
hath  put  upon  them,  in  time,  and  through  all  eternity,  and  shall  be  of  full 
force  when  they  are  out  of  the  world  ;  and  they  shall  pass  by  the  angels, 
and  the  Gods,  which  are  set  there,  to  their  exaltation  and  glory  in  all 
things,  as  hath  been  sealed  upon  their  heads,  which  glory  shall  be  a  ful- 
ness and  a  continuation  of  the  seeds  for  ever  and  ever. 

VII.  Then  shall  they  be  Gods,  because  they  have  no  end ;  therefore 
shall  they  be  from  everlasting  to  everlasting,  because  they  continue ;  then 
shall  they  be  above  all,  because  all  things  are  subject  unto  therfi.  Then 
shall  they  be  Gods,  because  they  have  all  power,  and  the  angels  are  sub- 
ject unto  them. 

YIII.  "  Yerily,  verily  I  say  unto  you,  except  ye  abide  my  law,  ye  can- 
not attain  to  this  glory  ;  for  straight  is  the  gate,  and  narrow  the  way  that 
leadeth  unto  the  exaltation  and  continuation  of  the  lives,  and  few  there  be 
that  find  it,  because  ye  receive  me  not  in  the  world,  neither  do  ye  know 
me.  But  if  ye  receive  me  in  the  world,  then  shall  ye  know  me,  and  shall 
receive  your  exaltation,  that  where  I  am  ye  shall  be  also.  This  is  eter- 
nal lives,  to  know  the  only  wise  and  true  God,  and  Jesus  Christ,  whom 
He  hath  sent.  I  am  He.  Receive  ye,  therefore,  my  law.  Broad  is  the 
gate,  and  wide  the  way  that  leadeth  to  the  death ;  and  many  there  are 
that  go  in  thereat ;  because  they  receive  me  not,  neither  do  they  abide  in 
my  law. 

IX.  "Yerily,  verily  I  say  unto  you,  if  a  man  marry  a  wife  according  to 
my  word,  and  they  are  sealed  by  the  Holy  Spirit  of  promise,  according  to 
mine  appointment,  and  he  or  she  shall  commit  any  sin  or  transgression  of 
the  new  and  everlasting  covenant  whatever,  and  all  manner  of  blas- 
phemies, and  if  they  commit  no  murder,  wherein  they  shed  innocent 
blood— yet  they  shall  come  forth  in  the  first  resurrection,  and  enter  into 


THE  REVELATION  ON  POLYGAMY. 


179 


Iheir  exaltation  ;  but  they  shall  be  destroyed  in  the  flesh,  and  shall  be  de- 
livered unto  the  buflfetings  of  Satan  unto  the  day  of  redemption,  saith  the 
Lord  God. 

X.  *'  The  blasphemy  against  the  Holy  Ghost,  which  shall  not  be  for- 
given in  the  world,  nor  out  of  the  world,  is  in  that  ye  commit  murder, 
wherein  ye  shed  innocent  blood,  and  assent  unto  my  death,  after  ye  have 
received  my  new  and  everlasting  covenant,  saith  the  Lord  God ;  and  he 
that  abideth  not  this  law,  can  in  no  wise  enter  into  my  glory,  but  shall  be 
damned,  saith  the  Lord. 

XL  I  am  the  Lord  thy  God,  and  v/ill  give  unto  thee  the  law  of  my 
Holy  Priesthood,  as  was  ordained  by  me,  and  my  Father,  before  the  world 
was.  Abraham  received  all  things,  whatsoever  he  received,  by  revelation 
and  commandment,  by  my  word,  saith  the  Lord,  and  hath  entered  into 
his  exaltation,  and  sitteth  upon  his  throne. 

XH.  "  Abraham  received  promises  concerning  his  seed,  and  of  the  fruit 
of  his  loins — from  whose  loins  ye  are,  namely,  my  servant  Joseph— which 
were  to  continue  so  long  as  they  were  in  the  world ;  and  as  touching 
Abraham  and  his  seed,  out  of  the  world  they  should  continue  ;  both  in  the 
world  and  out  of  the  world  should  they  continue  as  innumerable  as  the 
stars ;  or,  if  ye  v»^ere  to  count  the  sand  upon  the  sea-shore,  ye  could  not 
number  them.  This  promise  is  yours,  also,  because  ye  are  of  Abraham, 
and  the  promise  was  made  m\to  Abraham  ;  and  by  this  law  are  the  con- 
tinuation of  the  works  of  my  Father,  \^^herein  He  glorifieth  Himself.  Go 
ye,  therefore,  and  do  the  works  of  Abraham ;  enter  ye  into  my  law,  and 
ye  shall  be  saved.  But  if  ye  enter  not  into  my  law,  ye  cannot  receive  the 
promise  of  my  Father,  which  He  made  unto  Abraham. 

XHL'  "  God  commanded  Abraham,  and  Sarah  gave  Hagar  to  Abra- 
ham to  wife.  And  why  did  she  do  it  ?  Because  this  was  the  law,  and 
from  Hagar  sprang  many  people.  This,  therefore,  was  fulfilling,  among 
other  things,  the  promises.  Was  Abraham,  therefore,  under  condemnation  ? 
Verily,  I  say  unto  you,  Way ;  for  I,  the  Lord,  commanded  it.  Abraham 
was  commanded  to  offer  his  son  Isaac;  nevertheless,  it  was  written,  thou 
shalt  not  kill.  Abraham,  however,  did  not  refuse,  and  it  was  accounted 
unto  him  for  righteousness. 

XIV.  Abraham  received  concubines,  and  they  bare  him  children,  and 
it  was  accounted  unto  him  for  righteousness,  because  they  were  given  un- 
to him,  and  he  abode  in  my  law,  as  Isaac  also,  and  Jacob  did  none  other 
things  than  that  which  they  were  commanded  ;  and  because  they  did  none 
other  things  than  that  which  they  were  commanded,  they  have  entered 
into  their  exaltation,  according  to  the  promises,  and  sit  upon  thrones,  and 
are  not  angels,  but  are  Gods.  David  also  received  many  wives  and  con- 
cubines, as  also  Solomon  and  Moses  my  servants ;  as  also  many  others  of 
my  servants,  from  the  beginning  of  creation  until  this  time  ;  and  in  noth- 
ing did  they  sin,  save  in  those  things  which  they  received  not  of  me. 

XV.  "  David's  wives  and  concubines  were  given  unto  him,  of  me,  by 
the  hand  of  Kathan,  my  servant,  and  others  of  the  Prophets  who  had  the 


180 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


keys  of  this  power ;  and  in  none  of  these  things  did  he  sin  against  me, 
save  in  the  case  of  Uriah  and  his  wife  ;  and,  therefore,  he  hath  fallen  from 
his  exaltation,  and  received  his  portion ;  and  he  shall  not  inherit  them 
out  of  the  world  ;  for  I  gave  them  unto  another,  saith  the  Lord. 

XVI.  *'  I  am  the  Lord  thy  God,  and  I  gave  unto  thee,  my  servant  Jo- 
seph, an  appointment,  and  restore  all  things ;  ask  what  ye  will,  and  it 
shall  be  giv6n  unto  you  according  to  my  word  :  and  as  ye  have  asked  con- 
cerning adultery — verily,  verily  I  say  unto  you,  if  a  man  receiveth  a  wife 
in  the  new  and  everlasting  covenant,  and  if  she  be  with  another  man,  and 
I  have  not  appointed  unto  her  by  the  holy  anointing,  she  hath  committed 
adultery,  and  shall  be  destroyed.  If  she  be  not  in  the  new  and  everlast- 
ing covenant,  and  she  be  with  another  man,  she  has  committed  adultery ; 
and  if  her  husband  be  with  another  woman,  and  he  was  under  a  vo\^,  he 
hath  broken  his  vow,  and  hath  committed  adultery,  and  if  she  hath  not 
committed  adultery,  but  is  innocent,  and  hath  not  broken  her  vow,  and 
she  knoweth  it,  and  I  reveal  it  unto  you,  my  servant  Joseph,  then  shall 
you  have  power,  by  the  power  of  my  Holy  Priesthood,  to  take  her,  and 
give  her  unto  him  that  hath  not  committed  adultery,  but  hath  been  faith- 
ful ;  for  he  shall  be  made  ruler  over  many ;  for  I  have  conferred  upon  you 
the  keys  and  pov/er  of  the  Priesthood,  wherein  I  restore  all  things,  and 
make  known  unto  you  all  things  in  due  time. 

XYII.  "  And  verily,  verily  I  say  unto  you,  that  whatsoever  you  seal 
on  earth,  shall  be  sealed  in  heaven ;  and  whatsoever  you  bind  on  earth,  in 
my  name,  and  by  my  word,  saith  the  Lord,  it  shall  be  eternally  bound  in 
the  heavens  ;  and  whosesoever  sins  you  remit  on  earth,  shall  be  remitted 
eternally  in  the  heavens ;  and  whosesoever  sins  you  retain  on  earth,  shall 
be  retained  in  heaven. 

XYIII.  "  And  again,  verily  I  say,  whomsoever  you  bless,  I  will  bless, 
and  whomsoever  you  curse,  I  will  curse,  saith  the  Lord  ;  for  I,  the  Lord, 
am  thy  God. 

XIX.  "  And  again,  verily  I  say  unto  you,  my  servant  J oseph,  that 
whatsoever  you  give  on  earth,  and  to  whomsoever  you  give  any  one  on 
earth,  by  my  word,  and  according  to  my  law,  it  shall  be  visited  with  bless- 
ings, and  not  cursings,  and  with  my  power,  saith  the  Lord,  and  shall  be 
without  condemnation  on  earth,  and  in  heaven ;  for  I  am  the  Lord  thy 
God,  and  will  be  with  thee  even  unto  the  end  of  the  world,  and  through 
all  eternity ;  for  verily,  I  seal  upon  you  your  exaltation,  and  prepare  a 
throne  for  you  in  the  kingdom  of  my  Father,  with  Abraham  your  father. 
Behold,  I  have  seen  your  sacrifices,  and  will  forgive  all  your  sins  ;  I  have 
seen  your  sacrifices  in  obedience  to  that  which  I  have  told  you ;  go,  there- 
fore, and  I  make  a  way  for  your  escape,  as  I  accepted  the  ofi'erinj  of 
Abraham,  of  his  son  Isaac. 

XX.  "  Yerily  I  say  unto  you,  a  commandment  I  give  unto  mine  hand- 
maid, Emma  Smith,  your  wife  whom  I  have  given  unto  you,  that  she  stay 
herself,  and  partake  not  of  that  w^hich  I  commanded  you  to  offer  unto 
her ;  for  I  did  it,  saith  the  Lord,  to  prove  you  all,  as  I  did  Abraham ;  and 


THE  REVELATION  ON  POLYGAMY.  181 

that  I  might  require  an  offering  at  your  hand,  by  covenant  and  sacrifice : 
and  let  mine  handmaid,  Emma  Smith,  receive  all  those  that  have  been 
given  unto  my  servant  Joseph,  and  who  are  virtuous  and  pure  before  me ; 
and  those  who  are  not  pure,  and  have  said  they  were  pure,  shall  be  de- 
stroyed, saith  the  Lord  God ;  for  I  am  the  Lord  thy  God,  and  ye  shall 
obey  my  voice ;  and  I  give  unto  my  servant  Joseph,  that  he  shall  be  made 
ruler  over  many  things,  for  he  hath  been  faithful  over  a  few  things,  and 
from  henceforth  I  wall  strengthen  him. 

XXI.  "  And  I  command  mine  handmaid  Emma  Smith,  to  abide  and 
cleave  unto  my  servant  Joseph,  and  to  none  else.  But  if  she  will  not 
abide  this  commandment,  she  shall  be  destroyed,  saith  the  Lord ;  for  I 
am  the  Lord  thy  God,  and  will  destroy  her,  if  she  abide  not  in  my  law  ; 
but  if  she  will  not  abide  this  commandment,  then  shall  my  servant  Joseph 
do  all  things  for  her,  even  as  he  hath  said  ;  and  I  will  bless  him  and  mul- 
tiply him,  and  give  unto  him  an  hundred-fold  in  this  world,  of  fathers 
and  mothers,  brothers  and  sisters,  houses  and  lands,  wives  and  children, 
and  crowns  of  eternal  lives  in  the  eternal  worlds.  And  again,  verily  I 
say,  let  mine  handmaid  forgive  my  servant  Joseph  his  trespasses,  and  then 
shall  she  be  forgiven  her  trespasses,  wherein  she  hath  trespassed  against 
me ;  and  I,  the  Lord  thy  God,  will  bless  her,  and  multiply  her,  and  make 
her  heart  to  rejoice. 

XXIL  "  And  again,  I  say,  let  not  my  servant  Joseph  put  his  property 
out  of  his  hands,  lest  an  enemy  come  and  destroy  him ;  for  Satan  seeketh 
to  destroy  ;  for  I  am  the  Lord  thy  God,  and  he  is  my  servant ;  and  be- 
hold !  and  lo,  I  am  wdth  him,  as  I  was  with  Abraham,  thy  father,  even 
unto  his  exaltation  and  glory. 

XXIIL  "  Now,  as  touching  the  law  of  the  Priesthood,  there  are  many 
things  pertaining  thereunto.  Verily,  if  a  man  be  called  of  my  Father,  as 
was  Aaron,  by  mine  own  voice,  and  by  the  voice  of  him  that  sent  me : 
and  I  have  en  downed  him  wath  the  keys  of  the  power  of  this  Priesthood, 
if  he  do  anything  in  my  name,  and  according  to  my  law,  and  by  my  word 
he  wall  not  commit  sin,  and  I  will  justify  him.  Let  no  one,  therefore,  set 
on  my  servant  Joseph  ;  for  I  will  justify  him;  for  he  shall  do  the  sacrifice 
which  I  require  at  his  hands,  for  his  transgressions,  saith  the  Lord  your  God. 

XXIV.  And  again,  as  pertainhig  to  the  law  of  the  Priesthood :  If 
any  man  espouse  a  virgin,  and  desire  to  espouse  another,  and  the  first  give 
her  consent ;  and  if  he  espouse  the  second,  and  they  are  virgins,  and  have 
vowed  to  no  other  man,  then  is  he  justified ;  he  cannot  commit  adultery, 
for  they  are  given  unto  him;  for  he  cannot  commit  adultery  with  that 
that  belongeth  unto  him  and  to  no  one  else  ;  and  if  he  have  ten  virgins 
given  unto  him  by  this  law,  he  cannot  commit  adultery,  for  they  belong 
to  him,  and  they  are  given  unto  him,  therefore  is  he  justified.  But  if  one 
or  either  of  the  ten  virgins,  after  she  is  espoused,  shall  be  with  another 
man,  she  has  committed  adultery,  and  shall  be  destroyed;  for  they  are 
given  unto  him  to  multiply  and  replenish  the  earth,  according  to  my  com- 
mandment, and  to  fulfil  the  promise  which  was  given  by  my  Father  before 


182 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


the  foundation  of  the  world;  and  for  their  exaltation  in  the  eternal 
worlds,  that  they  may  bear  the  souls  of  men  ;  for  herein  is  the  work  of 
my  Father  continued,  that  He  may  be  glorified. 

XXV.  "  And  again,  verily,  verily  I  say  unto  you,  if  any  man  have  a 
wife  who  holds  the  keys  of  this  power,  and  he  teaches  unto  her  the  law  of 
my  Priesthood,  as  pertaining  to  these  things,  then  shall  she  believe,  and 
administer  unto  him,  or  she  shall  be  destroyed,  saith  the  Lord  your  God ; 
for  I  will  destroy  her ;  for  I  will  magnify  my  name  upon  all  those  who  re- 
ceive and  abide  in  my  law.  Therefore,  it  shall  be  lawful  in  me,  if  she  re- 
ceive not  this  lavr,  for  him  to  receive  all  things,  whatsoever  I,  the  Lord 
his  God,  will  give  unto  him,  because  she  did  not  administer  unto  him  ac- 
cording to  my  word ;  and  she  then  becomes  the  transgressor ;  and  he  is 
exempt  from  the  law  of  Sarah,  who  administered  unto  Abraham  accord- 
ing to  the  law,  when  I  commanded  Abraham  to  take  Hagar  to  wife.  And 
now,  as  pertaining  to  this  law,  verily,  verily  I  say  unto  you,  I  will  reveal 
more  unto  you,  hereafter ;  therefore,  let  this  sufiice  for  the  present.  Be- 
hold, I  am  Alpha  and  Omega.  Amen." 

On  a  matter  of  such  grave  importance  as  the  engrafting  of 
polygamy  upon  the  faith  of  the  Saints,  it  has  always  been  a 
cause  of  sincere  regret  on  the  part  of  the  intelligent  Mormon 
elders,  that  nothing  has  ever  been  stated  about  the  previous 
teachings  which  Joseph  Smith  received  on  this  subject — if  he 
ever  had  any/^  On  the  introduction  of  the  other  doctrines  of 
the  Church,  its  principles  of  faith  and  commandments,  there  is 
a  freedom  of  statement  that  carries  the  impression  of  honest 
sincerity,  fearing  no  criticism  ;  but  on  this  there  is  an  unpleas- 
ant silence. 

In  defence  of  this  concealment  it  is  argued  that  polygamy 
was  offensive  to  the  traditions  of  the  people ;  that  it  had  to  be 
stealthily  introduced,  as  bigamy  was  punishable  by  law,  and 
the  less  that  was  published  about  it  the  better.     There  is 

*  Elder  W.  W.  Phelps  said  in  Salt  Lake  Tabernacle,  in  1862,  that  while  Joseph 
was  translating  the  Book  of  Abraham,  in  Kirtland,  Ohio,  in  1835,  from  the  papyrus 
found  with  the  Egyptian  mummies,  the  Prophet  became  impressed  with  the  idea 
that  polygamy  would  yet  become  an  institution  of  the  Mormon  Church.  Brigham 
Young  was  present,  and  was  much  annoyed  at  the  statement  made  bj  Phelps,  but 
it  is  highly  probable  that  it  was  the  real  secret  which  the  latter  then  divulged.  The 
conscientious  Mormon  who  calmly  considers  what  is  here  written  on  the  intro- 
duction of  polygamy  into  the  Mormon  Church  will  readily  see  that  its  origin  is 
probably  much  more  correctly  traceable  to  those  Egyptian  mummies,  than  to  a 
revelation  from  heaven.  The  first  paragraph  of  the  Revelation  has  all  the  musty 
odour  of  the  catacombs  about  it,  and  that  Joseph  went  into  polyganf  y  at  a  venture 
there  cannot  be  the  slightest  doubt. 


DOUBTFUL  ORIGIN  OF  POLYGAMY. 


183 


weight  in  this  statement  as  an  argument,  for  no  one  can  fail  to 
appreciate  the  difficulty  of  introducing  a  practice  which  the 
civilization  of  a  thousand  years  had  condemned  as  a  relic  of 
barbarism ;  it  was  indeed  necessary  to  be  secret.  But  when 
once  that  silence  was  broken,  and  a  lengthy  revelation  was 
given  to  the  world,  commanding  all  people  to  whom  it  might 
come  to  obey  it,  or  "  be  damned,"  reticence  as  to  its  origin 
could  be  no  longer  needful.  On  a  matter  of  such  tremendous 
consequence  as  that  which  polygamy  claims  to  be,  the  Prophet 
could  not  have  been  too  explicit. 

This  revelation  is  dated  "  Nauvoo,  Illinois,  July  12,  1843," 
and  was  given  to  the  Church  and  to  the  public  nine  years  later, 
at  a  conference  in  Salt  Lake  City.  Since  that  time,  tens  of 
thousands  of  sermons  have  been  preached  on  its  divine  origin, 
voluminous  treatises  have  been  published  in  its  exposition,  and 
the  Mormon  press  has  teemed  with  articles  in  its  defence ;  but 
in  all  of  them  the  beginning  of  polygamy  with  the  Mormons 
is  left  out. 

Some  of  the  elders  who  were  early  acquainted  with  the 
Prophet  state  that  he  was  instructed  by  some  one  of  his  angel 
visitors  on  the  marital  relations  of  the  patriarchs  while  he  re- 
sided in  Ohio,  and  was  then  informed  that  the  time  would  ar- 
rive when  polygamy  would  become  the  faith  of  all  the  Saints  ; 
but  of  this  there  is  no  evidence. 

The  first  traceable  indication  of  any  such  purpose  on  the 
part  of  the  Prophet  was  in  the  year  preceding  the  date  of  the 
revelation,  and  then  so  furtively  was  it  introduced  that  many 
thousands,  who  at  that  time  believed,  and  still  believe,  in  the 
mission  of  Joseph  Smith,  as  set  forth  by  himself,  deny  that  he 
ever  taught  such  a  doctrine.  It  was  brought  before  the  public 
in  a  quarrel  between  the  Prophet  and  that  shining  light,  Dr. 
John  Cooke  Bennett,  the  major-general  of  the  Nauvoo  Legion, 
and  the  mayor  of  the  city. 

"With  a  people  who  subordinate  their  own  judgment  and 
sense  of  right  and  wrong  to  authoritative  teaching,  it  was  an 
easy  matter  for  any  doctrine  to  be  introduced,  however  false 
and  vicious  it  might  be ;  and  when  to  that  disposition  in  the 
people  is  added  their  constant  expectation  of  mysterious  reve- 
lations, there  is  no  extreme  of  folly  or  crime  which  may  not  be 


184 


THE  KOCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


easily  imposed  upon  their  credulity.  Bennett's  relations  with 
the  Prophet  being  of  the  most  intimate  character,  it  was  easy 
for  him  to  succeed  in  imposing  upon  silly  women  the  "  spirit- 
ual-wife  "  doctrine  as  an  emanation  from  Heaven  ;  and  this 
he  is  charged  with  doing  with  a  success  that  is  humiliating  to 
confess. 

Those  who  have  not  lived  under  the  influence  of  an  in- 
"  spired  prophet  "  can  form  no  idea  of  the  facility  with  which  a 
religious  people  can  be  taught  any  doctrine,  and  be  led  on  to  lay 
aside  their  education,  or  their  sense  of  morality,  and  thus  be  cast 
in  the  mould  of  a  teaclier's  mind.  It  was  this,  and  not  natural 
depravity,  that  enabled  such  men  as  Bennett  to  succeed  in  con- 
taminating and  debauching  very  respectable  ladies  in  Nauvoo. 

Bennett,  it  is  said,  taught  the  Mormon  sisters  with  whom 
he  had  accquaintance  that  he  had  been  instructed  by  the 
Prophet  in  this  Mormon  phase  of  "  affinity  ;  "  but  before  the 
city  council  he  affirmed  that  Joseph,  "  as  far  as  he  knew,  had 
ever  been  highly  moral  in  his  conduct ; "  and  before  Alder- 
man Wells  he  made  affidavit  that  he  never  knew  him  to  teach 
anything  contrary  to  the  strictest  principles  of  virtue.  When 
Bennett  got  away  from  Nauvoo  he  denied  these  statements, 
and  claim.ed  that  they  w^ere  made  by  him  when  his  life  was  in 
danger.*^  Many  even  of  the  "  good  Mormons  "  have  always 
believed  that  Joseph  taught  Bennett  of  the  proposed  introduc- 
tion of  polygamy,  but  that  Bennett  ran  ahead  of  his  teacher, 
and  introduced  free-loveism  in  its  broadest  sense,  f 

*  Bennett  says  that  Joseph  threatened  him  with  half-a-dozen  different  kinds  of 
death.    His  narrative  of  "  duress  "  is  too  theatrical. 

f  There  is,  no  doubt,  much  truth  in  Bennett's  book,  Mormonism  Exposed," 
but  no  statement  that  he  makes  can  be  received  with  confidence.  As  a  justification 
of  his  separation  from  Joseph,  and  his  exposure  of  the  "  mysteries  "  of  Mormonism, 
he  states  that  he  never  was  a  believer^  but  only  assumed  the  faith  in  order  to  become 
thoroughly  initiated,  and  qualify  himself  for  its  exposure.  It  is  not  unlikely  that 
his  faith  in  the  Prophet  was  very  limited,  but  his  association  with  "  the  Lord's  ser- 
"  vant  "  sprang  from  no  such  consideration  as  that  which  he  states.  Governor  Ford 
gives  hira  the  following  friendly  notice  : 

"  This  Bennett  was  probably  the  greatest  scamp  in  the  Western  country.  I  have 
made  particular  cntjuiries  concerning  him,  and  have  traced  him  in  several  places  in 
which  he  had  lived,  before  he  joined  the  Mormons,  in  Ohio,  Indiana,  and  Illinois, 
and  he  was  everywhere  accounted  the  same  debauched,  unprincipled,  and  profligate 
-character." — History  of  Illinois,  p.  263. 

Notwithstanding  Bennett  disclaimed  that  he  ever  had  any  faith  in  Mormonism, 


THE  PROPHET'S  SONS  DExNY  HIS  POLYGAMY. 


185 


Many  interesting  affidavits  were  given  to  tlie  public  in  de- 
nunciation of  Bennett  and  in  defence  of  the  Prophet.  Every- 
thing that  could  be  thought  of  was  done  to  mislead  the  public 
as  to  the  veritable  teachings  promulgated  concerning  marriage, 
and  from  the  time  of  this  outbreak  with  Bennett  in  1842,  un- 
til the  announcement  of  the  revelation  by  Brigham  Young,  in 
Salt  Lake  City,  in  1852,  it  was  the  duty  of  the  Mormon  mis- 
sionaries to  prevaricate,  and  even  positively  deny,  when  neces- 
sary, that  the  Mormon  Church  was  other  than  monogamic,  and 
the  extent  of  demoralization  growing  out  of  tliese  denials 
would  be  incredible  were  the  facts  not  incontrovertible. 

The  sons  of  the  Prophet  have  been  very  restive  under  the 
imputation  of  polygamous  practices  being  attributed  to  their 
father.  They  have  laboured  indefatigably  in  decrying  polyg- 
amy, and  have  devoted  a  large  share  of  their  time,  talent,  ink, 
and  paper  in  hostility  to  it,  as  they  evidently  believe  it  is  both 
a  great  error  and  a  great  sin.  But  as  the  facts  of  Joseph's 
marital  relations  with  "  sisters  "  who  claim  to  be  his  "  wives," 
in  the  Mormon  sense,  are  overwhelming,  the  sons,  in  denying 
their  sire's  polygamy,  are  driven  to  the  alternative  of  silently 
allowing  the  inevitable  charge  of  practical  free-love,"  "adul- 
"  tery,"  or  whatever  others  may  choose  to  call  it.  At  the  present 
time  there  are  probably  about  a  dozen  "  sisters  "  in  Utah  who 
proudly  acknowledge  themselves  to  be  the  "  wives  of  Joseph," 
and  how  many  others  there  may  have  been  who  held  that  rela- 
tionship— "  no  man  knoweth." 

The  defenders  of  the  Prophet  have  called  for  the  posterity 
of  that  polygamy  as  evidence  of  the  claim,  and  the  Mormons, 
seeing  the  force  of  the  challenge,  would  have  been  glad  to  have 
accommodated  the  sons  by  presenting  "  the  righteous  seed  "  of 
the  father  for  their  recognition  ;  but  the  only  semblance  there 
ever  was  of  success  was  a  case  which  once  made  some  stir  for  a 
short  time,  but  ended  in  total  failure.  A  daughter  of  one  of 
these  "wives,"  living  north  of  Salt  Lake  City,  was  claimed  to 
be  Joseph's ;  but  it  is  said  to  have  required  more  faith  than 

he  figured  extensively  as  a  devoted  believer  at  a  conference  of  Mormons,  under 
the  leadership  of  James  Strang,  at  Voree,  Wisconsin  Territory,  in  October,  1846, 
lour  years  after  his  public  and  scandalous  denial.  Governor  Ford's  judgment  of 
liim  is  too  well  founded. 


186 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


even  Brigham  Young  could  muster  to  reach  that  conchision, 
and  so  that  frail  link  failed  to  serve  the  desired  end — much  to 
the  credit  of  Brigham's  honesty. 

While  the  argument  of  the  young  Smiths  and  the  friends 
of  the  Prophet  has  a  semblance  of  force,  it  is  really  very  weak. 
The  greater  portion  of  the  Prophet's  patriarchal  experience 
was  within  a  few  years  preceding  his  death ;  and  with  arrests 
threatening  him  daily,  and  the  sleepless  eye  of  Mrs.  Emma 
Smith  for  ever  on  his  track,  the  frequent  visits  to  the  domiciles 
of  his  unrecognized  wives  might  find  an  easy  physiological 
explanation  ;  while  the  fact  that  the  divorce  did  not  always 
precede  the  second  matriraony  would  account  for  much  in  a 
very  natural  way. 

Joseph's  love  was  neither  Platonic  nor  arithmetically  cir- 
cumscribed. He  was  strong  in  impulse,  with  a  thorough  dis- 
regard to  the  conventionalities  of  the  Gentile  world — he  was 
a  law  unto  himself." 

It  is  well  known  in  Utah  that  two  sisters,  Mrs.  B  and 

Mrs.  J  5  were  "  sealed  "  wives  to  Joseph  while  they  were 

still  the  wives  of  Mr.  B  and  Mr.  J  .    To  the  latter  a 

Bon  was  born,  long  after  Mrs.  J.  had  been  "sealed  "  to  Joseph, 
and  since  these  two  sisters  have  been  in  Salt  Lake  City,  the  one 
has  added  a  son  and  the  other  a  daughter  to  Joseph's  family 
register,  through  the  kindness  of  Brigham  Young  and  Heber 
C.  Kimball,  who  became  "  proxy  "  husbands  to  the  widows  of 
the  deceased  Prophet.  Strange  and  anomalous  as  all  this  may 
appear,  the  sons  of  Mrs.  J.  take  it  in  good  part  and  exhibit 
towards  their  father  no  lack  of  filial  regard,  while  by  the  teach- 
ings of  the  faith  they  cling  still  closer  to  their  mother  with  the 
warmest  affection — the  wife  of  the  Prophet  was  greater  than 
the  wife  of  the  elder. 

There  was  no  domestic  trouble  between  this  elder  and  his 
wife.  ^  They  were  very  affectionately  attached  to  each  other, 
but  the  Prophet's  eye  had  fallen  upon  his  neighbour's  wife,  and 
revelation  made  the  acquisition  easy  of  attainment.  It  was 
years  after  the  death  of  Joseph  before  the  husband  knew  that 
his  wife  was  the  wife  of  another.  On  the  banks  of  the  Mis- 
souri river,  in  an  Indian  country  where  redress  was  impossible 
— had  it  even  been  desired — Brigham  called  up  the  husband 


THE  PROPHET  AND  HIS  NEIGHBOURS'  WIVES. 


187 


and  told  him  tliat  his  domestic  relations  in  that  quarter  were  at 
an  end :  that  he  must  not  again  be  a  husband  to  his  wife !  She 
whom  he  idolized,  who  had  been  to  him  the  partner  of  his  joys 
and  cares,  who  had  borne  to  him  his  children,  and  who  had 
filled  his  soul  with  the  hope  of  a  happy  future,  was  to  be  ac- 
counted his  no  more !  Joseph  had  concealed  the  fact  of  his 
marital  relations  with  his  wife  from  him,  and  the  wife,  faithful 
to  the  Prophet,  had  for  these  years  been  reticent  until  silence 
could  no  longer  be  maintained.  The  Prophet's  widow  had 
chosen  the  Prophet's  successor  for  her  proxy  husband,^  and  he 
[Brigham]  could  maintain  no  doubtful  relationship  towards  her. 
The  elder  was  cavalierly  informed  that  he  could  take  another 
wife,  and  soon  after  that  he  was  sent  on  a  preaching  mission  to 
England,  where  he  could  assuage  his  grief  by  a  second  experi- 
ence of  connubial  bliss ! 

There  is  a  temptation  to  add  more,  but  where  people  have 
honestly  accepted  a  principle  of  faith,  as  the  Mormons  have 
polygamy,  and  paid  for  it  as  dearly  as  they  have,  there  would 
be  no  justification  for  adding  to  personal  misery  by  the  public 
*  relation  of  that  which  the  parties  afiected  would  feel  hurt  to 
read.  The  curiosity  of  the  reader  is,  however,  entitled  to  be 
gratified  by  the  statement  that  the  sadly  wronged  husband  is 
still  a  Mormon  and  that  that  thrice-wedded  wife  is  practically 
husbandless,  being  kindly  provided  for  by  the  excellent  husband 
of  her  daughter — the  offspring  of  Brigham  in  this  world,  but, 
according  to  the  Mormon  faith,  the  child  of  Joseph  in  the  world 
to  come.    What  a  page  of  life ! 

It  is  only  a  few  years  ago  that  Brigham  in  a  moment  of 
confidence  communicated  to  one  of  the  leading  apostles,  that 
the  wife  whom  he  [the  apostle]  had  cherished  as  the  companion 
of  his  youth— a  wife  to  him,  as  he  supposed,  for  about  two- 
score  years — had  actually  been  "  sealed  "  to  Joseph  during  the 
life-time  of  the  latter.    How  many  other  apostles  and  elders 

*  In  this  confused  marital  relationship  there  is  a  principle  of  faith  discernible. 
To  have  continued  to  live  with  Mr.  J.  and  to  have  borne  more  children  to  him  would 
not  have  added  "  glory  "  to  Joseph ;  besides,  it  was  very  proper  that  Mr.  J.,  having 
lost  his  wife,  should  have  the  opportunity  of  securing  another  wife  who  should  be 
altogether  his  own.  The  general  idea,  therefore,  that  the  lady  was  actuated  solely 
by  ambition  in  her  choice  of  Brigham  as  a  "  proxy  "  for  Joseph  may  perhaps  be 
without  foundation. 

12 


188 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


will  "wake  up  in  the  morning  of  tlie  resurrection  "  and  find 
their  wives  the  glory  of  a  Prophet's  crown,  it  is  hard  to  con- 
jecture ! 

Mrs.  Emma  Smith  may  feel  justified  in  denying  that  her 
husband  was  a  polygamist ;  for  she  may  neither  assent  to  the 
use  of  the  term,  nor  acknowledge  the  principle.  But  there  is, 
to  the  A^uthor's  mind,  the  most  satisfactory  evidence  that  Joseph 
Smith  had  "  sealed  "  to  him  a  large  number  of  women  some 
time  before  his  death,  many  of  whom  have  stated  to  the  Author 
that  they  were  "  the  wives  of  Joseph  Smith  ;  that  "  Mrs. 
Emma  Smith  was  aware  of  the  fact,"  and  that  it  was  the 
trouble  growing  out  of  the  discovery  of  such  relationship  that 
called  forth  the  "  Eevelation."  Of  this  the  "  Eevelation  "  it- 
self bears  much  internal  evidence. 


The  Elect  Lady,"  Mrs.  Emma  Smith  * 

Joseph's  elder  brother,  Hyrum,  believed  at  first  (and  well 
he  might),  that  his  Prophet-brother  had  taken  counsel  of  his 
own  passions,  and  he  opposed  him  publicly  as  well  as  m  pri- 

*  The  above  is  from  a  recent  photograpb.  The  author  regrets  that  he  could  not 
obtain  a  portrait  of  an  earlier  date.  The  Prophet's  widow,  some  years  after  his 
assassination,  became  the  wife  of  Major  Bidamon,  and  continued  to  reside  at  Jsau- 
voo,  where  she  is  the  object  of  much  attention  and  respect. 


WHY  THE  REVELATION  WAS  GIVEN. 


vate.  Mrs.  Smith  was  indignant,  and  rendered  hiis  life  un- 
happj.^  In  those  moments  of  gloom  and  deep  solicitude  the 
Prophet  realized  the  necessity  of  something  to  turn  away  wrath 
and  hostility  from  his  door.  There  are  Mormons  still  living 
who  affirm  that  they  know  from  Joseph's  own  lips  that  "  a 
"revelation  was  necessary,  and  would  be  had,  to  satisfy  Hy- 
"rum,  and  to  allay  the  storm  that  was  brewing  among  the 
"  married  women,  and  also  to  satisfy  the  young  women  "  whom 
it  was  desirable  to  convert.  The  Prophet  went  into  his  office 
one  morning,  closed  the  door,  was  inspired,  and  his  amanu- 
ensis— elder  William  Clayton,  now  in  Salt  Lake  City — wrote 
that  "  Revelation  "  as  Joseph  dictated  to  him. 

In  a  measure,  his  point  was  now  accomplished.  His  brother 
Hyrum  was  converted,  and  took  other  wives  himself.  Peace 
reigned  thereafter  in  that  branch  of  the  Smith  family.  But 
Mrs.  Emma  Smith  was  never  truly  converted  to  the  "  Revela- 
"  tion,"  though  it  is  claimed  that  she  "  softened  down "  and 
went  so  far  as  to  acknowledge  several,  if  she  could  not  "  re 
"ceive  all  that  have  been  given  unto  my  servant  Joseph." 
Such  were  the  circumstances  attending  the  birth  of  this  famous 
"  Eevelation." 

*  "  The  wife  of  the  Prophet  Joseph  rebelled  against  it,  and  declared  if  he  per- 
sisted she  would  desert  for  another." — Gunnison^  p.  '72. 

Mrs.  Smith  evidently  thought  something  of  separation,  and  Joseph  made  prep- 
arations for  such  an  event.  But  the  Lord "  came  to  his  aid,  and  that  famous 
revelation  on  polygamy  contains  the  following  very  significant  menace : 

"  And  I  command  mine  handmaid,  Emma  Smith,  to  abide  and  cleave  unto  my 
servant  Joseph,  and  to  none  else.  But  if  she  will  not  abide  this  commandment,  she 
shall  be  destroyed,  saith  the  Lord  ;  for  I  am  the  Lord  thy  God,  and  will  destroy  her 
if  she  abide  not  in  my  law." — Revelation  on  Folygamy^  par.  21. 


CHAPTEE  XXYIIl. 


POLYGAMY  EEPUDIATED.—Joseph  Smith  and  the  Mormon  Leaders  deny  it— 
The  Eevelations  of  the  Church  condemn  it— The  Sons  of  the  Prophet  defend 
their  Father's  Eeputation — The  Evidences  of  his  Polygamic  Life. 

The  storm  that  arose  from  Bennett's  exposure  of  what  he 
asserted  to  be  the  teachings  of  the  Prophet  suggested  the  pub- 
lication of  counter-statements.  In  the  Times  and  Seasons  there 
was  inserted  on  page  939,  Yol.  III.,  an  article  upon  "Mar- 
"  riage,"  written  by  Oliver  Cowdery,  and  placed  as  an  appen- 
dix to  the  book  of  modern  revelations.  To  this,  Joseph  added 
an  editorial  note  in  which  he  states  : 

"  We  have  given  the  above  rule  of  marriage  as  the  only  one  practised  in 
this  Churchy  to  show  that  Dr.  J.  C.  Bennett's  secret- wife  system  is  a  mat- 
ter of  his  own  manufacture,  and  further  to  disabuse  the  public  ear  and 
show  that  the  said  Bennett  and  his  misanthropic  friend,  Origen  Bachelor, 
are  perpetrating  a  foul  and  infamous  slander  upon  an  innocent  people^  and 
need  but  to  be  known  to  be  hated  and  despised." 

A  certificate  from  "  persons  of  families  "  followed,  in  which 
it  was  declared  that  they  knew  of  "  no  other  rule  or  system  of 
marriage  than  that  one  published  from  the  '  Book  of  Doctrine 
"  and  Covenants,' "  and  "  that  Dr.  John  C.  Bennett's  secret- 
"  wife  system  is  a  creature  of  his  own  make."  To  this  is  ap- 
pended a  dozen  names  of  leading  elders,  which  was  followed 
by  another  certificate  and  declaration  from  "  members  of  the 
"  Ladies'  Eelief  Society,  and  married  females,"  to  the  same 
purport  and  almost  in  the  same  language.  The  signatures 
were  headed  by  Mrs.  Emma  Smith. 

It  is  quite  possible  that  those  dozen  elders  and  apostles, 
those  nineteen married  and  unmarried  females  "were  fully 
justified  in  asserting  that  "  Dr.  John  0.  Bennett's  secret-wife 


THE  SAINTS  DENY  POLYGAMY. 


191 


"  system  is  a  creature  of  his  own  make,"  and  "  a  disclosnre  of 
his  own  make,  and  that  they  knew  of  no  such  society  in  the 
"  place,  nor  never  did ; "  but  how  some  of  them  could  "  certify 
"  and  declare"  in  October,  1842,  that  they  knew  of  no  other 
than  the  monogamic  marriage  prescribed  in  the  "  Doctrine  and 
"  Covenants,"  is  a  little  more  than  marvellous.  So7ne  of  them 
did  know  it ! 

The  names  appended  to  those  certificates  will  be  read 
with  interest  by  the  Mormon  people.  They  are  as  follows : 
S.  Bennett ;  George  Miller ;  Alphaeus  Cutler ;  Eeynolds  Ca- 
hoon ;  Wilson  Law  ;  Wilford  Woodruff ;  N.  R.  Whitney ;  Al- 
bert Petty  ;  Elias  Higbee  ;  John  Taylor  ;  E.  Eobinson  ;  Aaron 
Johnson ;  Emma  Smith — President  [Ladies'  Relief  Society]  ; 
Elizabeth  Ann  Whitney — Counsellor ;  Sarah  M.  Cleveland — 
Counsellor  ;  Eliza  R.  Snow — Secretary  ;  Mary  C.  Miller ;  Lois 
Cutler ;  Thyrza  Cahoon  ;  Ann  Hunter  ;  Jane  Law ;  Sophia 
R.  Marks ;  Polly  Z.  Johnson ;  Abigail  Works ;  Catherine 
Petty;  Sarah  Higbee;  Phoebe  Woodrufi*;  Leonora  Taylor; 
Sarah  Hillman  ;  Rosannah  Marks  ;  Angelina  Robinson. 

Had  the  revelation  on  polygamy  not  followed  Bennett's 
exposure  of  the  Prophet's  teachings,  there  might  have  been 
good  grounds  for  doubting  his — Bennett's — statement ;  but 
with  the  immediately  subsequent  avowal  of  polygamy,  and 
the  acknowledgment  in  the  revelation  itself  that  '^the  Lord  " 
had  already  given  wives  unto  his  servant  Joseph,  the  reader 
will  readily  perceive  that  the  denials  and  prevarications  were 
unfortunate  for  the  Church. 

It  is  easy  to  comprehend  the  statement  so  frequently  made 
by  the  Mormon  teachers  that,  influenced  by  certain  notions  of 
duty,  even  good  men  may  try  to  "  steal  a  march  "  upon  their 
fellow-men  with  the  purpose  of  doing  them  service ;  and  also, 
that  kind-hearted  parents  may  find  it  inconvenient  to  answer 
directly  the  awkward  questions  of  juvenile  minds  about  mari- 
tal relations  and  many  other  matters  of  daily  life.  But  it 
seems  a  pity  that  a  whole  people's  conceptions  of  the  necessities 
of  Deity  should  partake  so  much  of  this  doubtful  morality,  under 
the  name  of  "  policy."  In  the  early  history  of  Mormon  polyg- 
amy, it  is  claimed  that  it  was  the  conclusion  among  the  lead- 
ing elders  that  "  the  world  "  should  not  know  everything  that 


192 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


"  the  Lord  "  had  revealed,  and  that  evasiveness  on  the  subject 
of  marriage  was  an  obligation  for  the  protection  of  the  Church, 
and  to  aid  "  the  Lord  in  the  establishment  of  that  institution 
until  it  became  strong  enough  to  take  care  of  itself.  Besides, 
great  truths  freely  offered  to  the  world  might  be  like  "  casting 
^'  pearls  before  swine." 

Support  for  this  equivocal  position  is  drawn  from  the  re- 
port of  Peter  denying  his  acquaintance  with  Christ ;  of  Abra- 
ham, who,  to  avoid  personal  injury,  called  Sarah  his  "  sister ; ' 
and  of  some  other  gentleman  in  Bible  history  who  feigned 
imbecility  m  an  enemy's  camp  until  favoured  with  opportunity 
to  escape.  The  personal  evasiveness  named,  where  the  situa- 
tion was  accidental  and  not  courted,  is  not  without  a  certain 
amount  of  defence ;  but  the  evasive  denial  of  polygamy  by 
the  Mormon  elders  does  not  fare  so  well,  as  they  were  in  no 
accidental  position,  but  in  one  of  their  own  choosing.  With 
the  cases  cited  from  the  Bible,  the  act  and  consequences  termi- 
nated with  the  deliverance  of  the  persons  mentioned ;  but  the 
Mormon  Church  may  never  see  the  end  of  the  denial  of  poly- 
gamy. It  requires  no  profound  study  of  human  nature  to 
comprehend  to  what  that  principle  may  extend.  If  once  ad- 
mitted to  be  justifiable,  how  frequently  and  to  what  other  ends 
may  it  not  be  used  ?    It  is  indeed  a  dangerous  doctrhie. 

As  early  as  1835,  when  the  revelations  given  through  Jo- 
seph Smith  were  compiled  and  published,  under  the  title  of 
''The  Book  of  Doctrine  and  Covenants,"  the  opportunity  was 
seized  to  assure  the  world  in  an  article  upon  "  Marriage,"  in 
the  Appendix  of  that  book,  that  the  Saints  were  monogamic 
and  pure.  That  "  Book  of  Covenants  "  was  published  by  Josepli 
Smith,  and  contains  the  following  passages  : 

"Inasmuch  as  this  Church  of  Christ  has  been  reproached  with  the 
crime  of  fornication  and  polygamy  ;  we  declare  that  we  believe  that  one 
man  should  have  one  wife,  and  one  woman  lut  one  husband,  except  in  case 
of  death,  when  either  is  at  liberty  to  marry  again. 

After  relating  the  form  of  marriage  ceremony  to  be  used 
in  the  Church,  the  person  officiating  is  to  address  the  parties 
about  to  be  united : 

"You  both  mutually  agree  to  be  each  other's  companion,  husband 
and  wife,  observing  the  legal  rights  belonging  to  this  condition ;  that  is, 


IMPORTANCE  OF  THE  WORD  "BUT." 


193 


keeping  yourselves  wholly  for  each  other  ^  and  from  all  others  during  your 
lives." 

This  very  definite  language  was  well  calculated  to  silence 
those  who  ^'  reproached  "  the  Church,  and  to  assure  at  least  its 
lay  members  that  there  was  no  foundation  for  the  charges 
against  their  leaders,  of  either  "  fornication  or  polygamy  "  as 
a  princijple  of  faith.  Sincerely  believing  that  there  was  nei- 
ther a  quibble  in  language,  nor  double  meaning  in  the  manner 
of  its  expression,  the  missionaries  cited  it  in  sermons  and  pub- 
lished it  from  the  press  in  every  country  where  Mormonism 
was  taught.  Unfortunately  it  is  now  very  clearly  evident  that 
those  very  passages  upon  marriage  were  written  purposely  for 
the  deception  of  the  public. 

From  the  light  thrown  upon  the  writing  of  this  Appendix 
by  Brigham  Young — in  a  sermon  delivered  in  Logan,  Utah, 
five  j^ears  ago,  and  which  the  Author  listened  to — it  is  now 
easy  to  see  that  the  article  upon  marriage  was  published  to  de- 
ceive. Brigham  on  that  occasion  made  the  damaging  avowal 
that  the  Appendix  was  written  by  Oliver  Cowdery  against  Jo- 
seph's wishes,  and  was  permitted  to  be  published  only  after 
Cowdery's  incessant  teasing  and  Joseph's  warning  to  him  of 
the  trouble  which  his  course  would  create/^ 

According  to  this  confession,  Cowdery  would  seem  to  have 
had  either  a  glimpse  of  polygamy  at  that  early  day,  or  that  he 
was,  at  the  very  moment  of  receiving  revelations,  a  profligate 
in  morals,  for  he  insisted,  Brigham  says,  upon  adding  to  his 
marital  relations  a  young  woman  familiar  with  his  family,  and 
did  hold  the  relation  of  husband  to  her.  To  silence  the  clam- 
our and  surmising  that  arose  over  this  "  second  wife,"  he  wrote 
that  Appendix;  and,  as  will  be  seen  hereafter,  it  has  been  used 
by  the  apostles  in  the  Mormon  Church  for  many  years — and 
that,  too,  after  they  well  knew  that  its  use  was  a  direct  decep- 
tion and  falsehood. 

•Throwing  the  responsibility  of  the  Appendix  on  to  Cowdery 

*  Brigham  is  peculiarly  unctuous  in  confessing  other  men's  sins  to  the  public,  but 
his  own  are  never  mentioned.  It  would  have  been  equally  proper  for  him  on  this 
occasion  to  have  explained  why  he,  for  nearly  a  quarter  of  a  century,  had  preserved 
that  falsehood  in  the  "  Book  of  Covenants,"  notwithstanding  the  opportunities  he 
had  of  removing  it  in  the  several  editions  of  the  book  that  have  been  published 
under  his  Presidency. 


194 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


seemed  to  Brigham  better  than  no  defence  at  all,  but  it  is  cer- 
tainly a  very  damaging  confession.  It  places  the  greatest  wit- 
ness that  the  "  Divinity  of  Mormonism  "  ever  claimed  to  have, 
in  a  most  unenviable  position,  and  it  opens  up  a  budget  that  is 
exceedingly  suggestive.  Joseph  Smith  and  Oliver  Cowdery 
must  as  early  as  the  first  year  of  the  Church  have  contemplated 
the  introduction  of  polygamy  at  some  time  in  the  future,  or 
Cowdery  could  not  well  have  become  a  "  practical  polygamist," 
and  still  have  maintained  fellowship  with  Joseph  as  he  did,  if 
there  were  any  standard  of  morality  in  the  Church. 

The  reader  in  re-perusing  these  short  extracts  from  Cow- 
dery's  pen  will  now  perceive  with  greater  force  the  double  de- 
ceitfulness  of  their  wording  when  it  is  observed  that  "  crime  " 
is  only  attached  to  the  word  fornication,  but  not  to  polygamy — 
"  the  crime  of  fornication^  and  polygamy."  The  Mormon 
apologist  claims  that  the  expression  being  crime,"  and  not 
"  crimes,"  the  condemnation  is  not  attached  to  polygamy,  but 
only  to  fornication.  Grammatically,  the  apology  is  good;  mor- 
ally, it  is  very  bad — a  pious  fraud,  corrupting  and  degrading. 

The  "witness,"  Cowdery,  is  further  interesting. — "We 
declare,"  says  he,  "  that  one  man  should  have  one  wife,  and 
"  one  woman  hut  one  husband."  The  "  iut "  is  here  cleverly  put 
in.  He  designed  to  deceive  under  the  guise  of  fairness.  "  One 
"  man  should  have  one  wife"  (at  least  "  one^'^  is  the  after  inter- 
pretation), and  as  many  more  as  he  should  find  it  convenient 
to  get,  take,  or  acknowledge;  and  "the  woman  hut  one  hus- 
band."  She,  of  course,  was  to  be  the  monogamist  of  the  family. 

As  in  every  experience  of  falsehood,  this  doubly- deceitful 
Appendix  has  wrought  the  greater  wrong  the  more  it  was  be- 
lieved and  the  longer  it  has  lived.  Nearly  twenty  years  after 
it  was  first  published,  the  apostle  John  Taylor,  in  a  public  dis- 
cussion at  Boulogne-sur-mer,  in  France,  in  1850,  made  use  of 
it  to  answer  the  charge  brought  against  the  Mormons  of  prac- 
tising polygamy  then.  When  pressed  on  the  subject,  elder 
Taylor  answered : 

"  We  are  accused  here  of  polygamy  and  actions  the  most  indelicate, 
obscene,  and  disgusting,  such  as  none  but  a  corrupt  and  depraved  heart 
could  have  contrived.  These  things  were  too  outrageous  to  admit  of  be- 
lief; therefore  leaving  the  sisters  of  the  'white  veil,'  the  'black  veil,'  and 


MARRIED  TO  MOTHER  AND  DAFGHTER. 


195 


all  the  other  *  veils '  with  those  gentlemen  to  dispose  of,  together  with  their 
authors,  as  they  think  best,  I  shall  content  myself  with  reading  our  views 
of  chastity  and  marriage^  from  a  work  published  by  us  containing  some  ol 
our  articles  of  faith,  'Doctrine  and  Covenants,'  page  330."  * 

Elder  Taylor  read  the  entire  chapter  upon  marriage,  from 
which  the  foregoing  passages  from  the  pen  of  Cowdery  have 
been  cited,  and  he  nndoubtedly  satisfied  the  audience  that  the 
Mormon  Church  had  been  vilely  slandered  by  the  accusation 
of  polygamy.  At  the  very  time  that  "  brother  Taylor  "  read 
these  pages  in  Boulogne-sur-mer,  he  had  himself^  living  in  Salt 
LaJce  City^  five  wives ;  one  of  his  two  companions  who  like- 
wise testified  during  the  discussion,  had  also  two  wives  there ; 
and  the  other  companion  had  likewise  two  wives  in  the  per- 
sons of  a  mother  and  her  own  daughter  !  In  less  than  eighteen 
months  after  that  discussion  the  revelation  on  polygamy  was 
publicly  proclaimed. 

Whatever  value  may  have  been  placed  upon  thisniomentary 
triumph  in  France,  the  victory  was  soon  seen  to  be  dearly  pur- 
chased in  England.  The  native  elders  in  Britain  waxed  so  bold 
in  the  monogamic  argument  after  the  Boulogne  discussion,  that 
they  raised  an  almost  impregnable  barrier  against  the  polyg- 
amy that  was  soon  to  be  introduced.  What  was  temporarily 
gained  in  France  was  a  thousand  times  permanently  lost  in 
Britain. 

That  an  institution  so  repugnant  to  the  spirit  of  the  age,  so 
much  at  war  with  the  natural  instincts  of  woman,  could  be  ac- 
cepted by  disciples  of  the  Prophet's  own  converting,  already 
believing  in  monogamy,  and  that  also  confirmed  by  his  own 
teaching,  must  be  inexplicable  to  all  outside  of  Mormonism. 
Were  the  personal  testimony  not  so  abundant  that  Joseph 
Smith  both  taught  and  practiced  polygamy,  "  or,"  as  a  Mor- 
mon lady  who  knew  him  well  once  said,  "  practiced  something 
"  else,"  there  would  be  good  grounds  for  believing  that  the 
foregoing  revelation  ,was  not  of  his  authorship — it  is  so  inhar- 
monious with  his  own  preceding  revelations  and  so  distinctly 
condemned  by  his  own  translated  Book  of  Mormon. 

The  following  passages  from  these  Mormon  Church  books 
are  exceedingly  forcible : 

*  "  Public  Discussion,"  p.  8, 


196 


THE  KOCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


"And  now  it  came  to  pass  that  the  people  of  Nephi,  under  the  reign 
of  the  second  king,  began  to  grow  hard  in  their  hearts,  and  indulge  them- 
selves  somewhat  in  wicked  practices  ;  such  as,  like  nnto  David  of  old,  desir- 
ing many  wives  and  concubines,  and  also  Solomon  his  son." — Book  of  Mor- 
mon, p.  115. 

•  ••••• 

"  And  were  it  not  that  I  must  speak  unto  you  concemmg  a  grosser 
crime,  my  heart  would  rejoice  exceedingly  because  of  you.  But  the  word 
of  God  burdens  me  because  of  your  grosser  crimes.  For,  behold,  thus 
saith  the  Lord,  this  people  begin  to  wax  in  iniquity ;  they  understand  not 
the  Scriptures,  for  they  seek  to  excuse  themselves  in  committing  whore- 
doms, because  of  the  things  which  were  written  concerning  David  and 
Solomon  his  son.  Behold,  David  and  Solomon  truly  had  many  wives 
and  concubines,  which  thing  was  abominable  before  me,  saith  the  Lord.'''' 

"  Wherefore,  thus  saith  the  Lord,  I  have  led  this  people  forth  out  of 
the  land  of  Jerusalem,  by  the  power  of  mine  arm,  that  I  might  raise  me 
up  a  righteous  branch  from  the  fruit  of  the  loins  of  Joseph.  Wherefore,  J, 
the  Lord,  will  not  suffer  that  this  'people  shall  do  liJce  unto  them  of  old  (i.  e., 
David  and  Solomon).  Wherefore,  my  brethren,  hear  me,  and  hearken  to 
the  word  of  the  Lord :  for  there  shall  not  any  man  among  you  have,  save  it 
he  one  wife;  and  concubines  he  shall  have  noney — Book  of  Mormon,  p.  118. 

To  this  the  Mormon  polygamist  answers  : 

Wherefore,  this  people  shall  keep  my  commandments,  saith  the  Lord 
of  Hosts,  or  cursed  be  the  land  for  their  sakes.  For  if  I  will,  saith  the 
Lord  of  Hosts,  raise  up  seed  unto  me,  /  will  command  my  people^  other- 
wise they  shall  hearken  unto  these  things." — Page  118. 

In  a  revelation  given  February,  1831,  the  Prophet  was  very 
explicit  in  commanding  monogamy : 

"  Thou  shalt  love  thy  wife  with  all  thy  heart,  and  shalt  cleave  unto 
her,  and  none  else.'* — ^Book  of  Covenants,  p.  124. 

A  month  later  a  revelation  given  to  Sidney  Rigdon,  Parley 
P.  Pratt,  and  Lemon  Copley,  in  which  occurs  the  following 
passage : 

"  Marriage  is  ordained  of  God  unto  man  ;  wherefore  it  is  lawful  that  he 
should  have  one  wife,  and  they  twain  shall  be  one  flesh." — Book  of  Cove- 
nants, p.  218. 

It  is  not  a  little  singular  that  the  most  forcible  arguments 
that  have  yet  been  adduced  against  Mormon  polygamy  are 
those  furnished  by  the  pens  of  the  three  sons  of  JosejA  Smith. 

The  name  of  the  eldest  son  of  the  Prophet  is  found  at  the 


JOSEPH'S  SONS  APPEAL  TO  CO^^GRESS. 


197 


head  of  a  "  Memorial  to  Congress,"  protesting  against  Brig- 
ham  Young's  Church  being  regarded  as  the  true  "  Latter-Day  " 
Church  founded  by  his  father — principally  on  account  of 
polygamy.    In  that  memorial  the  following  points  are  given : 

"  We,  your  memorialists,  would  therefore  submit  for  the  consideration 
of  Congress,  in  its  action  on  the  Utah  question,  and  in  its  legislation  on 
the  question  of  the  right  of  Congress  to  interfere  with  polygamy,  as  being 
a  part  of  the  faith  of  the  Church  of  Jesus  Christ  of  Latter-Day  Saints : 

"  1.  That  the  law  of  the  Church,  as  found  in  the  Bible,  the  Book  of 
Mormon,  and  the  Book  of  Covenants,  accepted  by  the  polygamists  them- 
selves, expressly  forbids  to  one  man  more  than  one  living  wife. 

"  3.  That  the  law  contained  in  these  books  is  the  Constitution  of  the 
Church  ;  that  no  law  can  obtain  in  the  Church  in  contravention  thereof; 
and  that  therefore  tJie  pretended  revelation  on  polygamy  is  illegal  and  of  no 
force. 

"  3.  That  in  the  remonstrance  presented  to  Congress  by  the  polygamists 
of  Utah,  dated  March  31,  1870,  the  non-publication  of  this  pretended  rev- 
elation till  the  year  1852,  is  admitted  in  the  following  language  : 

"  *  Eighteen  years  ago,  and  ten  years  before  the  passage  of  the  Anti- 
Polygamy  Act  of  1862,  one  of  our  leading  men,  elder  Orson  Pratt,  was 
expressly  deputed  and  sent  to  Washington  to  publish  and  lecture  on  the 
principles  of  plural  marriage  as  practiced  by  us.  .  .  .  For  ten  years 
before  the  passage  of  the  act  of  1862,  the  principle  was  widely  preached 
throughout  the  Union  and  the  world,  and  was  universally  known  and 
recognized  as  a  principle  of  our  holy  faith.' 

4.  That  the  plea  of  polygamy  not  being  at  variance  with  the  law  of 
tlie  land,  because  not  expressly  in  violation  of  any  law  on  the  statute-book 
of  the  Territory  of  Utah,  is  not  admissible  for  this  reason  :  The  polygamic 
revelation  claims  to  have  been, given  in  1843,  when  the  Church  as  a  body 
was  in  Illinois,  in  which  State  bigamy  or  polygamy  was  then,  as  now,  a 
crime, 

"  5.  That  polygamy,  being  a  crime  against  the  law  of  the  State  of  Il- 
linois, could  not  have  been  authorized  by  revelation  from  Him  who,  polyg- 
amists themselves  affirm,  gave  the  revelation  found  in  'Book  of  Covenants,' 
Sec.  58,  par.  5,  which  declares :  '  Let  no  man  break  the  law  of  the  land  ; 
for  he  that  Iceepeth  the  laws  of  God  hath  no  need  to  Ireah  the  laws  of  the  land; 
wherefore  le  subject  to  the  powers  that  be.'' — (Old  Edition,  Sec.  18.) 

"  6.  That  the  pretended  revelation  on  polygamy  was  not  published  till 
1852,  is  strong  presumptive  evidence  that  it  was  not  in  existence ;  but, 
even  if  it  were,  it  would  still  be  of  no  force  in  the  Church,  as  it  con- 
travenes revelations  previously  given  to  and  accepted  by  the  Church, 
and  is,  therefore,  precluded  from  becoming  a  Church  tenet,  by  that  clause 
of  the  Church  law  before  quoted,  which  declares :  *  Neither  shall  any- 
thing be  appointed  unto  any  of  this  Church  contrary  to  the  Church 
covenants.' " 


198 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


This  statement  of  the  sons  of  Joseph  is  lucid  and  forcible 
to  the  rationally  thinking  portion  of  the  Mormon  Church. 
But  while  the  force  of  the  sons'  argument  is  acknowledged, 
the  teaching  and  practice  of  the  father  silence  everything. 
When  he  secretly  taught  polygamy  to  be  a  divine  institution, 
he  was  right,  according  to  the  ideas  of  the  Saints :  when  he 
publicly  denied  it  within  the  same  hour,  he  was  equally  right 
in  their  estimation.  Stripping  this  period  of  Mormonism  of 
all  the  verbiage  of  the  Tabernacle,  banishing  that  faith  which 
accepts  all  things,  and  looking  at  the  facts  of  its  history,  Mor- 
monism was  at  this  time  a  fearful  tumult  of  contradiction  and 
very  doubtful  morality.^ 

One  of  the  highest  dignitaries  of  the  Mormon  Church  at 
that  period,  "William  Law,  the  principal  counsellor  of  Joseph, 
writing  to  the  Author,  November  24,  1871,  says : 

"  I  have  but  a  faint  recollection  of  the  certificate  you  speak  of,  signed 
by  a  number  of  ladies  ;  but  I  presume  that  most  of  them  stated  the  truth, 
as  they  knew  of  no  doctrine  of  the  kind  at  that  time,  for  it  was  denied 
most  positively  by  Joseph  and  Hyrum,  at  even  a  later  date.  In  1842  I 
had  not  heard  of  such  teaching.  I  believe  now  that  John  C.  Bennett  did 
know  it,  for  he  at  that  time  was  more  in  the  secret  confidence  of  Joseph 
than  perhaps  any  other  man  in  the  city.  Bennett  was  a  tool  of  Joseph  for 
a  time,  but  for  some  cause  which  I  never  knew,  Joseph  cast  him  off".  Per- 
haps there  was  jealousy  in  the  matter. 

"  I  think  it  was  in  1843  that  I  first  knew  of  the  '  plurality  doctrine.' 
I  believe,  however,  it  existed  possibly  as  early  as  1840.  A  great  many, 
like  myself,  were  considered  not  strong  enough  in  the  faith  to  swallow 
such  ^  strong  meat ; '  so  we  were  fed  on  milk,  hoping  that  we  should  get 

*  The  evidence  is  so  overwhelming  that  Joseph  Smith  introduced  polygamy  into 
the  Mormon  Church,  that  the  addition  of  more  testimony  seems  superfluous  ;  but 
if  more  were  necessary,  the  distinct  mention  of  polygamy  in  Governor  Ford's  His- 
tory of  Illinois"  [pp.  322  and  327],  written  only  a  few  years  after  the  assassination, 
clearly  demonstrates  that  polygamy  did  not  originate,  as  it  is  asserted,  with  Brigham 
Young  after  he  left  Illinois. 

It  is  very  probable  that  before  long  "  the  Reorganized  Church  of  Latter-Day 
Saints,"  over  which  Joseph  Smith,  junior,  presides,  will  drop  the  discussion  of 
polygamy,  and  tacitly,  if  not  explicitly,  admit  that  the  elder  Joseph  went  astray  in 
affairs  of  love.  Wm.  Marks,  counsellor  to  Joseph  Smith,  the  son,  knows  full  well 
that  Joseph  Smith,  the  father,  was  a  polygamist.  It  is  said  that  Joseph  confessed 
to  Marks,  only  a  few  days  before  his  death,  that  polygamy  was  an  error,  authorized 
him  to  preach  against  it,  and  intimated  that  he  himself  would  make  confession  of 
the  error,  and  forbid  its  further  practice.  This  he  probably  would  have  done  had 
he  lived. 


THE  PROPHET  DENOUNCES  POLYGAMY. 


199 


our  strength  after  a  time,  and  be  able  to  appreciate  the  good  gifts  of 
heaven  (or  hell). 

"  I  think  Joseph's  sons  knew  that  their  father  taught  and  practiced 
the  '  spiritual- wife '  doctrine.  Their  mother  knew  all  about  it,  and,  I 
believe,  opposed  it  at  first.  But  her  antagonism,  or  the  opposition  of 
others,  availed  nothing.  I  begged  of  Joseph,  and  pled  with  him,  as  a  man 
might  plead  for  the  life  of  his  best  friend,  to  stop  all  these  evils,  and  save 
the  Church  from  ruin  ;  but  he  seemed  determined  to  rush  on  to  utter  de- 
struction, and  carry  all  with  him  that  he  could ;  and  thus  he  met  his 
doom." 

In  the  Times  and  Seasons^  Vol.  IV.,  p.  143,  Marcli  ISth, 
184:3,  appears  the  following : 

"  We  are  charged  with  advocating  a  plurality  of  wives,  and  common 
property.  Now  this  is  as  false  as  the  many  other  ridiculous  charges  which 
are  brought  against  us.  No  sect  has  a  greater  reverence  for  the  laws  of 
matrimony  or  the  rights  of  private  property ;  and  we  do  what  others  do 
not,  we  practice  what  we  preach." 

Four  months  after  this  date  the  revelation  was  given,  and 
on  February  1st  of  the  following  year,  it  is  denied  again,  and 
an  elder  is  excommunicated  for  teaching  the  "  false  and  cor- 
"  rupt  doctrine :  " 

"As  we  have  lately  been  credibly  informed  that  an  elder  of  the  Church 
of  Jesus  Christ  of  Latter-Day  Saints,  by  the  name  of  Hyrum  Brown,  has 
been  preaching  polygamy  and  other  false  and  corrupt  doctrines^  in  the 
county  of  Lapeer,  State  of  Michigan,  this  is  to  notify  him,  and  the 
Church  in  general,  that  he  has  been  cut  off  from  the  Church  for  his  ini- 
quity;  and  he  is  further  notified  to  appear  at  the  special  conference  on  the 
6th  of  April  next,  to  make  answer  to  these  charges. 

"  (Signed)  Joseph  Smith,  and  Hyrum  Smith, 

"  Presidents  of  said  Church." 

A  little  more  than  three  months  before  his  death,  Hyrum 
published  the  following  letter : 

Nauvoo,  March  3, 1844. 
"  To  the  brethren  of  the  Church  of  Jesus  Christ  of  Latter-Day  Saints, 
living  on  China  Creek,  in  Hancock  county.  Greeting  :  Whereas  Brother 
Richard  Hewett  has  called  on  me  to-day  to  know  my  views  concerning 
some  doctrines  that  are  preached  in  your  place,  and  states  to  me  that 
some  of  your  elders  say,  that  a  man  having  a  certain  priesthood  may  have 
as  many  wives  as  he  pleases,  and  that  doctrine  is  taught  here,  I  say  unto 
you,  that  that  man  teaches  false  doctrine,  for  there  is  no  such  doctrine 
taught  here,  neither  is  there  any  such  thing  practiced  here,''''  f 

*  2\mes  and  Seasons^  Yol.  Y.,  p.  423.  f  Ibid.,  p.  474. 


200 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


Five  months  after  the  death  of  the  Prophet  and  Patriarch, 
there  was  published,  in  the  Times  and  Seasons^  a  letter  from 
an  Old  Man  in  Israel/'  in  which  the  following  paragraph  oc- 
curs : 

 "  The  laws  of  tlie  land  and  the  rules  of  the  Church  do  not  allow 

any  man  to  have  any  more  than  one  wife  alive  at  once;  but  if  any  man's 
wife  die,  he  has  a  right  to  marry  another,  and  to  be  sealed  to  both  for 
eternity — to  the  living  and  the  dead  !  There  is  no  law  of  God  or  man 
against  it.  This  is  all  the  spiritual-wife  system  that  ever  was  tolerated  in 
the  Church,  and  they  know  it." 

There  was  no  parade  of  this  polygamic  revelation  to  the 
Church  in  Joseph's  lifetime,  but  its  purport  was  conveyed  to 
a  few  valiant  men  and  some  excellent  women,  who  were 
deemed  worthy  to  be  entrusted  with  the  secret,  and  though  it 
might  be  unjust  to  charge  Joseph  with  seeing  thus  far  and  so 
planning,  it  was  the  most  certain  way  of  securing  the  intro- 
duction of  polygamy  among  the  people.  It  did  a  better  work 
for  "  the  cause  "  in  secret  than  it  would  have  done  by  public 
proclamation  ;  especially  as  bigamy  was  punishable  by  statute 
in  Illinois  ;  and  there  is  such  a  luxury  in  secretly  defying  the 
laws  of  men  when  the  believers  are  persuaded  that  they  do  so 
by  the  commandment  of  God. 

The  favoured  few  could  not  do  less  than  honour  "  the 
"Lord"  by  a  return  of  the  confidence  which  he  had  been 
pleased  to  show  them.  Thus,  with  the  bewildering  credulity 
of  a  secret  revelation,  and  the  defiance  of  all  earthly  power, 
the  intimate  friends  of  Joseph  Smith  were  sealed  up  unto 
"  eternal  life,"  and  became  peers  with  Abraham  and  all  the 
patriarchs. 

To  doubt  a  revelation  through  Joseph  was  to  entertain  the 
suspicion  that  he  was  a  "  fallen  prophet ;  "  and  an  immediate 
issue  between  the  teacher  and  the  taught  was  inevitable.  Some 
bolder  spirits  dared  to  think  and  question  his  revelations,  but 
few  indeed  among  them  have  had  the  courage  to  openly  op- 
pose them.  Joseph  was  "the  servant  of  the  Lord;"  he  was 
accountable  to  no  one  on  earth.  When  his  teaching  was  in- 
harmonious with  the  age,  that  was  nothing — the  world  was 
wrapt  in  midnight  darkness :  when  it  came  in  contact  with 
his  own  preceding  revelations,  the  ready  answer  was — "to 


POLYGAMY  IN  ENGLAND. 


201 


"  babes  is  given  milk,  to  men  and  women  strong  meats."  The 
transition,  therefore,  from  monogamy  to  polygamy  in  the  Mor 
mon  Church  was  only  a  question  as  to  the  submission  and 
credulity  of  the  disciples. 

Had  this  revelation  been  presented  to  the  Mormons  with 
the  "  first  principles  "  taught  by  the  elders,  not  one  in  ten 
thousand  among  them  would  have  accepted  it  as  an  emanation 
from  Jesus  Christ.  But  educated  by  their  priesthood  to  re- 
gard all  questioning  of  a  revelation  through  the  Prophet  as 
the  subtile  working  of  Satanic  influence  to  darken  the  mind 
and  to  mislead  the  disciple  into  rebellion,  and  with  the  terrible 
consequences  of  "  apostacy  "  pictured  to  them  and  ever  present 
in  their  thoughts,  the  Mormons  could  do  no  other  than  try  to 
believe  the  doctrine  of  polygamy.  But  even  under  these  fa- 
vourable predispositions,  the  great  majority  of  both  men  and 
women  have  fought  against  it,  and  its  acceptance  at  all  has  been 
a  terrible  trial  of  faith  and  a  hazardous  chancing  of  the  future. 

"When  it  was  first  published,  the  British  mission  was  in  the 
highest  prosperity;  the  elders  were  travelling  all  over  that 
island,  meeting  with  great  success ;  calls  for  preaching  were 
everywhere  heard,  and  large  numbers  were  being  baptized  into 
the  new  faith.  The  Utah  elders  then  in  England,  and  a  few 
only  of  the  native  elders,  knew  some  little  time  before,  as  one  of 
them  rather  coarsely  expressed  it  in  a  council  of  the  Priesthood 
in  London,  that  "  the  cat  was  soon  to  be  let  out  of  the  bag." 
The  Millennial  Star^  the  organ  of  the  Church,  had  been  for 
some  months  preparing  the  way  for  its  dehut  by  the  weekly 
publication  of  extracts  from  a  work  on  "  Marriage  among  the 
'^Jews;"  but  almost  the  entire  mass  of  the  European  elders, 
and  the  "  Saints  "  there,  had  no  knowledge  of  this  revelation, 
and  were  constantly  defending  the  cause  in  public  against  the 
charge  of  polygamy  in  Utah. 

On  the  1st  of  January,  1853,  it  was  published  in  the  Star. 
It  fell  like  a  thunderbolt  upon  the  Saints,  and  fearfully  shat- 
tered the  mission.  The  British  elders,  who  in  their  ignorance 
had  been  denying  polygamy,  and  stigmatizing  their  opponents 
as  calumniators,  up  to  the  very  day  of  its  publication,  were 
confounded  and  paralyzed,  and  from  that  time  to  the  present 
the  avenues  of  preaching  have  closed,  one  after  another,  and  the 


202 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


mission  that  was  once  tlie  glory  of  the  Mormon  Church  has 
withered  and  shrivelled  into  comparative  insignificance. 

The  outside  world  misjudges  the  Mormon  people  when  it 
imagines  that  polygamy  was  ever  a  favourite  doctrine.  Doubt- 
less to  some  few  it  was  a  pleasant  revelation  ;  but  it  was  not 
so  to  the  mass  of  the  people,  for  they  resisted  it  until  they  were 
compelled  to  yield  their  opposition,  or  else  abandon  the  Church 
in  which  they  had  faith. 

The  statistical  reports  of  the  mission  in  the  British  Islands 
— June  30th,  1863 — show  that  the  enormous  number  of  seven- 
teen hundred  and  seventy-six  persons  were  excommunicated 
there  during  the  first  six  months  of  the  preaching  of  polygamy. 

The  entire  Church  then  numbered,  men,  women,  and  chil- 
dren over  eight  years  of  age,  30,690.  There  were  forty  sev- 
"  enties,"  and  eight  "  high-priests,"  from  Utah,  in  Britain  at 
that  time,  carrying  with  them  a  powerful  personal  influence  to 
help  the  Saints  to  tide  over  the  introduction  of  this  doctrine. 
These  Utah  missionaries  were  aided  by  a  native  priesthood  of 
2,578  elders,  1,854:  priests,  1,416  teachers,  834  deacons ;  and 
yet  no  less  than  1,776  recusants  were  excommunicated.  That 
tells  its  own  tale. 

That  all  these  persons  withdrew  from  the  fellowship  of  the 
Mormon  Church  on  account  of  polygamy  would  be  an  unfair 
inference.  Still,  doubtless,  polygamy  was  the  great  contribut- 
ing cause  of  apostacy  then,  and  more  persons  liave  left  the 
Mormon  communion  on  account  of  polygamy  and  Brighani's 
favourite  deity — Adam  (which  he  first  preached  in  October  of 
the  same  year),  than  all  else  put  together. 

Few  of  the  Mormon  women  have  ever  accepted  polygamy 
from  the  assent  of  their  judgments.  They  have  first  been  led 
by  their  teachers  to  consider  the  doctrine  true,  and  afterwards 
have  been  afraid  to  question  it.  Their  fears  have  counselled 
submission.  Many  of  them  have  never  been  able  to  give  it  a 
careful  and  deliberate  reading.  Some  have  probably  never 
read  it  at  all.  "When  first  placed  in  their  hands  it  was,  as  can 
readily  be  conceived,  received  under  the  excitement  and  irrita- 
tion of  unlooked-for  and  unwelcome  news^  and  hurriedly  read 
to  see  what  it  did  contain,  then  cast  aside,  in  a  burst  of  grief, 
and  seldom  if  ever  taken  up  again. 


JOSEPH  SMITH  AND  MOHAMMED 


203 


It  is  to  be  regretted  that  the  Mormon  women  (and  their 
husbands,  too)  have  not  read  it  more  ;  for  the  more  frequently 
it  is  perused,  and  the  horrors  it  threatens  are  faced,  the  more 
satisfied  must  they  become  that  the  charge  of  its  authorship  to 
Jesus  Christ  is  an  atrocious  libel  upon  His  name,  or  else  the 
record  of  His  life  has  been  greatly  misunderstood  by  the 
world. 

From  a  common-sense  standpoint  the  "  revelation  "  is  sug- 
gestive a  thousand  times  more  of  Moses  than  of  Christ.  Had 
it  been  addressed  by  the  former  to  the  Israelites  in  their  Egyp- 
tian bondage,  in  the  wilderness  where  they,  as  children,  were 
terrified  and  alarmed  by  the  thunders  of  Mpunt  Sinai,  there 
might  be  some  consistency  in  the  oft-repeated  announcement 
of  authoritative  teaching.    In  that  one  revelation — 

There  are  ten  times — "  Saith  the  Lord ; " 

Eight  times — "  I  am  the  Lord  thy  God ; " 

Six  times — "  Saith  the  Lord  your  God  ;  " 

Once  each — "  Jesus  Christ,  I  am  He  ;  "  "  I,  the  Lord  thy 
"  God  ; "  "  I,  the  Lord,  am  thy  God  ;  " 

And,  finally  concluding  with—''  I  am  Alpha  and  Omega." 

It  is  astonishing  what  amount  of  submission  and  credulity 
can  be  developed  when  the  mind  is  properly  worked  up  with 
devotional  feeling  and  is  awe-stricken  by  threats  of  damnation. 
Not  inaptly  or  without  logical  force  has  Joseph  Smith  been 
designated  the  Mohammed  of  America.  Between  the  prophet 
of  Arabia  and  the  prophet  of  Nauvoo  (each  claiming  divine, 
prophetic  powers)  there  is  a  strong  family  resemblance  and  a 
more  than  singular  coincidence  of  experience. 
13 


CHAPTEE  XXIX. 


AFTER  THE  PROPHET'S  DEATH.— Sidney  Rigdon  delivered  over  to  Satan— 
Brigliam  Young  and  the  Twelve  Apostles  rule  the  Church — Mobocracy  again 
rampant — ^Burning  the  Houses  of  the  Saints — The  Expulsion  of  the  Mormons 
demanded — The  Saints  agree  to  Expatriation. 

It  was  very  natural  that  "the  Saints"  should  recall  to 
mind  the  sayings  of  their  martyred  Prophet  when,  even  in  the 
remotest  manner,  he  had  expressed  an  apprehension  of  early 
death — such  as  "  I  am  going  like  a  lamb  to  the  slaughter,"  etc., 
or  when  he  had  done  anything  that  could  be  interpreted  as 
preparatory  to  "  shuffling  off  this  mortal  coil."  These  were 
now  sacred  reminiscences  and  confirmed  his  prophetic  char- 
acter in  the  estimation  and  love  of  the  people.  Unfortunately, 
however,  for  the  peace  and  unity  of  the  Church,  in  all  the  mul- 
titude of  his  sayings  and  doings  he  made  no  direct  and  open 
preparation  for  the  presidency  of  the  Church  in  case  of  his 
death,^  and  thus  his  martyrdom  wrought  confusion  among  the 
disciples.    They  were  left  "like  sheep  without  a  shepherd." 

The  apostles  Taylor  and  Eichards  were  with  Joseph  in  Car- 
thage jail,  and  all  the  other  apostles  were  preaching  in  the 
States.  On  hearing  the  news  of  the  tragedy,  most  of  them 
hastened  to  Nauvoo,  to  counsel  together  upon  the  necessities 
of  the  situation. 

Joseph  and  Hyrum  Smith,  with  Sidney  Eigdon,  had  con- 
stituted "  the  first  Presidency  of  the  Church :  "  they  were  the 
ruling  powers  of  the  Kingdom.  The  Quorum  of  the  Twelve 
Apostles  had,  in  a  conventional  way,  been  recognized  as 

*  It  is  claimed  that  "young  Joseph'' — eldest  son  of  the  Prophet — "was  ap- 
pointed through  his  father  according  to  the  law  of  lineage,  by  prophecy,  and  bless- 
ing, in  Liberty  jail,  Missouri ;  by  revelation  in  1841,  and  by  a  formal  anointing  in 
a  Council  in  Nauvoo,  in  1844,"  to  be  the  successor  of  his  father. 


THE  SCRAMBLE  FOR  JOSEPH'S  PLACE. 


205 


"  equal  in  authority  to  the  First  Presidency  :  "  but  up  to  this 
time  the  acknowledgment  was  merely  nominal.  At  the  death 
of  the  Smiths,  Eigdon  alone,  of  the  First  Presidency,  remained, 
while  the  Quorum  of  the  Apostles  was  entire. 

For  several  years  preceding  this  period,  Eigdon  had  been 
somewhat  lukewarm  and  unreliable.  Still,  he  clung  to  the 
faith,  loved  the  Saints,  and  was  certain  to  be  present  on  the 
great  occasions  of  Mormon  demonstration.  Sidney  had  never 
fairly  got  over  the  sufferings  be  endured  in  Missouri.  His  en- 
thusiasm was  chilled ;  and,  besides  this,  Joseph,  in  seeking  the 
hand  of  his  daughter,  Nancy,  greatly  offended  him.  At  the 
time  of  the  Prophet's  death,  Eigdon  was  residing  with  liis 
family  in  Pittsburg,  Ohio,  trying  to  take  life  easily,  while 
Brigham  Young,  the  Pratts,  Hyde,  and  other  apostles  w^ere 
out  on  missions.  When  the  news  of  the  assassination  arrived, 
he  set  out  in  haste  and  arrived  first  in  Nauvoo.  Parley  P. 
Pratt,  Brigham  Young,  Orson  Hyde,  Heber  C.  Kimball,  and 
other  apostles  arrived  soon  after. 

Who  should  rule  the  Church  was  now  an  open  question. 

Eigdon — aware  of  the  logical  fact  that  one  is  the  smaller 
part  of  three,  and  realizing  that  his  active  fellowship  with  the 
living  Joseph  had  been  questionable  for  some  years  back — pro- 
posed to  the  Saints  the  appointment  6f  a  "  guardian  "  over  the 
Church,  a  sort  of  regency,  until  further  development  should 
manifest  "the  will  of  the  Lord."  He  had  no  hopes  that  he 
would  then  be  accepted  as  a  "  prophet,  seer,  and  revelator," 
though  he  had  been  ordained  to  all  those  high  offices.  Like  a 
brevetted  general,  he  had  only  worn  his  titles  of  glory.  He 
was,  therefore,  contented  to  become  the  "guardian" — if  only 
he  could  attain  to  that  position. 

Marsh  had  apostatized;  Patten  had  been  killed;  and,  by 
the  accident  of  seniority^  Brigham  Young  was  at  the  head  of 
the  Quorum  of  the  Twelve.  No  one  questioned  his  fidelity  to 
the  Prophet  up  to  this  time ;  but,  personally,  he  was  remark- 
able for  nothing — except  being  "hard-working  Brigham 
"  Young  "  He  was  infinitely  inferior  in  education  and  mental 
development  to  the  Pratts  and  Hyde,  but  the  apostacy  of  Marsh 
and  the  death  of  Patten,  his  predecessors  in  the  ranks  of  the 
apostles,  had  brought  him  uppermost  in  that  Quorum. 


206 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


The  Church  was  now  splitting  into  fragments.  Many  were 
uncertain  of  the  future,  and  many  more  began  to  be  doubtful 
of  the  past.  In  the  language  of  Brigham,  the  people  began  to 
be  "much  every  way."  "  Some  were  for  Joseph  and  Hyrum, 
"the  Book  of  Mormon,  and  Doctrine  and  Covenants,  the  Tem- 
"  pie  and  Joseph's  measures;  some  were  for  Lyman  Wight; 
"some  for  James  Emmett ;  some  for  Sidney  Eigdon,  and,  I 
"  suppose,  some  for  the  Twelve." 


Sidney  Eigdon. 


Eigdon  had  been  the  Boanerges  of  the  new  faith,  and  had 
given  it  the  first  important  aid  which  it  received  ;  but  he  was 
*  now  waning  in  everything.  He  had  seen  Joseph  revel  in  vis- 
ions, dreams,  and  revelations,  and  had  witnessed  their  wonder* 
ful  efi^ect  upon  the  bewildered  minds  of  the  Saints.  To  step 
securely  into  Joseph's  shoes,  he  had  to  do  something  like  him, 
or  to  be  for  ever  overthrown— like  Lucifer,  for  his  ambition  m 
seeking  the  headship  of  the  Church.  He  essayed  the  role  of 
Joseph  and  'entered  upon  the  shadowy  regions  of  revelation. 
He  had  nightly  visions  about  Gog  and  Magog,  and  saw  wonder- 
ful things  which  were  soon  to  take  place.  The  great  battle  of 
Armageddon  was  at  hand,  and  Eigdon  w^as  to  lead  on  the  hosts 


RIGDON  DELIVERED  OYER  TO  SATAN. 


207 


of  the  Lord  to  the  slaughter  till  the  blood  flowed  up  to  the 
horses'  bridles.  When  that  was  all  done  and  got  through  with, 
he,  as  a  conqueror,  was  to  be  privileged  with  the  honour  of 
"  pulling  the  nose  of  little  Vic. ! " 

This  mad  raving  before  public  audiences,  and  the  familiarity 
of  language  in  using  the  name  of  her  most  gracious  majest)', 
the  sovereign  of  Great  Britain,  render  comment  on  such  fanat- 
icism unnecessary.  In  private  assemblages  of  the  brethren  he 
announced  that  he  held  "  the  keys  of  David,"  and  he  ordained 
some  special  friends  to  be  "prophets,  priests,  and  kings,"  and 
made  general  preparation  for  the  maintenance  of  his  claims, 
by  force  if  necessary,  to  the  guardianship  of  the  Church. 

Eigdon  was  brought  up  for  public  trial  before  the  High 
Council  in  Nauvoo,  on  the  8th  of  September,  with  eight  of  the 
apostles  as  witnesses  " — who  in  reality  acted  as  principal  ac- 
cusers. Brigham  led  off  with  a  speech  about  Rigdon's  history, 
and  was  followed  by  the  other  apostles  and  all  who  had  any- 
thing to  say  about  the  matter.  He  was  charged  with  the  de- 
termination to  "  rule  or  ruin  the  Church."  Brigham  was  as 
determined  that  he  should  do  neither.  Rigdon  was  said  to  be 
sick,  and  failed  to  appear  at  trial ;  but  that  was  no  hindrance. 
The  accusations  were  listened  to,  and  the  family  quarrel  was 
anything  but  edifying  to  the  Saints.  Finally,  it  was  moved 
"  that  he  be  cnt  off  from  the  Church  and  delivered  over  to  the 
buffetings  of  Satan  until  he  repent."  To  this  the  reporter 
adds : 

"Elder  young  arose,  and  delivered  Sidney  Rigdon  over  to  the  buffet- 
ings of  Satan  in  the  name  of  the  Lord ;  and  all  the  people  said,  Amen." 

Some  ten  persons  voted  in  favour  of  Rigdon,  and  these  were 
immediately  "  suspended  "  from  fellowship. 

Brigham's  notions  of  freedom  of  voting  are  singularly  amus- 
ing. He  works  up  his  audience  to  the  affirmative  of  what  he 
has  to  propose,  and  as  he  calls  for  an  expression  of  the  people's 
mind  by  a  show  of  uplifted  hands,  he  stands  up  in  the  congrega- 
tion to  watch  the  operation.  He  then  asks  for  a  negative  vote, 
and  should  any  unfortunates  differ  from  him  they  are  captured. 
He  has  more  recently  added  to  this  amusement  of  free  voting 
the  instruction  beforehand  to  the  congregation  :  "  Now,  breth- 


208 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


"ren,  look  around  you,  and  see  who  are  voting;  we  want 
"  every  one  to  vote  one  way  or  another."  Should  the  voting  be 
the  "oneway,"  all  is  serene;  should  it  be  "  the  other  way," 
he  then  forces  a  collision  which  terminates  with  something 
analogous  to  King  Richard's  ejaculation  —  "  OS  with  his 
"  head  !  So  much  for  Buckingham  !  "  Brigham's  J^ree  voting 
assemblies  closely  resemble  those  of  the  ancient  parliaments 
of  France,  which  were  only  convened  to  ratify  the  arbitrary 
edicts  of  the  absolute  monarchs  of  that  kingdom. 

For  some  time  after  the  trial,  Sidney  showed  considerable 
disposition  to  fight  the  position  assumed  by  Brigham  and  the 
Twelve,  and  for  that  purpose  he  revived  the  Latter-Day  Saints^ 
Messenger  and  Advocate^  in  Pittsburg,  Pa. ;  but  it  had  only  a 
short-lived  existence.  He  is  now  very  feeble  with  age  and  in- 
firmity, and  living  in  Friendship,  New  York.  It  has  been 
generally  expected  that  some  day  he  would  confess  to  having 
aided  Joseph  Smith  in  fabricating,  from  Solomon  Spaulding's 
Manuscript,"  the  Book  of  Mormon ;  but  there  seems  to  be 
no  ground  for  such  a  hope.  All  through  his  trial  those  who 
knew  him  before  he  was  a  Mormon  spoke  of  him  in  such  a 
manner  as  leaves  no  room  to  doubt  Eigdon's  own  sincerity  in 
the  Mormon  faith,  and  his  total  ignorance  of  the  existence  of 
Joseph  Smith  and  the  Book  of  Mormon  till  after  that  work  had 
been  published. 

As  soon  as  Sidney  was  disposed  of,  the  change  in  the  gov- 
ernment of  the  Church  was  almost  magical.  Joseph  was  al- 
ways gushing  over  with  inspiration  and  abounding  in  revela- 
tions. He  had  one  or  two  men  around  him  who  aided  him 
with  counsel;  but,  after  all,  Joseph  was  the  dominant  figure 
throughout.  Over  the  Church  there  were  now  twelve  men, 
most  of  whom  were  ambitious  to  work.  They  were  in  new 
spheres  of  action,  and  set  out,  in  the  language  of  the  conventi- 
cle, to  "  magnify  their  calling." 

In  entering  upon  a  new  page  of  history,  they  thought  it 
prudent  to  revise  the  past.  Joseph  had  trusted  more  to  mirac- 
ulous interpositions,  "  the  Lord,"  and  outside  politicians,  then 
had  been  profitable.  Brigham  had  been  a  hard-working  man, 
and  he  knew  the  superiority  of  practical  labour  over  visions, 
dreams,  and  revelations.    He  knew,  too,  the  uncertainty  of 


WHO  SHALL  RULE  THE  CHURCH? 


209 


politics.  He  had  studied  Joseph's  troubles,  had  witnessed  the 
terrible  effect  of  Sidney's  flighty  attempts  at  continuing  reve- 
lation, and  had  resolved  to  change  the  thoughts  of  the  people. 

Joseph  was  "  a  natural  born  seer,"  and  had  a  pedestal  of 
his  own.  There  Brigham  intended  that  he  should  remain — 
alone  and  undisturbed.  With  Joseph  among  them,  the  Saints 
had  "  walked  by  sight."  With  Brigham,  they  were  now  to 
"  walk  by  faith."  That  was  the  safer  position.  Instead  of 
vaulting  to  the  prominence  of  the  "  Eevelator,"  Brigham  • 
brought  down  the  revelations  to  the  grasp  of  the  people,  and 
distributed  them  broadcast  among  them.  Every  member," 
said  he,  "  has  the  right  of  receiving  revelation  for  himself." 
This  was  a  flattering  privilege,  and  a  great  consolation  ;  it  had 
to  satisfy  the  Saints,  and  it  saved  Brigham  the  unpleasantness 
of  comparison.  Let  no  man  presume  for  a  moment  that  his 
"  [Joseph's]  place  will  be  filled  by  another,"  was  the  language 
of  the  hour;  "you  are  now  without  a  prophet  present  with 
'^you  in  the  flesh  to  guide  you ;  but  you  are  not  without  apos- 
"  ties  who  hold  the  keys  of  power  to  seal  on  earth  that  which 
shall  he  sealed  in  heaven  ...  I  am  not  a  prophet,  seer,  or  revela- 
tor,  as  Joseph  was^^^  continues  Brigham ;  neither  do  I  give 
revelations  with '  Thus  saith  the  Lord,'  as  he  did,  and  so  much 
"  the  better  for  the  Saints,  for  if  I  did  so,  and  they  did  not  live 
"up  to  those  revelations,  they  would  be  condemned." 

This  was  certainly  a  very  kind  consideration.  What  a  deal 
of  condemnation  the  Saints  would  have  been  saved  if  Joseph  had 
only  thought  of  it  in  his  time !  They  now,  however,  had  only 
"  Hobson's  choice,"  and  were  obliged  to  accept  the  situation. 
It  is  a  sensible  axiom  that  "  half  a  loaf  is  better  than  no 
"bread:"  the  Saints  could  not  make  a  Joseph,  they  had  of 
necessity  to  accept  a  Brigham.  The  soul  and  inspiration  of 
Mormonism  were  gone.  There  was  no  successor  to  Joseph — 
there  could  be  none.  Brigham  at  once  announced  that  Joseph 
had  left  enough  of  revelation  to  guide  them  for  twenty  years. 
To  build  up  "  the  kingdom  "  to  Joseph,  and  to  carry  out  Joseph's 
measures,  were  henceforth  to  be  ambition  and  glory  enough. 
Brigham  might  occupy  Joseph's  seat  on  the  platform,  but  he 
could  never  fill  his  place  in  the  Church,  and  no  one  knew  this 
better  than  Brigham  himself.    He  saw  before  him  a  multitude 


210 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


of  people  who  had  been  gathered  by  revelation,  and  who  had 
fed  upon  it  daily.  There  was  but  one  thing  that  could  be 
done — make  them  work  out  an  idea.  Build  up  the  kingdom 
"  to  Joseph  :  build  it  to  Joseph  !  " — "  He  is  looking  down  upon 
"  us,  and  is  with  us  as  much  as  before."  The  people  laboured 
for  Joseph,  and  Brigham  controlled  and  garnered  the  results 
for  himself.  The  past  style  of  doing  business  was  to  be 
changed ;  the  loose  ends  were  to  be  tied  up,  and  everything 
was  to  be  put  upon  a  strictly  commercial  basis.  The  Saints 
were  to  gather  to  Nauvoo  as  before,  but  every  member  of  the 
Church  was  to  "  proceed  immediately  to  tithe  himself  or  her- 
"self  a  tenth  of  all  their  property  or  money,  and  pay  it  into 
"  the  hands  of  the  Twelve,"  and  "  the  members  can  then  em- 
"ploy  the  remainder  of  their  capital  in  every  branch  of  enter- 
"  prise,  industry,  and  charity,  as  seemeth  them  good ;  only 
"holding  themselves  in  readiness  to  he  advised  in  such  manner 
"as  shall  be  for  the  good  of  themselves  and  the  whole  society." 

Brigham  meant  to  control  everybody  and  everything ;  and 
from  the  time  when  he  signed  the  first  epistle — "Brigham 
"  Young,  President  of  the  Twelve,  Nauvoo,  August  15th, 
"  1844,"  to  the  present  hour,  he  has  never  lost  sight  of  that 
part  of  his  programme.^ 

In  politics  he  was  equally  emphatic.  IsTone  of  the  candi- 
dates for  the  presidential  chair  had  "  manifested  any  dispqsi- 
"  tion  or  intention  to  redress  wrong  or  restore  right,  liberty,  or 
"  law,"  and  the  Saints  were  counselled  to  "  stand  aloof  from  all 
"men  and  measures  till  some  one  could  be  found  who  would 
"  carry  out  the  enlarged  principles  of  our  beloved  prophet  and 
"  martyr.  General  Joseph  Smith."  In  the  mean  time  "  the 
"  Twelve  Apostles  of  this  dispensation  stand  in  their  own 
"  place  and  always  will,  both  in  time  and  eternity,  to  minister, 
"  preside,  and  regulate  the  affairs  of  the  whole  Church." 

The  coup  d^etat  that  overthrew  Eigdon  and  placed  Brig- 
ham on  the  throne  was  then  complete.  All  that  remained  to 
be  done,  was  to  officially  decapitate  Rigdon  and  hand  him  over 
to  Satan,  which,  as  before  stated,  Brigham  duly  attended  to  on 
the  8th  of  September. 

There  is  something  strikingly  characteristic  of  the  man  in 
the  foundation  then  laid  of  his  present  position.    He  has  been 


THE  THIN  END  OF  THE  WEDGE. 


211 


charged  with  inconsistency  in  asserting  at  the  time  of  Joseph's 
death  that  ''no  man  should  stand  in  his  place,"  while  subse- 
quently he  filled  that  place  himself.  But  to  this  he  has  a  ready 
answer :  "  No  one  can  take  the  place  of  Joseph  ;  he  is  still 
"in  his  place  at  the  head  of  the  Church,  and  will  always  be 
"  there  throughout  time  and  eternity."  This  language  is  some- 
what diplomatic,  but  it  is  consistent  with  the  whole  tenor  of 
his  life — "  the  end  justifies  the  means." 

That  the  people  should  not  understand  Brigham's  ulterior 
purposes  is  not  a  matter  of  surprise.  He  understood  them  him- 
self, and  seized  the  earliest  opportunity  of  preparing  for  the  con- 
templated change  as  soon  as  the  people  should  be  ready  for  the 
experiment.  On  the  2nd  of  September  an  editorial  appeared 
in  the  Times  and  Seasons^  in  which  occurs  the  following  shrewd, 
half  expressed  anticipation  of  the  change : 

"  Great  excitement  prevails  throughout  the  world  to  know  who  *  shall 
be  the  successor  of  Joseph  Smith.'  In  reply,  we  say — be  patient,  le  patient 
a  little,  and  we  will  tell  you  all.  '  Great  wheels  move  slowly.'  At  present 
we  can  say  that  a  special  conference  of  the  Church  was  held  at  Nauvoo 
on  the  8th  ultimo,  and  it  was  carried  without  a  dissenting  voice  that  the 
*  Twelve '  should  preside  over  the  whole  Church,  and  iclien  any  alteration 
in  the  presidency  sliall  le  required^  reasonable  notice  shall  he  given  ;  and  the 
elders  abroad  will  best  exhibit  their  wisdom  to  all  men  by  remaining 
silent  on  those  things  they  are  ignorant  of." 

That  the  Twelve  should  preside  over  the  whole  Church,  is 
placed  in  the  fore-ground  to  be  seen  of  all  men,  and  to  be 
spoken  of  openly,  but,  "  when  any  alteration  in  the  Presidency 
shall  be  required,"  a  silent  reserve  was  to  be  maintained,  which 
only  the  wise  could  understand.  Discussion  was  imprudent — ■ 
silence  w^as  wisdom.    Shrewd  Brigham  ! 

From  a  neutral  standpoint,  and  taking  the  two  men  and 
their  antecedents  into  account,  the  Church,  however  little  it 
may  have  gained,  lost  nothing  by  preferring  Brigham  before 
Rigdon  ;  but  to  a  people  like  the  Mormons,  accustomed  to  so 
much  revelation  as  Joseph  had  given  them,  and  the  guidance 
of  "  the  Lord  "  in  everything — even  to  the  building  of  a 
boarding-house" — this  period  of  their  history  is  singularly 
suggestive. — The  "  Revelator  "  was  truly  gone. 

The  distinctive  feature  of  Mormonism  was  henceforth  to  be 


212 


THE  KOCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


implicit,  unquestioning  "  obedience  " — an  utter  subjugation 
of  will  and  personality  to  the  dictates  of  the  Priesthood. 
"  Religion  was  made  up  of  obedience,  let  life  or  death  come." 
"  Satan  was  hurled  from  heaven  for  resisting  authority." 
The  past  troubles  of  Mormonism  were  all  then  traceable  to 
freedom  of  thought.  The  murderers  of  the  Smiths  were  "  a 
"  hundredth  part  "  less  guilty  than  the  "  apostates."  "  A  lit- 
"  tie  difference  of  feeling  ;  a  little  difference  of  opinion ;  a  lit- 
"  tie  difference  of  spirit;  and  this  difference  has  finally  ended 
''in  bloodshed  and  murder."  From  this  time  the  Mormon  lead- 
ers have  intensely  hated  "  apostates,"  and  to  this  day  they  have 
not  discovered  the  possibility  of  any  person  leaving  the  Mor- 
mon faith,  without  at  the  same  time  "  thirsting  for  the  blood 
"  of  the  Prophet." 

While  the  Rigdon-Youiig  difficulty  about  the  succession 
was  going  on,  Lyman  Wight,  one  of  the  twelve  apostles,  and 
William  Smith,  another  apostle  and  brother  of  the  murdered 
Prophet,  were  objects  of  some  anxiety ;  but  the  former  was 
''  let  alone  severely,"  and  the  latter,  for  a  time,  was  spoken  of 
with  patronizing  kindness  as  the  remaining  brother  of  the 
"  Prophet  and  the  Patriarch."  Wight  went  to  Texas  with  a 
small  company  to  form  a  settlement.  There  they  suffered  a 
good  deal  together,  and  finally  broke  up  and  scattered  where 
they  could.  The  Prophet's  brother  was  soon  after  accused  of 
sowing  his  "  wild  oats,"  without  proper  regard  to  the  order  of 
the  new  revelation  ;  and  he  was  easily  got  rid  of.  He  has  since 
managed  to  maintain  a  happy  obscurity.f  John  E.  Page, 
another  apostle,  became  discontented,  apostatized,  and  was  cut 
off,  while  Gladden  Bishop,  Strang,  Brewster,  Hendrick,  Cut- 
ler, Emmett,  and  a  host  of  other  elders  were  in  the  enjoyment 

*  "Epistle  of  the  Twelve."    Times  and  Seasons^  Yol.  Y.,  page  618. 

f  From  the  beginning  of  Mormonism  the  ruling  authorities  have  accepted  defa- 
mation of  character  as  the  best  weapon  with  which  to  assail  the  discontented. 
Without  challenging  the  Mormon  charges  against  the  Prophet's  brother,  it  is  due  to 
the  latter  to  append  the  following  from  the  Clayton  County  [Iowa]  Journal: 

"  During  the  war  with  the  South  he  served  nearly  two  years  as  a  soldier,  in  help- 
ing to  put  down  the  rebellion.  In  1841  and  '42  he  served  in  the  legislature  as  rep- 
resentative from  Hancock  county,  in  the  State  of  Illinois.  He  has  followed  the  oc- 
cupation of  a  farmer  in  the  vicinity  of  Elkader,  and  upon  Sundays  occasionally 
preaching.  As  a  man,  he  is  candid,  honest,  and  upright — a  citizen  of  whom  rumour 
speaks  no  evil,  and  he  is  a  faithful  expounder  of  true  Mormonism,  while  he  depre- 
cates polygamy." 


GREAT  EXCITEMENT  IN  HANCOCK  COUNTY. 


213 


of  a  fearful  amount  of  new  and  bewildering  revelation  about 
who  should  succeed  Joseph  Smith,  and  all  of  them  opposed  to 
Brigham  Young's  leadership  of  the  Church. 

Unborn,  yet  blessed  and  prophetically  announced,  was 
David  Hyrum  Smith,  to  be  at  some  future  time  the  ruler  of 
the  Mormon  Church.^  David  Hyrum  saw  the  light  of  this  vain 
and  wicked  world  on  the  17th  of  November,  1844,  about  five 
months  after  the  death  of  his  father,  and  from  his  birth  he  be- 
came an  object  of  the  deepest  interest  to  all  professors  of  the 
Mormon  faith. 

While  the  dissensions  which  have  just  been  noticed  stamped 
the  history  of  the  Church  with  the  confusion  of  Babel,  the 
Gentiles  were  preparing  anew  for  hostilities.  The  assassination 
of  Joseph  Smith  was  soon  discovered  to  be  a  great  blunder. 
There  was  nothing  about  the  Prophet  personally,  and  still  less, 
if  possible,  about  his  brother  Hyrum,  to  justify,  even  in  the  re- 
motest manner,  the  Carthage  tragedy.  The  assassins  had  mis- 
taken men  for  principles.  Joseph  was  a  liberal,  big-hearted 
man,  and  the  last  person  whom  the  world  would  have  taken 
for  a  prophet.  In  Carthage  jail  the  Prophet  and  Patriarch 
were  but  men  :  in  Nauvoo  they  were  representatives  of  a  sys- 
tem. The  mobbers,  murderers,  and  assassins  at  Carthage  could 
extinguish  the  one  :  the  other  was  left  intact.  Brigham  Young 
with  a  tragedy  for  his  text  was  a  more  difficult  man  to  deal 
with  than  Joseph  Smith  with  a  revelation  to  announce. 

The  excitement  in  Hancock  county  was  soon  renewed,  and 
the  extremists  on  either  side  felt  the  desperation  of  their  situa- 
tion. The  one  sought  to  justify  the  assassination  of  the 
Prophet,  the  other  to  revenge  his  death.  The  resolutions 
passed  at  any  meeting  at  Nauvoo  or  Carthage  amounted  to 
nothing:  with  such  an  account  unsettled  there  could  be  no 
honesty  on  either  side.  There  were  hostility  and  conflict  of 
interests  which  no  preambles,  resolutions,  or  public  speaking 
could  affect.  The  Mormons  hated  the  Gentiles,  and  the  Gen- 
tiles hated  the  Mormons.  This  was  the  only  point  upon  which 
they  were  agreed.  They  were  each  of  them  ready  to  believe 
and  act  upon  the  most  exaggerated  and  groundless  reports, 

*  This  prediction  rests  upon  the  remembrance  of  the  Hon.  John  M.  Bernliisel, 
formerly  delegate  from  Utah  to  Congress. 


214 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


and  there  was  nothing  too  bad  for  either  of  them  to  credit  con 
cerning  the  other.    Of  this  time  Governor  Ford  gives  the 
following  interesting  picture : 

"  The  Mormons  invoked  the  assistance  of  Government  to  take  vengeance 
upon  the  murderers  of  the  Smiths.  The  anti-Mormons  asked  the  Gover- 
nor to  violate  the  constitution  which  he  was  sworn  to  support,  by  erecting 
himself  into  a  military  despot  and  exiling  the  Mormons.  The  Mormons  on 
their  part,  in  their  newspapers,  invited  the  Government  to  assume  absolute 
power  by  taking  a  summary  vengeance  upon  their  enemies,  by  shooting 
fifty  or  a  hundred  of  them,  without  judge  or  jury.  Both  parties  were 
thoroughly  disgusted  with  constitutional  provisions  restraining  them  from 
summary  vengeance ;  each  was  ready  to  submit  to  arbitrary  power,  to  the 
fiat  of  a  dictator,  to  make  me  a  king  for  the  time  being,  or  at  least  that 
I  might  exercise  the  power  of  a  king  to  abolish  both  the  forms  and  spirit 
of  a  free  government,  if  the  despotism  erected  upon  its  ruins  could  only  be 
wielded  for  their  benefit,  and  to  take  vengeance  on  their  enemies.  .  .  . 

In  the  course  of  the  fall  of  1844  the  anti-Mormon  leaders  sent  printed 
invitations  to  all  the  militia  captains  in  Hancock  county,  and  to  the  cap- 
tains of  militia  in  all  the  neighbouring  counties  in  Illinois,  Iowa,  and  Mis- 
souri, to  be  present  v/ith  their  companies  at  a  great  wolf-hunt  in  Hancock  ; 
and  it  was  privately  announced  that  the  wolves  to  be  kunted  were  the 
Mormons  and  Jack-Mormons.*  Preparations  were  made  for  assembling 
several  thousand  men  with  provisions  for  six  days ;  and  the  anti-Mormon 
newspapers  in  aid  of  the  movement  commenced  anew  the  most  awful  ac- 
counts of  thefts,  and  robberies,  and  meditated  outrages  by  the  Mormons. 
The  Whig  press  in  every  part  of  the  United  States  came  to  their  assistance. 
The  Democratic  newspapers  and  the  leading  Democrats  who  had  received 
the  benefit  of  the  Mormon  votes  to  their  party,  quailed  under  the  tempest, 
leaving  no  organ  for  the  correction  of  public  opinion,  either  at  home  or 
abroad,  except  the  discredited  Mormon  newspaper  at  Nauvoo.  But  very 
few  of  my  prominent  Democratic  friends  would  dare  come  up  to  the  assist- 
ance of  their  Governor,  and  but  few  of  them  dared  openly  to  vindicate 
his  motives  in  endeavouring  to  keep  the  peace.  They  were  willing  and 
anxious  for  Mormon  votes  at  elections,  but  they  were  unwilling  to  risk 
their  popularity  with  the  people,  by  taking  a  part  in  their  favour,  even 
when  law,  and  justice,  and  the  constitution  were  on  their  side.  Such  be- 
ing the  odious  character  of  the  Mormons,  the  hatred  of  the  common  peo- 
ple against  them,  and  such  being  the  pusillanimity  of  leading  men  in  fear- 
ing to  encounter  it. 

"  In  this  state  of  the  case  I  applied  to  Brigadier-General  J.  J.  Hardin 
of  the  State  militia,  and  to  Colonels  Baker  and  Merriman,  all  Whigs,  but 
all  of  them  men  of  military  ambition,  and  they,  together  with  Colonel 
William  Weatherford,  a  Democrat,  with  my  own  exertions,  succeeded  in 

*  A  slang  name  applied  to  Gentibs  who  favour  the  Mormons. 


BURNING  A  MORMON  SETTLEMENT. 


215 


raising  about  five  hundred  volunteers ;  and  thus  did  these  Whigs,  that 
^vhich  my  own  political  friends,  with  two  or  three  exceptions,  were  slow 
to  do,  from  a  sense  of  gratitude.  .  .  . 

Nauvoo  was  now  a  city  of  about  15,000  inhabitants,  and  was  fast  in- 
creasing, as  the  followers  of  the  Prophet  were  pouring  into  it  from  all 
parts  of  the  world  ;  and  there  were  several  other  settlements  and  villages 
of  Mormons  in  Hancock  county.  Nauvoo  was  scattered  over  about  six 
square  miles,  a  part  of  it  being  built  upon  the  flat  skirting  and  fronting 
on  the  Mississippi  River,  but  the  greater  portion  of  it  upon  the  blufls 
back,  east  of  the  river.  The  great  Temple,  that  is  said  to  have  cost  a 
million  of  dollars  in  money  and  labour,  occupied  a  commanding  position 
on  the  brow  of  this  bluff,  and  overlooked  the  country  around  in  Illinois 
and  Iowa.  ... 

The  anti-Mormons  complained  of  a  large  number  of  larcenies  and 
robberies.  The  Mormto  press  at  Nauvoo,  and  the  anti-Mormon  papers 
at  Warsaw,  Quincy,  Springfield,  Alton,  and  St.  Louis,  kept  up  a  constant 
fire  at  each  other;  the  anti-Mormons  all  the  time  calling  upon  the  people 
to  rise  and  expel  or  exterminate  the  Mormons.  ...  In  the  fall  of 
1845,  the  anti-Mormons  of  Lima  and  Green  Plains  held  a  meeting  to 
devise  means  for  the  expulsion  of  the  Mormons  from  their  neighbourhood. 
They  appointed  some  persons  of  their  own  number  to  fire  a  few  shots  at 
the  house  where  they  were  assembled,  but  to  do  it  in  such  a  way  as  to 
hurt  none  who  attended  the  meeting.  The  meeting  Avas  held,  the  house 
was  fired  at,  but  so  as  to  hurt  no  one ;  and  the  anti-Mormons,  suddenly 
breaking  up  their  meeting,  rode  all  over  the  country,  spreading  the  dire 
alarm  that  the  Mormons  had  commenced  the  work  of  massacre  and  death. 

"  This  startling  intelligence  soon  assembled  a  mob  at  Lima,  which  pro- 
ceeded to  warn  the  Mormons  to  leave  the  neighbourhood,  and  threatened 
them  with  fire  and  sword  if  they  remained.  A  very  poor  class  of  Mormons 
resided  there,  and  it  is  very  likely  that  the  other  inhabitants  were  annoyed 
beyond  further  endurance  by  their  little  larcenies  and  rogueries.  The  Mor- 
mons refused  to  remove ;  and  about  one  hundred  and  seventy-five  houses 
^  and  hovels  were  burnt,  the  inmates  being  obliged  to  flee  for  their  lives. 
They  fled  to  Nauvoo  in  a  state  of  utter  destitution,  carrying  their  women 
and  children,  aged  and  sick,  along  with  them  as  best  they  could.  The  sight 
of  these  miserable  creatures  aroused  the  wrath  of  the  Mormons  of  Nauvoo. 

"  When  the  burning  of  houses  commenced,  the  great  body  of  the  anti- 
Mormons  expressed  themselves  strongly  against  it,  giving  hopes  thereby  that 
a  posse  of  anti-Mormons  could  be  raised  to  put  a  stop  to  such  incendiary 
and  riotous  conduct.  But  when  they  were  called  on  by  tlie  new  sheriff,  not 
a  man  of  them  turned  out  to  his  assistance,  many  of  them  no  doubt  being 
influenced  by  their  hatred  of  the  sheriff.  Backinstos  then  went  to  Nau- 
voo, where  he  raised  a  posse  of  several  hundred  armed  Mormons,  with 
which  he  swept  over  the  country,  took  possession  of  Carthage,  and  estab- 
lished a  permanent  guard  there.  The  anti-Mormons  everywhere  fled  from 
their  houses  before  the  sheriff  some  of  them  to  Iowa  and  Missouri  and 


216 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


others  to  the  neighbouring  counties  in  Illinois.  The  sheriff  was  unable  or 
unwilling  to  bring  any  portion  of  the  rioters  to  battle  or  to  arrest  any  of 
them  for  their  crimes.  The  posse  came  near  surprising  one  small  squad, 
but  they  made  their  escape,  all  but  one,  before  they  could  be  attacked. 
This  one,  named  McBratney,  was  shot  dovm  by  some  of  the  jposse  in  ad- 
vance, by  whom  he  was  hacked  and  mutilated  as  though  he  had  been  mur- 
dered by  the  Indians. 

"  The  sheriff  also  was  in  continual  peril  of  his  life  from  the  anti -Mormons, 

who  daily  threatened  him 
-3=.-^^^  with  death  the  first  oppor- 


cealed  not  far  to  one  side  of  them.  By  this  fire  Franklin  A.  Worrell  was 
killed.  He  was  the  same  man  who  had  commanded  the  guard  at  the  jail 
at  the  time  the  Smiths  were  assassinated ;  and  there  made  himself  con- 
spicuous by  betraying  his  trust  by  consenting  to  the  assassination.  It  is 
believed  that  Backinstos  expected  to  be  pursued  and  attacked,  and  had 
previously  stationed  some  men  in  ambush  to  fire  upon  his  pursuers.  He 
was  afterwards  indicted  for  the  supposed  murder,  and  procured  a  change 
of  venue  to  Peoria  county,  where  he  was  acquitted  of  the  charge.  About 
this  time,  also,  the  Mormons  murdered  a  man  of  the  name  of  Daubeneyer, 
without  any  apparent  provocation  ;  and  another  anti-Mormon,  named 
"Wilcox,  was  murdered  in  Nauvoo,  as  it  is  believed  by  order  of  the  Twelve 
Apostles.  The  anti-Mormons  also  committed  one  murder.  Some  of  them, 
mder  Backman,  set  fire  to  some  straw  near  a  barn  belonging  to  Durfee, 
an  old  Mormon  of  seventy  years,  and  then  lay  in  ambush  until  the  old 
man  came  out  to  extinguish  the  fire,  when  they  shot  him  dead  from  their 
place  of  concealment.  The  perpetrators  of  this  murder  were  arrested  and 
brought  before  an  anti-Mormon  justice  of  the  peace,  and  were  acquitted, 
though  their  guilt  was  sufficiently  apparent. 

"  During  the  ascendancy  of  the  sheriff,  and  the  absence  of  the  anti- 
Mormons,  the  people  who  had  been  burnt  out  of  their  homes  fled  to  Nau- 
voo,  from  whence  with  many  others  they  sallied  forth  and  ravaged  the 
country,  stealing  and  plundering  whatever  was  convenient  to  drive  away. 


tunity.  As  he  was  going 
in  a  buggy  in  the  direction 
of  Warsaw  from  Nauvoo, 
he  was  pursued  by  three  or 
four  men  to  a  place  in  the 
road  where  some  Mormon 
teams  were  standing.  But 
Backinstos  passed  the  teams 
a  few  rods,  and  then  stop- 
ping, the  pursuers  came  up 
to  within  one  hundred  and 
fifty  yards,  when  they  were 
fired  upon,  with  an  uner- 
ring aim,  by  some  one  con- 


Burning  Mormon  Houses. 


THE  SWORD  AND  THE  TROWEL. 


217 


"When  informed  of  these  proceedings,  I  hastened  to  Jacksonville, 
where,  in  a  conference  with  General  Hardin,  Major  Warren,  Judge  Doug- 
las, and  the  Attorney-General,  Mr.  McDougall,  it  was  agreed  that  these 
gentlemen  should  proceed  to  Hancock  in  all  haste,  with  v/hatever  forces 
had  been  raised,  few  or  many,  and  put  an  end  to  these  disorders.  It  was 
now  apparent  that  neither  party  in  Hancock  could  be  trusted  with  the 
power  to  keep  the  peace.  It  was  also  agreed  that  all  these  gentlemen 
should  unite  their  influence  with  mine  to  induce  the  Mormons  to  leave  the 
State. 

Through  the  intervention  of  General  Hardin,  acting  under  instruc- 
tions from  me,  an  agreement  was  made  between  the  hostile  parties  for 
the  voluntary  removal  of  the  greater  part  of  the  Mormons  in  the  spring 
of  1846."  * 

During  the  renewed  contention  the  Mormons  exerted* every 
energy  to  complete  the  Temple.  The  faithful  had  been  tanght 
that  they  and  all  that  was  theirs  should  be  consecrated  to  this 
great  work,  and  themselves  greatly  blessed  by  aiding  in  it. 
They  had  learned  that  therein  a  great  endowment  would  be 
bestowed  upon  the  living,  and  peculiar  privileges  accorded 
to  their  dead.  The  faith  and  labours  of  the  people  were  in 
an  extraordinary  degree  stimulated  by  the  announcement  that 
if  the  Temple  were  not  completed  within  a  specified  time  "  the 
"  Lord  would  reject  them  and  their  dead."  f 

The  Mormons  estimated  this  building  at  about  six  hundred 
thousand  dollars,  and  in  its  construction  and  design  it  exhibited 
"  more  wealth,  more  art,  more  science,  more  revelation,  more 
"  splendour,  and  more  God,  than  all  the  rest  of  the  world." 

Their  pride  in  this  particular  instance  was  pardonable,  for 
the  Temple  was  reared  in  the  midst  of  great  poverty,  and,  be- 
fore they  could  complete  it,  the  masons,  carpenters,  and  artisans 
had  their  tire-arms  lying  beside  their  tools,  while  watchmen 
were  continually  on  the  alert  to  sound  the  alarm  on  the  ap- 
proach of  any  foe.  Thus,  in  the  New  Zion,  the  Scripture  story 
of  the  pains  and  perils  of  the  Jewish  builders  of  the  walls  of 
Jerusalem,  under  the  guidance  of  Nehemiah,  was  repeated, 
which  the  Mormons  failed  not  to  remember,  and  from  it  made 
a  pointed  application. 

Indictments  had  been  found  in  the  Circuit  Court  of  the 

*  "  ffistory  of  Illinois,"  pp.  861-410. 

t  In  a  subsequent  chapter  the  ordinances  for  the  dead  are  treated  of. 


218 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


United  States,  for  the  District  of  Illinois,  against  a  number 
of  the  leading  Mormons,  for  counterfeiting  the  coin  of  the  Re- 
public, and  the  marshal  was  eager  for  their  arrest.  The  Gov- 
ernor declined  to  call  out  the  militia  to  support  the  sheriff, 
believing  that  it  was  better,  after  the  calamities  that  had  al- 
ready befallen  the  Saints,  and  the  promise  they  had  given  of 
expatriating  themselves  in  the  spring,  to  allow  them  to  escape 
without  further  molestation  ;  a  conclusion  which  he  readily 
reached,  as  he  believed  that  none  of  them  could  be  convicted. 

This  bogus  money-making  in  Nauvoo  has  been  strenuously 
denied  by  Brigham  and  some  of  the  apostles,  and  very  proba- 
bly those  who  denied  all  knowledge  of  that  business  were  per- 
fectly truthful  in  their  statements,  as  far  as  they  themselves 
were  concerned.  But  that  bogus  money  was  made  and  in  cir- 
culation, in  and  around  Nauvoo,  and  also  was  sent  to  a  dis- 
tance for  circulation,  can  certainly  not  be  denied.  That  some 
of  "  the  brethren  "  were  engaged  in  its  manufacture  seems  to 
be  well  supported  by  facts  which  subsequently  transpired. 

No  one  unacquainted  with  the  history  of  the  Saints  at  this 
time  could  possibly  imagine  the  recrimination  and  bitterness 
of  feeling  that  existed  between  the  Mormons  and  anti-Mor- 
mons of  JSTauvoo  and  the  surrounding  districts.  It  was  worse 
than  civil  war,  worse  than  a  war  of  races ;  it  was  religious  hate  ! 
It  was  fed  by  fanaticism  on  both  sides — a  fanaticism  that  was 
truly  despicable.  It  demonstrated  beyond  controversy  that 
Mormonism,  and  what  is  termed  by  the  Saints  "the  world," 
are  incompatible  with  each  other.  With  the  faith  of  the  Saints 
that  they  were  building  up  "  a  kingdom,"  it  was  very  natural 
that  they  should  act  differently  from  the  citizens  of  a  Eepublic, 
and  that  they  should  seek  to  control,  and  not  submit  to  be  con- 
trolled. With  no  faith  in  that  religion,  it  was  as  natural  for 
"  the  Gentiles  "  to  view  with  alarm  every  influence  and  power 
in  the  county  passing  into  Mormon  hands.  The  idea  of  sub- 
jugation was  at  the  bottom  of  their  thoughts,  and  they  were 
determined  not  to  submit.  It  was  evident  to  every  one  that 
there  could  be  no  peace  so  long  as  the  Mormons  remained  in 
the  county,  and  for  their  expulsion  the  anti-Mormons  of  the 
neighbouring  counties  pledged  "their  lives  and  their  sacred 
honour." 


CHAPTER  XXX. 


THE  EXODUS  FKOM  NAUVOO.— The  Hasty  Departure  of  the  Apostles— Jour- 
ney to  the  Eocky  Mountains — The  Sufferings  of  the  Exiles — Nauvoo  besieged 
and  bombarded — An  Exile's  Story — Colonel  Kane's  Narrative. 

The  year  1845  was  dark  and  dreary,  and  full  of  painful  in- 
terest to  the  Saints,  with  only  now  and  then  a  momentary 
gleam  of  change  for  the  better.  There  was  no  certainty  in 
anything  but  trouble,  and  that  rolled  in  upon  them  like  the 
fury  of  the  angry  billows.  The  thought  of  a  home  in  the  Rocky 
Mountains,  or  "  anywhere "  away  from  the  rest  of  mankind, 
where  they  could  be  by  themselves,  filled  them  with  buoyant 
hope  that  the  promises  of  the  Prophet  would  yet  be  realized. 

With  unwavering  fidelity  they  toiled  on  the  building  of 
the  Temple,  though  they  well  knew  that  they  were  completing 
it  only  to  leave  it  to  the  tender  care  of  their  enemies.  Their 
resolution  was  a  sublime  illustration  of  the  power  of  faith. 

By  the  beginning  of  October  the  building  had  so  far  pro- 
gressed that  the  semi-annual  conference  was  held  therein.  It 
was  a  great  and  solemn  gathering.  All  the  dignitaries  of  the 
Church  were  present,  and  the  exodus  of  the  Saints  was  for- 
mally resolved  upon,  while  proper  committees  were  appointed 
for  the  conveyance  of  what  real  estate  might  find  purchasers. 

However  much  they  may  subsequently  have  been  benefited 
by  the  change  of  locality,  the  abandonment  of  their  homes  and 
firesides  was,  for  the  time  being,  a  severe  trial  of  their  temper. 
The  following  official  letter,  dated  November  1st,  expresses 
their  feelings  at  that  time  : 

"  Continued  abuses,  persecutions,  murders,  and  robberies,  practiced 
upon  us  by  a  horde  of  land  pirates  with  impunity  in  a  Christian  republic 
and  land  of  liberty  (while  the  institutions  of  justice  have  either  been  too 


222 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


weak  to  afford  us  protection  or  redress,  or  else  they  too  haye  been  remiss), 
have  brought  us  to  the  solemn  conclusion  that  our  exit  from  the  United 
States  is  the  only  alternative ;  ...  we  then  can  shake  the  dust  from 
our  garments,  .  .  .  leaving  this  nation  alone  in  her  glory ^  while  the 
residue  of  the  world  points  the  finger  of  scorn,  till  the  indignation  and 
consummation  decreed  makes  a  full  end." 

The  High  Council  at  NauvoOj  on  the  20th  of  January,  1846, 
addressed  a  circular  to  the  Church  throughout  the  world,  an- 
nouncing the  intended  departure  of  the  pioneers,  beginning  in 
March,  for  the  purpose  of  putting  in  early  spring  crops  on  the 
way,  building  houses,  and  preparing  temporary  resting-places 
for  those  who  were  to  follow.  But  there  were  rumours  of  an 
intention  on  the  part  of  the  Government  to  prevent  this  whole- 
sale migration,  under  a  plea  that  it  was  the  purpose  of  the  Mor- 
mon leaders  to  go  to  Oregon,  and  place  themselves  under  the 
protection  of  the  British  authorities,  and  thus  become  a  source 
of  greater  trouble  than  before. 

Governor  Ford  admits  in  his  history  that  some  such  ru- 
mours were  encouraged,  to  scare,"  if  possible,  the  Mormons 
from  lingering  or  returning  should  they  faint  by  the  way.  One 
of  the  agents  of  Brigham  Young,  then  in  the  Eastern  States, 
professed  to  have  received  some  such  information  from  one  of 
President  Polk's  cabinet,  and  the  story  is  still  believed  by  the 
Saints. 

On  the  2nd  of  February  a  council  of  the  apostles  and  lead- 
ing elders  was  held  in  Nauvoo,  to  deliberate  upon  a  speedy  de- 
parture. It  was  then  thought  that  on  the  breaking  up  of  the 
ice  on  the  Mississippi  the  pioneers  would  be  able  to  commence 
their  pilgrimage,  and  before  their  enemies  had  any  knowledge 
of  their  departure  they  would  be  some  distance  on  their  jour- 
ney. Captains  of  hundreds  and  of  fifties  had  been  chosen,  and 
these  were  now  instructed  to  hold  themselves  in  readiness  to 
move  at  an  hour's  notice. 

Three  days  later  the  first  company  crossed  the  river  on  the 
ice.  On  the  following  day  the  main  body  of  the  Saints  began 
to  move,  and  during  February  about  1,200  wagons  were  trans- 
ported to  the  Iowa  shore. 

The  severe  inclement  weather  soon  told  upon  the  feeble  and 
delicate  living  in  their  wagons  and  tents.    They  fully  realized 


THE  GREAT  TEMPLE  COMPLETED. 


223 


that  thej  were  homeless  exiles,  and  that  there  was  no  rest  for 
them  until  new  homes  were  created  for  them  in  the  desert. 
Before  moving  from  their  first  camping-ground,  the  elders  ad- 
dressed a  touching  petition  to  the  Governor  of  Iowa,  in  which 
they  pictured  the  situation  of  the  Saints,  and  asked  his  Excel- 
lency's protection  in  passing  through  that  Territory. 

"  To  stay,"  narrate  the  petitioners,  "is  death  by  fire  and  sword  ;  to  go 
into  banishment  iinprepared  is  death  by  starvation.  But  yet,  under  these 
heart-rending  circumstances,  several  hundreds  of  us  have  started  upon  our 
dreary  journey,  and  we  are  now  encamped  in  Lee  county,  Iowa,  suffering 
much  from  the  intensity  of  the  cold.  Some  of  us  also  are  already  without 
food,  and  others  have  barely  sufficient  to  last  a  fevf  weeks  ;  hundreds  of 
others  must  shortly  follow  us  in  the  same  unhappy  condition." 

•  On  the  3rd  of  March  Brigham  was  chosen  the  leader  of  the 
migrating  party,  and,  as  all  was  then  ready,  he  gave  the  order  to 
march  on  that  remarkable  pilgrimage  which  was  without  par- 
allel since  Moses  led  the  Israelites  from  Egypt.  However  vain, 
foolish,  and  superstitious  may  have  been  the  faith  of  the  Saints 
in  the  judgment  of  others,  and  however  arrogant  and  despotic 
the  leaders  of  the  Mormons  may  have  since  become,  their  exo- 
dus from  the  United  States  westward  to  the  then  unknown  des- 
ert of  the  Great  American  Basin  was  a  sublime  spectacle  of 
devotion  which  the  most  sceptical  cannot  regard  without  pro- 
found admiration. 

During  the  most  pressing  preparations  for  the  migration 
from  Nauvoo  the  Temple  was  not  neglected.  In  the  midst  of 
all  their  troubles  the  artistic  labour  of  the  community  was  di- 
rected to  its  last  finishing  touches.  There  was  in  this  a  senti- 
ment of  devotion  creditable  to  their  higher  thoughts.  They 
saw  clearly  that  the  Temple  in  all  its  glory  would  be  sacrificed, 
but  they  desired  that  the  sacrifice  should  be  the  purest  and  best 
that  they  could  offer,  and  nothing  therefore  was  left  unfinished. 
In  the  beginning  of  May,  the  Temple  was  thus  completed  and 
dedicated,  and  upon  it,  in  the  front,  was  placed  an  entablature 
with  this  inscription : 

"THE  HOUSE  OP  THE  LOED, 
"  BUILT  BY  THE  CHURCH  OF  JESUS  CHRIST  OF  LATTER-DAY  SAINTS. 
"  HOLINESS  TO  THE  LORD."  * 

*  This  fine  building  was  destroyed  on  the  19th  of  November,  1848,  the  work  of 
an  incendiary.    Two  years  later  the  French  Icarians,  brought  to  Nauvoo  by  Mous 


224 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


With  the  closing  ceremonies  in  the  Temple,  the  mission  of 
the  Saints  among  the  Gentiles  came  to  a  close — their  labour 
was  over. 

A  controversy  has  arisen  over  the  assertion  of  the  Temple 
having  been  finished,  which  would  of  itself  be  unworthy  of 
notice  but  that  it  involves  a  principle  to  the  Mormons  of  some 
importance.  All  through  the  revelations  the  Mormon  deity  is 
represented  as  very  exacting  in  his  measures.  He  is  always 
straining  to  accomplish  something  beyond  the  capacity  of  the 
people.  It  would  be  extremely  diflScult  to  apply  to  that  Being 
the  words  :  "  My  yoke  is  easy  and  my  burden  is  light ;  "  for 
he  has  not  only  demanded  constant  heavy  sacrifices  of  time 
and  labour  from  the  Saints,  but  he  has  perpetually  held  oyer 
their  heads  threats  of  damnation,  more  like  a  severe  taskmas- 
ter than  a  loving  Father.  Ir  this  instance  a  revelation  had 
been  given,  stating  that,  if  the  Temple  were  not  completed 
within  seven  years,  the  Mormons,  as  a  Church,  together  with 
"  their  dead,"  should  be  rejected.  In  several  of  his  early  ser- 
mons  in  Utah,  Brigham  stated  that  the  Saints  had  never  been 
able  to  complete  a  Temple ;  and  this  the  Reorganized  Church 
has  readily  seized,  and  argued  that,  if  such  were  the  case,  he 
and  the  present  rulers  at  Salt  Lake,  according  to  the  revela- 
tion commanding  the  Temple  to  be  built,  were,  therefore, 
w^ithout  authority."  Brigham,  with  his  usual  indifference  to 
any  previous  statement,  hastily  asserted  that  the  Temple  at 
Nauvoo,  through  the  blessing  of  God,  it  was  completed  and 
"  accepted  by  Him."  The  son  of  Joseph  Smith  thus  presents 
the  case : 

"  It  has  been  stated,  by  those  whose  duty  it  was  to  Z;?26>^,  that  the  Tem- 
ple at  Nauvoo  was  finished — *  completed  as  Joseph  designed.'  This  state- 
ment is  not  true.  In  no  sense  can  it  be  said  truthfully  that  any  part  of  the 
Temple  at  Kanvoo  was  completed,  with  the  possible  exception  of  the  main 
assembly-room  into  which  the  front  doors  opened.  The  basement  in  which 
was  the  font  was  incomplete ;  the  stairway  to  the  left  of  the  front  was  not 
relieved  of  the  rough  boards  laid  on  the  risings,  on  which  the  workmen 
went  up  and  down ;  the  upper  assembly-room  was  not  accessible,  the  floor 

Cabet,  the  great  Socialist,  endeavoured  to  rebuild  it  for  their  own  uses,  but  a  dread- 
ful tornado,  in  May,  1850,  threw  most  of  the  original  building  to  the  ground,  and 
ended  that  project.  The  rock  of  the  Temple  subsequently  served  as  the  ledges  of  a 
quarry  to  supply  domestic  building  material. 


DESECRATION  OF  THE  TEMPLE. 


225 


not  being  laid,  neither  the  doors  hung,  nor  the  walls  plastered.  Besides 
this,  the  inside  ornamentation  was  by  no  means  finished,  even  in  those 
parts  called  completed.  There  are  plenty  of  persons  now  living  who 
were  frequent  visitors  to  the  Temple,  after  the  people  who  built  it  left 
Nauvoo,  who  will  testify  that  the  building  was  not  completed ;  among 
them  David  Le  Baron,  who  had  charge  of  it  for  some  time ;  Major  L.  C. 
Bidanion,  for  years  proprietor  of  the  Mansion  House ;  Dr.  Weld,  of  Nau- 
voo ;  Amos  Davis,  living  near  the  Big  Mound,  on  the  Nauvoo  and  La 
Harpe  road ;  George  Edmunds,  of  Sonora,  and  the  writer,  with  a  host 
of  others. 

It  is  further  rumoured  that,  after  the  death  of  Joseph  Smith,  the 
plans  and  specifications  were  altered  ;  and  that  such  parts  as  were  nearly 
completed  were  not  so  completed  in  accordance  with  the  original  design. 
Of  this  we  cannot  testify,  never  having  seen  the  original  drawings  nor  read 
the  specifications.  If  the  statements  of  various  persons  are  to  be  relied  on, 
there  can  be  but  little  doubt  that  in  one  respect  there  was  a  completion  ; 
and  that  respect  is  the  desecration  and  defilement  of  the  Temple,  by  the 
holding  of  such  revels  and  orgies  therein,  as  were  not  even  thought  of  by 
the  '  money  changers,'  who  made  the  House  of  God  at  Jerusalem  a  *  den 
of  thieves,'  and  against  whom  the  righteous  indignation  of  Jesus  was  so 
signally  directed." — True  Latter-Bay  Saints^  Herald^  Jan.  1,  1872. 

Mr.  Smith  would  have  done  service  to  the  world  had  he 
been  less  reserved  upon  "  the  desecration  and  defilement  of  the 
Temple,"  as  he  doubtless  had  more  than  vague  rumour  for  in- 
formation. It  is  asserted  by  those  who  had  good  means  of 
knowing,  that  practical  polygamy  was  not  unknown  in  that 
edifice.  A  Mormon  chief  who  had  to  conceal  himself  there 
from  the  officers  of  the  law  thought  it  not  good  to  be  alone," 
and  preferring  the  societj^  of  inhabitants  of  this  lower  world 
to  those  of  a  higher  sphere,"  very  naturally  chose  to 
honour  those  with  his  society  who  had  selected  him  as  their 
"Lord." 

By  the  middle  of  May,  probablj^  sixteen  thousaiid  souls 
had  crossed  the  Mississippi  and  were  wending  their  way  through 
Iowa  to  rendezvous  on  the  banks  of  the  Missouri  river  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  Council  Bluffs.  About  a  thousand  of  the 
Mormons  were  left  in  Nauvoo,  mostly  on  account  of  their  in- 
ability, from  poverty  or  sickness,  to  undertake  the  journey 
with  the  main  body  of  the  people,  while  some  others  were  left 
to  dispose  of  property  and  settle  the  affairs  of  the  Church. 

Notwithstanding  the  departure  of  the  Mormon  leaders  and 


226 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


the  greater  portion  of  the  community  from  Kauvoo  during  the 
winter  and  spring,  the  anti-Mormons  professed  to  be  doubtful 
of  the  entire  evacuation  of  the  city,  and  threatened  the  re- 
mainder with  expulsion.    Governor  Ford  says  : 

"  It  was  feared  that  the  Mormons  might  vote  for  the  August  elections 
of  that  year,  and  that  enough  of  them  yet  remained  to  control  the  elec- 
tions in  the  county  and  perhaps  in  the  district,  for  Congress.  They  there- 
fore took  measures  to  get  up  a  new  quarrel  with  the  Mormons." 


Euins  of  the  Temple. 


From  such  contemptible  motives  began  a  difficulty  which 
ended  in  a  three  days'  siege  of  Nauvoo,  and  in  acts  of  cruelty 
which  disgracefully  stain  the  history  of  IlHnois.  In  the  month 
of  September,  under  one  pretext  or  another,  the  anti -Mormons, 
to  the  number  of  800  men,  laid  siege  to  Nauvoo,  and  for  several 
days  fought  against  150  of  its  defenders.  The  anti-Mormons 
were  under  the  command  of  Thomas  S.  Brockman,  whom  the 
Grovernor  describes  as  "  a  Campbellite  preacher,  nominally  be- 
"  longing  to  the  Democratic  party,  a  large,  awkward,  uncouth, 
"  ignorant  semi-barbarian,  ambitious  of  office,  and  bent  upon 
"  acquiring  notoriety."  The  Mormons  in  defence  of  their  city 
admit  a  loss  of  two  men  and  a  boy  killed,  and  three  or  four 


THE  MOB  TRIUMPHANT. 


221 


wounded.  The  anti-Mormons  admit  one  of  their  number 
killed,  and  nine  or  ten  not  dangerously  wounded.  Each  side, 
however,  reported  that  they  had  killed  between  thirty  and 
forty  of  their  enemies. 

Upon  any  authority  less  than  that  of  the  Governor  of  the 
State,  the  reader  would  scarcely  credit  the  recital  of  the 
siege  and  the  triumphal  entrance  of  the  anti-Mormons  into 
Nauvoo. 

"  The  constable's  posse  marched  in  with  Brockman  at  their  head,  con- 
sisting of  about  eight  hundred  armed  men  and  six  or  seven  hundred  un- 
armed, from  motives  of  curiosity  to  see  the  once  proud  city  of  JSTauvoo 
humbled  and  delivered  up  to  its  enemies  and  to  the  domination  of  a  self- 
constituted  and  irresponsible  power.  When  the  posse  arrived  in  the  city, 
the  leaders  of  it  erected  themselves  into  a  tribunal  to  decide  who  should  be 
forced  away  and  who  remain.  Parties  were  despatched  to  search  for  Mor- 
mon arms  and  for  Mormons,  and  to  bring  them  to  the  judgment  where 
they  received  their  doom  from  the  mouth  of  Brockman,  who  then  sat  a 
grim  and  una  wed  tyrant  for  the  time.  As  a  general  rule  the  Mormons 
were  ordered  to  leave  within  an  hour,  or  tvio  hours ;  and  by  rare  grace 
some  of  them  were  allowed  until  next  day  ;  and  in  a  few  cases  longer. 

The  treaty  specified  that  the  Mormons  only  should  be  driven  into 
exile.  Nothing  was  said  in  it  concerning  the  new  citizens  who  had  with 
the  Mormons  defended  the  city.  But  the  posse  no  sooner  obtained  pos- 
session than  they  commenced  expelling  the  new  citizens.  Some  of  them 
were  ducked  in  the  river,  being  in  one  or  two  instances  actually  baptized 
in  the  name  of  the  leaders  of  the  mob ;  others  were  forcibly  driven  into 
the  ferry  boats,  to  be  taken  over  the  river,  before  the  bayonets  of  armed 
ruffians  ;  and  it  is  asserted  that  the  houses  of  most  of  them  were  broken 
open  and  their  property  stolen  during  their  absence.    .    .  . 

.  "  The  Mormons  had  been  forced  away  from  their  houses  unprepared 
for  a  journey.  They  and  their  women  and  children  had  been  thrown 
houseless  upon  the  Iowa  shore,  without  provisions  or  the  means  of  getting 
them,  or  to  get  to  places  where  provisions  might  be  obtained.  It  was  now 
the  height  of  the  sickly  season.  Many  of  them  were  taken  from  sick  beds, 
hurried  into  the  boats  and  driven  away  by  the  armed  ruffians  now  exer- 
cising the  power  of  government.  The  best  they  could  do  was  to  erect 
their  tents  on  the  banks  of  the  river  and  there  remam  to  take  their 
chances  of  perishing  by  hunger  or  by  prevailing  sickness.  In  this  condi- 
tion the  sick,  without  shelter,  food,  nourishment,  or  medicines,  died  by 
scores.  The  mother  watched  her  sick  babe  without  hope,  and  when  she 
sank  under  accumulated  miseries,  it  was  only  to  be  quickly  followed  by 
her  other  children,  now  left  without  the  least  attention  ;  for  the  men  had 
scattered  out  over  the  country  seeking  employment  and  the  means  of  liv- 
ing.^' 


228 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


A  Mormon  writer,  well  known  to  the  Author,  in  a  coinmu. 
nication  to  the  Millennial  Star^  gives  a  paragraph  of  his  ex- 
perience on  the  entrance  of  the  mob  into  the  doomed  city : 

We  expected  that  an  indiscriminate  massacre  was  commencing,  and 
I,  with  some  others  who  were  sick,  was  carried  into  the  tall  weeds  and 
woods,  while  all  who  could  hid  themselves.  Many  crossed  the  river, 
leaving  everything  behind.  As  night  approached  we  returned  to  our 
shelter,  but,  O  God !  what  a  night  to  remember  ! 

The  next  morning  at  nine  o'clock  saw  me,  my  wife,  my  four  children, 
my  sister-in-law,  Fanny,  my  blind  mother-in-law,  all  shaking  with  the 
ague  in  one  house  ;  only  George  Wardle  able  to  do  anything  for  us,  when 
a  band  of  about  thirty  men  armed  with  guns  and  bayonets  fixed,  pistols 
in  belt,  the  captain  with  a  sword  in  his  hand,  and  the  stripes  and  stars 
flying  about,  marched  opposite  my  sheltering  roof;  the  captain  called  a 
halt  and  demanded  the  owner  of  the  two  wagons  to  be  brought  out.  I 
was  raised  from  my  bed,  led  out  of  doors  supported  by  my  sister-in  law 
and  the  rail  fence.  I  was  then  asked  if  those  goods  were  mine.  I  replied 
'  They  are.'  The  captain  then  stepped  out  to  within  four  feet  of  me, 
pointing  his  sword  at  my  throat,  while  four  others  presented  their  guns 
with  their  bayonets  within  two  feet  of  my  breast,  when  the  captain  told 
me,  'If  you  are  not  off  from  here  in  twenty  minutes,  my  orders  are  to 
shoot  you.'  I  replied,  '  Shoot  away,  for  you  will  only  send  me  to  heaven 
a  few  hours  quicker,  for  you  see  I  am  not  for  this  world  many  hours  lon- 
ger.' The  captain  then  told  me,  '  If  you  will  renounce  Mormonism,  you 
may  stay  here  and  we  will  protect  you.'  I  replied,  '  This  is  not  my  house; 
yonder  is  my  house  (pointing  to  it),  which  I  built  and  paid  for  with  the 
gold  that  I  earned  in  England.  I  never  committed  the  least  crime  in  Illi- 
nois, but  I  am  a  Mormon,  and,  if  I  live,  I  shall  follow  the  Twelve.'  *  Then,' 
said  the  captain,  '  I  am  sorry  to  see  you  and  your  sick  family,  but  if  you 
are  not  gone  when  I  return  in  half  an  hour,  my  orders  are  to  kill  you  and 
every  Mormon  in  the  place.'  But  oh,  the  awful  cursing  and  swearing 
which  those  men  did  pour  out !  I  tremble  when  I  think  of  it.  George 
and  Edwin  drove  my  wagons  down  to  the  ferry,  and  were  searched  five 
times  for  fire-arms  ;  they  took  a  pistol,  and  though  they  promised  to  re- 
turn it  when  I  got  across  the  river,  I  have  not  seen  it  to  this  day.  While 
on  the  banks  of  the  river  I  crawled  to  the  margin  to  bid  a  sister,  who  was 
going  down  to  St.  Louis,  ^  Good-bye,'  and  while  there  a  mobber  shouted 
out,  *  Look,  look,  there's  a  skeleton  bidding  Death  good-bye.'  So  you 
can  imagine  the  poor,  sickly  condition  we  were  in. 

"  On  Wednesday,  23rd,  while  in  my  wagons  on  the  Slough  opposite 
Nauvoo,  a  most  tremendous  thunder  shower  passed  over,  which  drenched 
everything  we  had  ;  not  a  dry  thread  left  to  us — the  bed  a  pool  of  water ; 
my  wife  and  sister-in-law  lading  it  out  by  basinfuls,  and  I  in  a  burning 
fever  and  insensible,  with  all  my  hair  shorn  off"  to  cure  me  of  my  disease. 
Many  had  not  a  wagon  or  tent  to  shelter  them  from  the  pitiless  blast. 


CRUEL  SUFFERINGS  OF  THE  SAINTS. 


229 


One  case  I  will  mention.  A  poor  woman  stood  among  the  bushes  wrap- 
ping her  cloak  around  her  three  little  orphan  children  to  shield  and  pro- 
tect them  from  the  storm  as  well  as  she  could  through  that  terrible  night, 
which  was  one  continued  roar  of  thunder  and  blaze  of  lightning,  while 
the  rain  descended  in  torrents.  The  mobbers  seized  every  person  in  Nau- 
voo  that  they  could  find,  leading  them  to  the  river  and  throwing  them  in. 
One  case  I  will  mention.  They  seized  Charles  Lambert,  led  him  into  the 
river,  and  in  the  midst  of  cursing  and  swearing,  one  man  said,  '  By  the 
Holy  Saints  I  baptize  you,  by  order  of  the  Commander  of  the  Temple,' 
[plunged  him  'backward']  and  then  said,  ^  The  commandments  must  be  ful- 
filled, and,  God  damn  you!  you  must  have  another  dip'  [then  threw 
him  on  Ids  face].  They  then  sent  him  on  the  flat-boat  across  the  river,  with 
the  promise  that  if  he  returned  to  Nauvoo  they  would  shoot  him.  Such 
were  the  scenes  occurring  at  the  driving  of  the  Saints  from  Nauvoo." 

Colonel  Thomas  L.  Kane,*  brother  of  Dr.  Kane,  the  Arctic 
explorer,  found  himself  on  the  Western  frontier  at  the  time  of 
the  Mormon  exodus,  and  becoming  intimately  acquainted  with 
the  exiles  in  their  travels,  and  interested  in  their  welfare,  on 
his  return  to  the  East  he  delivered  a  very  graphic  lecture  upon 
"  The  situation  of  the  Mormons,"  before  the  Historical  Society 
of  Pennsylvania.  It  is  to  be  regretted  that  space  cannot  be 
spared  here  to  give  this  gentleman's  narrative  entire ;  but,  as  it 

*  The  important  role  which  this  gentleman  has  played  in  Mormon  history,  and 
tke  prominence  given  to  his  diplomacy  in  this  work,  justify  here  a  personal  note. 
His  father,  the  Hon.  John  K.  Kane,  of  Philadelphia,  was  an  intimate  friend  of  Presi- 
dent Jackson,  and  "  Thomas  L.,"  though  then  a  boy,  was  a  privileged  visitor  at  the 
White  House,  and  probably  then  contracted  his  first  ideas  of  diplomacy.  Before 
he  was  twenty  years  of  age  he  was  an  attache  of  legation  at  the  court  of  Louis 
Philippe.  He  returned  to  Europe  in  1846,  and,  as  related  in  the  succeeding  chap- 
ter, he  became  acquainted  with  a  Mormon  missionary  and  agent  of  Brigham  Young, 
and  being  compassionately  moved  in  behalf  of  the  Mormon  exiles,  he  sought  to  aid 
them,  and  obtained  from  President  Polk  a  commission  to  investigate  the  conduct 
of  some  Indian  Agents  in  the  West,  and  it  was  with  this  authority  in  his  pocket 
that  he  overtook  the  Mormon  pilgrims  and  rendered  them  his  first  valuable  ser- 
vices. On  his  return  to  Philadelphia,  he  was  appointed  United  States  Commis- 
sioner and  Clerk  of  the  United  States  District  Court  of  the  Eastern  District  of  Penn- 
sylvania. He  made  a  brilliant  record  during  the  war,  first  as  colonel  of  the  Buck- 
tail  Rifles,  and  subsequently  as  a  brigade-commander.  When  General  Lee  invaded 
Pennsylvania,  the  War  Department  discovered  that  the  cypher  for  communication 
with  General  Meade  was  lost  or  abstracted.  To  General  Kane  was  entrusted  the 
dangerous  mission  of  passing  through  the  enemy's  lines  with  a  new  cypher.  He 
was  captured,  but  not  recognized,  and  successfully  accomplished  his  task.  Had  he 
been  detected,  he  would  have  been  shot  as  a  spy.  In  March,  1865,  he  was  brevetted 
major-general  for  "  gallant  and  meritorious  service  "  at  Chancellorsville  and  Gettys- 
burg. It  is  painful  to  add  that  he  is  now  a  great  sufferer  from  numerous  wounds 
received  in  battle. 


230 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


is  the  only  account  that  has  been  written  of  that  episode  of 
Mormon  history,  free  extracts  will  be  made. 

Of  his  visit  to  the  abandoned  city  and  to  the  remnant  of 
the  Mormons  in  Lee  county,  Iowa,  he  says  : 

"A  few  years  ago,  ascending  the  Upper  Mississippi  in  the  autumn 
when  its  waters  were  low,  I  was  compelled  to  travel  by  land  past  the  re- 
gion of  the  Rapids.  My  road  lay  through  the  Half-Breed  Tract,  a  fine 
section  of  Iowa  which  the  unsettled  state  of  its  land-titles  had  appropri- 
ated as  a  sanctuary  for  coiners,  horse  thieves,  and  other  outlaws.  I  had 
left  my  steamer  at  Keokuk,  at  the  foot  of  the  Lower  Fall,  to  hire  a  car- 
riage, and  to  contend  for  some  fragments  of  a  dirty  meal  with  the  swarm- 
ing flies,  the  only  scavengers  of  the  locality.  From  this  place  to  where 
the  deep  water  of  the  river  returns,  my  eye  wearied  to  see  everywhere 
sordid,  vagabond,  and  idle  settlers ;  and  a  country  marred,  without  being 
improved,  by  their  careless  hands. 

"  I  was  descending  the  last  hill-side  upon  my  journey,  when  a  land- 
scape in  delightful  contrast  broke  upon  my  view.  Half  encircled  by  a 
bend  of  the  river,  a  beautiful  city  lay  glittering  in  the  fresh  morning  sun ; 
its  bright  new  dwellings,  set  in  cool  green  gardens,  ranging  up  around  a 
stately  dome-shaped  hill,  v/hich  was  crowned  by  a  noble  marble  edifice, 
whose  high  tapering  spire  was  radiant  with  white  and  gold.  The  city 
appeared  to  cover  several  miles ;  and  beyond  it,  in  the  background,  there 
rolled  ofi*  a  fair  country,  chequered  by  the  careful  lines  of  fruitful  hus- 
bandry. The  unmistakable  marks  of  industry,  enterprise,  and  educated 
wealth  everywhere,  made  the  scene  one  of  singular  and  most  striking 
beauty. 

"  It  was  a  natural  impulse  to  visit  this  inviting  region.  I  procured  a 
skiff,  and  rowing  across  the  river,  landed  at  the  chief  wharf  of  the  city.  No 
one  met  me  there.  I  looked,  and  saw  no  one.  I  could  hear  no  one  move  ; 
though  the  quiet  everywhere  was  such  that  I  heard  the  flies  buzz,  and  the 
water-ripples  break  against  the  shallow  of  the  beach.  I  walked  through 
the  solitary  streets.  The  town  lay  as  in  a  dream,  under  some  deadening 
spell  of  loneliness,  from  which  I  almost  feared  to  wake  it ;  for  plainly  it 
had  not  slept  long.  There  was  no  grass  growing  up  in  the  paved  ways  ; 
rains  had  not  entirely  washed  away  the  prints  of  dusty  footsteps. 

"  Yet  I  went  about  unchecked.  I  went  into  empty  workshops,  rope- 
walks,  and  smithies.  The  spinner's  wheel  was  idle ;  the  carpenter  had 
gone  from  his  work-bench  and  shavings,  his  unfinished  sash  and  casing. 
Fresh  bark  was  in  the  tanner's  vat,  and  the  fresh-chopped  light  wood  stood 
piled  against  the  baker's  oven.  The  blacksmith's  shop  was  cold  ;  but  his 
coal  heap,  and  ladling  pool,  and  crooked  water-horn,  were  all  there  as  if 
he  had  just  gone  off'  for  a  holiday.  No  work-people  anywhere  looked  to 
know  my  errand.  If  I  went  into  the  gardens,  clinking  the  wicket-latch 
loudly  after  me,  to  pull  the  marygolds,  heart's-ease,  and  lady-slippers,  and 
draw  a  drink  with  the  water-sodden  well-bucket  and  its  noisy  chain ;  or, 


THE  DESERTED  CITY.  231 

knocking  off  with  my  stick  the  tall  heavy-headed  dahlias  and  sun-flowers, 
hunted  over  the  beds  for  cucumbers  and  love-apples — no  one  called  out 
to  me  from  any  opened  window,  or  dog  sprang  forward  to  bark  an  alarm. 
I  could  have  supposed  the  people  hidden  in  the  houses,  but  the  doors 
v/ere  unfastened ;  and  when  at  last  I  timidly  entered  them,  I  found  dead 
ashes  white  upon  the  hearths,  and  had  to  tread  a-tiptoe,  as  if  walking 
down  the  aisle  of  a  country  church,  to  avoid  rousing  irreverent  echoes  from 
the  naked  floors. 

On  the  outskirts  of  the  town  was  the  city  graveyard ;  but  there  was 
no  record  of  plague  there,  nor  did  it  in  anywise  dift'er  much  from  other 
Protestant  American  cemeteries.  Some  of  the  mounds  were  not  long  sod- 
ded ;  some  of  the  stones  were  newly  set,  their  dates  recent,  and  their  black 
inscriptions  glossy  in  the  mason's  hardly  dried  lettering  ink.  Beyond  the 
graveyard,  out  in  the  fields,  I  saw  in  one  spot,  hard  by  where  the  fruited 
boughs  of  a  young  orchard  had  been  roughly  torn  down,  the  still  smoul- 
dering remains  of  a  barbecue  fire,  that  had  been  constructed  of  rails  from 
the  fencing  round  it.  It  was  the  latest  sign  of  life  there.  Fields  upon 
fields  of  heavy-headed  yellow  grain  lay  rotting  ungathered  upon  the 
ground.  No  one  was  at  hand  to  take  in  their  rich  harvest.  As  far  as  the 
eye  could  reach,  they  stretched  away — they  sleeping  too  in  the  hazy  air 
of  autumn. 

Only  two  portions  of  the  city  seemed  to  suggest  the  import  of  this 
mysterious  solitude.  On  the  southern  suburb,  the  houses  looking  out 
upon  the  country  showed,  by  their  splintered  wood-work,  and  walls  bat- 
tered to  the  foundation,  that  they  had  lately  been  the  mark  of  a  destruc- 
tive cannonade.  And  in  and  around  the  splendid  Temple,  which  had 
been  the  chief  object  of  my  admiration,  armed  men  were  barracked,  sur- 
rounded by  their  stacks  of  musketry  and  pieces  of  heavy  ordnance. 
These  challenged  me  to  render  an  account  of  myself,  and  why  I  had  had 
the  temerity  to  cross  the  water  without  a  written  permit  from  a  leader  of 
•their  band. 

Though  these  men  were  generally  more  or  less  under  the  influence  of 
ardent  spirits,  after  I  had  explained  myself  as  a  passing  stranger,  they 
seemed  anxious  to  gain  my  good  opinion.  They  told  the  story  of  the 
Dead  City:  that  it  had  been  a  notable  manufacturing  and  commercial 
mart,  sheltering  over  20,000  persons ;  that  they  had  waged  war  with  its 
inhabitants  for  several  years,  and  had  been  finally  successful  only  a  few 
days  before  my  visit,  in  an  action  fought  in  front  of  the  ruined  suburb ; 
after  which  they  had  driven  them  forth  at  the  point  of  the  sv/ord.  The 
defence,  they  said,  had  been  obstinate,  but  gave  way  on  the  third  day's 
bombardment.  They  boasted  greatly  of  their  prowess,  especially  in  this 
battle,  as  they  called  it ;  but  I  discovered  they  were  not  of  one  mind  as  to 
certain  of  the  exploits  that  had  distinguished  it ;  one  of  which,  as  I  re- 
member, was,  that  they  had  slain  a  father  and  his  son,  a  boy  of  fifteen,  not 
long  residents  of  the  fated  city,  whom  they  admitted  to  have  borne  a 
character  without  reproach. 


232 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


"  They  also  conducted  me  inside  the  massive  sculptured  walls  of  the 
curious  Temple,  in  which  they  said  the  banished  inhabitants  were  accus- 
tomed to  celebrate  the  mystic  rites  of  an  unhallowed  worship.  They  par- 
ticularly pointed  out  to  me  certain  features  of  the  building,  which,  having 
been  the  peculiar  objects  of  a  former  superstitious  regard,  they  had,  as 
matter  of  duty,  sedulously  defiled  and  defaced.  The  reputed  sites  of  cer- 
tain shrines  they  had  thus  particularly  noticed ;  and  various  sheltered 
chambers,  in  one  of  which  was  a  deep  well,  constructed,  they  believed, 
with  a  dreadful  design.  Besides  these,  they  led  me  to  see  a  large  and  deep 
chiselled  marble  vase  or  basin,  supported  upon  twelve  oxen,  also  of  mar- 
ble, and  of  the  size  of  life,  of  which  they  told  some  romantic  stories. 
They  said  the  deluded  persons,  most  of  whom  were  emigrants  from  a  great 
distance,  believed  their  Deity  countenanced  their  reception  here  of  a  bap- 
tism of  regeneration,  as  proxies  for  whomsoever  they  held  in  warm  affec- 
tion in  the  countries  from  which  they  had  come.  That  here  parents '  went 
into  the  water '  for  their  lost  children,  children  for  their  parents,  widows 
for  their  spouses,  and  young  persons  for  their  lovers  ;  that  thus  the  Great 
Vase  came  to  be  for  them  associated  with  all  dear  and  distant  memories, 
and  was  therefore  the  object,  of  all  others  in  the  building,  to  which  they 
attached  the  greatest  degree  of  idolatrous  affection.  On  this  account,  the 
victors  had  so  diligently  desecrated  it,  as  to  render  the  apartment  in  which 
it  was  contained  too  noisome  to  abide  in. 

"  They  permitted  me  also  to  ascend  into  the  steeple  to  see  where  it  had 
been  lightning-struck  on  the  Sabbath  before ;  and  to  look  out  east  and 
south,  on  wasted  farms  like  those  I  had  seen  near  the  city,  extending  till 
they  were  lost  in  the  distance.  Here,  in  the  face  of  the  pure  day,  close  to 
the  scar  of  the  Divine  wrath  left  by  the  thunderbolt,  were  fragments  of 
food,  cruises  of  liquor,  and  broken  drinking  vessels,  with  a  brass  drum 
and  a  steamboat  signal-bell,  of  which  I  afterwards  learned  the  use  with 
pain. 

It  was  after  nightfall  when  I  was  ready  to  cross  the  river  on  my  re- 
turn. The  wind  had  freshened  since  the  sunset,  and  the  water  beating 
roughly  into  my  little  boat,  I  hedged  higher  up  the  stream  than  the  point 
I  had  left  in  the  morning,  and  landed  where  a  faint  glimmering  light  in- 
vited me  to  steer. 

^'  Here,  among  the  dock  and  rushes,  sheltered  only  by  the  darkness, 
without  roof  between  them  and  sky,  I  came  upon  a  crowd  of  several  hun- 
dred human  creatures,  whom  my  movements  roused  from  uneasy  slumber 
upon  the  ground. 

'^Passing  these  on  my  way  to  the  light,  I  found  it  came  from  a  tallow 
candle  in  a  paper  funnel  shade,  such  as  is  used  by  street  venders  of  apples 
and  peanuts,  and  which,  flaming  and  guttering  away  in  the  bleak  air  off 
the  water,  shone  flickeringly  on  the  emaciated  features  of  a  man  in  the 
last  stage  of  a  bilious  remittent  fever.  They  had  done  their  best  for  him. 
Over  his  head  was  something  like  a  tent,  made  of  a  sheet  or  two,  and  he 
rested  on  a  but  partially  ripped  open  old  straw  mattress,  with  a  hair  sofa- 


THE  EXILES  IN  DISTRESS. 


233 


cushion  under  his  head  for  a  pillow.  His  gaping  jaw  and  glazing  eye  told 
how  short  a  time  he  would  monopolize  these  luxuries ;  though  a  seem- 
ingly bewildered  and  excited  person,  who  might  have  been  his  wife, 
seemed  to  find  hope  in  occasionally  forcing  him  to  swallow  awkwardly 
sips  of  the  tepid  river- water,  from  a  burned  and  battered,  bitter-smelling, 
tin  coffee-pot.  Those  who  knew  better  had  furnished  the  apothecary  he 
needed ;  a  toothless  old  bald-head,  whose  manner  had  the  repulsive  dull- 
ness of  a  man  familiar  with  death-scenes.  He,  so  long  as  I  remained, 
mumbled  in  his  patient's  ear  a  monotonous  and  melancholy  prayer,  be- 
tween the  pauses  of  which  I  heard  the  hiccup  and  sobbing  of  two  little 
girls,  who  were  sitting  up  on  a  piece  of  drift-wood  outside. 

"  Dreadful,  indeed,  was  the  suffering  of  these  forsaken  beings  ;  bowed 
and  cramped  by  cold  and  sunburn,  alternating  as  each  weary  day  and 
night  dragged  on,  they  were,  almost  all  of  them,  the  crippled  victims  of 
disease.  They  were  there  because  they  had  no  homes,  nor  hospital,  nor 
poor-house,  nor  friends  to  offer  them  any.  They  could  not  satisfy  the 
feeble  cravings  of  their  sick;  they  had  not  bread  to  quiet  the  fractious 
hunger-cries  of  their  children.  Mothers  and  babes,  daughters  and  grand- 
parents, all  of  them  alike,  were  bivouacked  in  tatters,  wanting  even  cov- 
ering to  comfort  those  whom  the  sick  shiver  of  fever  was  searching  to  the 
marrow. 

"  These  were  Mormons  in  Lee  county,  Iowa,  in  the  fourth  week  of  the 
month  of  September,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  1846.  The  city— it  was 
Nauvoo,  Illinois.  The  Mormons  were  the  owners  of  that  city,  and  the 
smiling  country  around.  And  those  who  had  stopped  their  plows,  who 
had  silenced  their  hammers,  their  axes,  their  shuttles,  and  their  workshop 
wheels ;  those  who  had  put  out  their  fires,  who  had  eaten  their  food, 
spoiled  their  orchards,  and  trampled  under  foot  their  thousands  of  acres 
of  unharvested  bread — these  were  the  keepers  of  their  dwellings,  the 
carousers  in  their  Temple,  whose  drunken  riot  insulted  the  ears  of  the 
dying. 

"  I  think  it  w^as  as  I  turned  from  the  wretched  night-watch  of  which  I 
have  spoken,  that  I  first  listened  to  the  sounds  of  revel  of  a  party  of  the 
guard  within  the  city.  Above  the  distant  hum  of  the  voices  of  many, 
occasionally  rose  distinct  the  loud  oath-tainted  exclamation,  and  the  false- 
ly intonated  scrap  of  vulgar  song :  but  lest  this  requiem  should  go  un- 
heeded, every  now  and  then,  when  their  boisterous  orgies  strove  to  attain 
a  sort  of  ecstatic  climax,  a  cruel  spirit  of  insulting  frolic  carried  some  of 
them  up  into  the  high  belfry  of  the  Temple  steeple,  and  there,  with  the 
wicked  childishness  of  inebriates,  they  whooped,  and  shrieked,  and  beat 
the  drum  that  I  had  seen,  and  rang  in  charivaric  unison  their  loud-tongued 
steamboat  bell. 

"They  were,  all  told,  not  more  than  six  hundred  aud  forty  persons 
who  were  thus  lying  on  the  river  flats.  But  the  Mormons  in  Nauvoo  and 
its  dependencies  had  been  numbered  the  year  before  at  over  twenty  thou- 
sand.   Where  were  they  ?    They  had  last  been  seen,  carrying  in  mournful 


234 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


train  their  sick  and  v/oimded,  halt  and  blind,  to  disappear  behind  the 
western  horizon,  pursuing  the  phantom  of  another  home.  Hardly  any- 
thing else  was  known  of  them ;  and  people  asked  with  curiosity,  '  What 
had  been  their  fate — what  their  fortunes  ? '  .  .  . 

"  They  began  their  march  in  mid- winter  ;  and  by  the  beginning  of  Feb- 
ruary nearly  all  of  them  were  on  the  road,  many  of  the  wagons  having 
crossed  the  Mississippi  on  the  ice. 

"  Under  the  most  favouring  circumstances,  an  expedition  of  this  sort, 
undertaken  at  such  a  season  of  the  year,  could  scarcely  fail  to  be  disas- 
trous. But  the  pioneer  company  had  set  out  in  haste,  and  were  very  im- 
perfectly supplied  with  necessaries.  The  cold  was  intense.  They  moved 
in  the  teeth  of  keen-edged  northwest  winds,  such  as  sweep  dov/n  the  Iowa 
peninsula  from  the  ice-bound  regions  of  the  timber-shaded  Slave  Lake 
and  Lake  of  the  Woods ;  on  the  Bald  Prairie  there,  nothing  above  the 
dead  grass  breaks  their  free  course  over  the  hard  rolled  hills.  Even  along 
the  scattered  water-courses,  where  they  broke  the  thick  ice  to  give  their 
cattle  drink,  the  annual  autumn  fires  had  left  little  wood  of  value.  The 
party,  therefore,  often  wanted  for  good  camp-fires,  the  first  luxury  of  all 
travellers ;  but  to  men  insufficiently  furnished  with  tents  and  other  appli- 
ances of  shelter,  almost  an  essential  to  life.  After  days  of  fatigue,  their 
nights  were  often  passed  in  restless  efforts  to  save  themselves  from  freezing. 
Their  stock  of  food,  also,  proved  inadequate ;  and  as  their  systems  be- 
came impoverished,  their  suffering  from  cold  increased. 

Sickened  with  catarrhal  affections,  manacled  by  the  fetters  of  dread- 
fully acute  rheumatism,  some  contrived  for  a  while  to  get  over  the  short- 
ening day's  march,  and  drag  along  some  others.  But  the  sign  of  an  im- 
paired circulation  soon  began  to  show  itself  in  the  liability  of  all  to  be 
dreadfully  frost-bitten.  The  hardiest  and  strongest  became  helplessly 
crippled.  About  the  same  time,  the  strength  of  their  beasts  of  draught 
began  to  fail.  The  small  supply  of  provender  they  could  carry  with  them 
had  given  out.  The  winter-bleached  prairie  straw  proved  devoid  of  nour- 
ishment ;  and  they  could  only  keep  them  from  starving  by  seeking  for  the 
browse,  as  it  is  called,  a  green  bark  and  tender  buds,  and  branches  of  the 
cotton-wood,  and  other  stinted  growths  of  the  hollows. 

"  The  spring  came  at  last.  It  overtook  them  in  the  Sac  and  Fox  coun- 
try, still  on  the  naked  prairie,  not  yet  half  way  over  the  trail  they  were 
following  between  the  Mississippi  and  Missouri  rivers.  But  it  brought  its 
own  share  of  troubles  with  it.  The  months  with  which  it  opened  proved 
nearly  as  trying  as  the  worst  of  winter. 

"  The  snow  and  sleet  and  rain  which  fell,  as  it  appeared  to  them,  with- 
out intermission,  made  the  road  over  the  rich  prairie  soil  as  impassable  as 
one  vast  bog  of  heavy  black  mud.  Sometimes  they  would  fasten  the 
horses  and  oxen  of  four  or  five  wagons  to  one,  and  attempt  to  get  a-head 
in  this  way,  taking  turns ;  but  at  the  close  of  a  day  of  hard  toil  for 
themselves  and  their  cattle,  they  would  find  themselves  a  quarter  or  half 
a  mile  from  the  place  they  left  in  the  morning.    The  heavy  rains  raised 


THE  GRAVES  BY  THE  WAYSIDE. 


235 


all  the  water-courses  :  the  most  trifling  streams  were  impassable.  Wood 
fit  for  bridging  was  often  not  to  be  had,  and  in  such  cases  the  only  re- 
source was  to  halt  for  the  freshets  to  subside — a  matter  in  the  case  of 
the  headwaters  of  the  Chariton,  for  instance,  of  over  three  weeks'  delay. 

"The  frequent  burials  made  the  hardiest  sicken.  On  the  soldier's 
march  it  is  matter  of  discipline,  that  after  the  rattle  of  musketry  over  his 
comrade's  grave,  he  shall  tramp  it  to  the  music  of  some  careless  tune  in  a 
lively  quick-step.  But,  in  the  Mormon  camp,  the  companion  who  lay  ill 
and  gave  up  the  ghost  within  view  of  all,  all  saw  as  he  stretched  a  corpse, 
and  all  attended  to  his  last  resting-place.  It  was  a  sorrow,  too,  of  itself 
to  simple  hearted  people,  the  deficient  pomps  of  their  imperfect  style  of 
funeral.  The  general  hopefulness  of  human — including  Mormon — nature, 
was  well  illustrated  by  the  fact,  that  the  most  provident  were  found  un- 
furnished with  undertaker's  articles ;  so  that  bereaved  affection  was  driven 
to  the  most  melancholy  makeshifts. 

"  The  best  expedient  generally  was  to  cut  down  a  log  of  some  eight  or 
nine  feet  long,  and  slitting  it  longitudinally,  strip  off  its  dark  bark  in  two 
half  cylinders.  These,  placed  around  the  body  of  the  deceased  and 
bound  firmly  together  with  withes  made  of  the  alburnum,  formed  a  rough 
sort  of  tubular  coflSn  which  surviving  relations  and  friends,  with  a  little 
show  of  black  crape,  could  follow  with  its  enclosure  to  the  hole,  or  bit  of 
ditch,  dug  to  receive  it  in  the  wet  ground  of  the  prairie.  They  grieved 
to  lower  it  down  so  poorly  clad,  and  in  such  an  unheeded  grave.  It  was 
hard — was  it  right,  thus  hurriedly  to  plunge  it  in  one  of  the  undistinguish- 
able  waves  of  the  great  land-sea,  and  leave  it  behind  them  there,  under 
the  cold  north  rain,  abandoned  to  be  forgotten  ?  They  had  no  tomb- 
stones; nor  could  they  find  rocks  to  pile  the  monumental  cairn.  So, 
when  they  had  filled  up  the  grave,  and  over  it  prayed  a  miserere  prayer, 
and  tried  to  sing  a  hopeful  psalm,  their  last  office  was  to  seek  out  land- 
marks, or  call  in  the  surveyor  to  help  them  to  determine  the  bearings  of 
valley  bends,  head-lands,  or  fork  and  angles  of  constant  streams,  by  which 
its  position  should  in  the  future  be  remembered  and  recognized.  The 
name  of  the  beloved  person,  his  age,  the  date  of  his  death,  and  these 
marks  were  all  registered  with  care.  This  party  was  then  ready  to  move 
on.  Such  graves  mark  all  the  line  of  the  first  year  of  the  Mormon  travel 
— dispiriting  milestones  to  failing  stragglers  in  the  rear." 

Under  the  difficulties  of  such  travel  and  the  labours  per- 
formed in  making  settlements  on  the  way,  the  pioneers  and 
first  companies  did  not  advance  further  than  the  Missouri 
river  in  1846. 


CHAPTEE  XXXI. 


ON  THE  MISSOUEl— Enlistment  of  the  Mormon  Battalion— False  Ideas  about 
the  Matter— Historical  Facts— Elder  Little  at  Washington— He  is  introduced  to 
Pi  csident  Polk— Important  Official  Documents— Colonel  Kane's  Story— The  Mor- 
mon Ball — Brigham  receives  the  Volunteers'  "  Advance  Pay  " — Mormon  Testi- 
mony in  favour  of  Government — Brigham  Young's  Extraordinary  Statements — 
The  Government  vindicated. 

When  the  pioneers  left  Nauvoo  their  destination  was  un- 
determined. Yery  little  was  then  known  of  the  geography  of 
North  America  west  of  the  Missouri  River.  Joseph  had  a 
whispering  revelation  about  the  location  of  the  Church  in  the 
Rocky  Mountains,  and  Brigham  was  said  to  have  had  a  vision 
about  the  Salt  Lake  Yalley,  but  with  both  revelation  and  vis- 
ion there  was  no  certainty  as  to  the  exact  locality.  To  give 
expression  to  a  slender  hope,  elder  Taylor  furnished  the  poor, 
homeless  wanderers  with  a  song : 

"  The  Upper  California,  oh,  that's  the  land  for  me  ! " 

which  cheered  many  a  fainting  heart ;  and  for  that  much  good 
the  error  of  the  "  Infallible  Priesthood  "  should  be  overlooked, 
even  though    Towers  and  Temples"  have  not  arisen 

"  Along  the  great  Pacific  sea," 

as  predicted. 

The  first  companj''  of  the  exiles  arrived  at  the  Missouri  in 
the  beginning  of  July,  1846,  and  a  resting-place  was  there  re- 
solved upon,  as  the  main  body  of  the  Saints  could  not  reach 
that  point  till  late  in  September.  It  is  claimed  that  the  pio- 
neers would  have  continued  westward  that  year  but  for  a 
"  demand  "  of  the  Government  that  the  Mormons  should  fur- 
nish a  battalion  of  fi  ve  hundred  men  for  the  Mexican  war. 

As  seen  in  the  preceding  chapters,  the  Mormons  had  up  to 


BRIGHAM  ACCUSES  THE  GOVERNMENT. 


237 


this  time  only  charged  their  neighbours  in  Missouri  and  in  Il- 
linois with  persecution  ;  the  Federal  Government  was  only 
held  guilty  by  implication  for  not  affording  the  Saints  redress 
and  protecting  them  in  the  peaceable  possession  of  their  homes. 
On  the  banks  of  the  Missouri  begins  the  national  crime  of 
"  persecuting  the  Saints  of  the  Most  High  God,"  a  crime  which 
has  ten  thousand  times  inspired  the  predictions  in  the  Taber- 
nacle and  the  assemblies  of  the  Saints  that  "the  Republic 
"  would  be  dashed  to  pieces  like  a  potter's  vessel,  and  be  blot- 
"  ted  out  of  existence." 

Of  all  the  preaching  in  the  Tabernacle  against  the  nation, 
nothing  has  ever  made  such  an  impression  upon  the  people  as 
Brigham  Young's  story  of  the  Mormon  battalion,  in  which  he 
charges  the  Government  with  the  design  of  destroying  the 
"  kingdom  of  God." 

He  asserts,  unequivocally  and  unhesitatingly,  that  the  Gov- 
ernment demanded  those  five  hundred  men  while  the  exiles 
were  in  an  Indian  country,  hoping  that,  rather  than  expose 
their  wives  and  children  without  protection  in  the  midst  of 
savages,  they  would  rebel,  and  thus  furnish  the  Government 
with  a  pretext  for  sending  an  army  against  the  Saints  to  break 
them  up,  scatter  them,  and  "  wipe  them  out  of  existence." 

This  is  a  grave  charge,  and  one  which  should  not  be  enter- 
tained^without  a  rigid  examination  of  the  facts  of  history. 

One  of  the  last  official  acts  of  Brigham  Young  before  leav- 
ing Nauvoo  was  the  appointment  of  elder  Jesse  0.  Little,  of 
New  Hampshire,  to  preside  over  the  Saints  left  in  the  Eastern 
States.  This  letter  was  dated—"  Temple  of  God,  Nauvoo, 
"  January  20, 1846,"  and  contained  the  following  instructions  : 

*'If  our  Government  shall  offer  any  facilities  for  emigrating  to  the 
Western  coast,  embrace  those  facilities,  if  possible^  as  a  wise  and  faithful 
man." 

On  the  same  day  the  high  council  at  Nauvoo  issued  a  cir- 
cular, "  to  the  members  of  the  Church  throughout  the  world," 
announcing  the  forth-coming  early  departure  of  the  pioneers 
for  the  Rocky  Mountains,  where  they  were  to  "  make  a  resting- 
"  place,  until  we  can  determine  a  place  for  a  permanent  loca- 
tion."  With  nothing  certain  but  a  long  journey  westward, 
and  that  in  the  midst  of  poverty,  the  Mormons  were  ready  to 
15 


238 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


undertake  any  labour  that  was  harmonious  with  their  own  pro- 
gramme of  travel.  In  this  circular  was  the  following  statement : 

"  In  the  event  of  the  President's  recommendation,  to  build  block- 
houses and  stockade  forts  on  the  road  to  Oregon,  becoming  a  law,  we 
have  encouragement  of  having  that  work  to  do  ;  and  under  our  peculiar 
circumstances  we  can  do  it  with  less  expense  to  the  Government  than  any- 
other  people." 

With  his  own  letter  of  appointment,  containing  the  instruc- 
tions to  accept  "  any  facilities  which  the  Government  might 
"  offer,"  to  aid  the  Mormons  in  their  migration  westward,  and 
this  public  announcement  in  the  circular,  elder  Little  proceed- 
ed to  the  seat  of  Government.  On  his  way  thither  he  called  a 
conference  of  the  Saints  at  Philadelphia  on  the  13th  of  May, 
and  then  for  the  first  time  Colonel  Thomas  L.  Kane  became 
acquainted  with  this  Mormon  elder  and  representative  of  Brig- 
ham  Young.  Touched  by  the  distress  of  the  Mormons,  which 
was  then  a  matter  of  notoriety  throughout  the  country,  the 
colonel  evidently  resolved  to  be  their  good  Samaritan.  The 
high  social  standing  of  the  family  of  Judge  Kane,  of  Phila- 
delphia, was  a  guarantee  of  pure  philanthropy  only  in  the  good 
that  the  colonel  sought  to  attain  for  the  Mormons.  This  gen- 
tleman introduced  elder  Little  to  the  Hon.  George  M.  Dallas, 
the  Vice-President,  and  to  other  distinguished  gentlemen  at 
Washington,  and  finally  the  Elder  was  presented  to  President 
James  K.  Polk.  The  President  and  some  members  of  his  cab- 
inet, senators,  and  representatives,  immediately  took  a  lively 
interest  in  the  situation  of  the  Mormons,  then  wandering  be- 
yond the  confines  of  civilization,  and  they  were  ready  to  favour 
any  measure  that  would  contribute  assistance  to  them  in  their 
distress. 

Elder  Samuel  Brannan,  the  predecessor  of  elder  Little  in 
the  ecclesiastical  charge  of  the  Eastern  Saints,  had  sailed  in 
the  ship  Brooklyn  from  New  York,  in  January,  with  six  hun- 
dred Mormons  for  San  Francisco.  Elder  Little,  during  his 
visit  to  Washington,  contemplated  sending  another  vessel  with 
Saints  to  the  same  destination,  provided  that  he  "  could  obtain 
"  Government  freiglit  to  ship  on  the  vessel  with  the  people  to 
"  assist  in  defraying  the  expenses."  In  his  address  to  President 
Polk  he  uses  the  following  language  : 


GOVERNMENT  AID  SOLICITED. 


233 


^'  From  twelve  to  fifteen  thousand  Mormons  have  already  left  Kaiivoo 
for  California,  and  many  others  are  making  ready  to  go  ;  some  have  gone 
around  Cape  Horn,  and,  I  trust,  before  this  time  have  landed  at  the  bay 
of  San  Francisco.  We  have  about  forty  thousand  in  the  British  Isles,  all 
determined  to  gather  to  this  land,  and  thousands  will  sail  this  fall.  There 
are  also  many  thousands  scattered  through  the  States,  besides  the  great 
number  in  and  around  Nauvoo  who  will  go  to  California  as  soon  as  possi- 
ble, but  many  of  them  are  destitute  of  money  to  pay  their  passage  either 
by  sea  or  land. 

"  We  are  true-hearted  Americans,  true  to  our  native  country,  true  to 
its  laws,  true  to  its  glorious  institutions  ;  and  we  have  a  desire  to  go  un- 
der the  outstretched  wings  of  the  American  eagle ;  we  would  disdain  to 
receive  assistance  from  a  foreign  power,  although  it  should  be  proffered, 
unless  our  Government  shall  turn  us  off  in  this  great  crisis  and  compel  us  to 
he  foreigners. 

"  If  you  will  assist  us  in  this  crisis^  Thereby  pledge  my  honour^  as  the  rep- 
resentative  of  this  people^  that  the  whole  lody  will  stand  ready  at  your  cally 
and  act  as  one  man  in  the  land  to  which  we  are  going  ;  and  should  our  Ter- 
ritory be  invaded  we  will  hold  ourselves  ready  to  enter  the  field  of  battle, 
and  then,  like  our  patriotic  fathers,  make  t*he  battle-field  our  grave  or  gain 
our  liberty." 

In  the  first  week  in  June  the  cabinet  considered  the  situa- 
tion of  the  Mormons.  Elder  Little  had  an  interview  of  some 
hours  with  the  President,  during  which  his  Excellency  stated 
that  "  he  had  no  prejudice  against  the  Saints  ; "  He  believed 
"  them  to  be  good  citizens ;  "  "  was  willing  to  do  them  all  the 
"  good  in  his  power  consistently ; "  and  "  they  should  be  pro- 
"  tected  ;  "  "  he  had  confidence  in  the  Mormons  as  true  ^ 
"American  citizens,  or  he  would  not  make  such  propositions 
"  as  those  he  designed.'^ 

The  news  of  the  first  battles  with  Mexico  had  just  been  re- 
ported at  Washington,  and  the  Government  had  resolved  on 
taking  forcible  possession  of  California — then  a  part  of  Mexico ; 
and  from  the  conversation  with  elder  Little,  as  subsequently 
reported,  it  is  very  evident  that  President  Polk  and  his  cabinet 
considered  the  movement  opportune  for  using  the  Mormons  al- 

*  It  was  then  generally  believed  that  the  Mormons  were  moving  westward  to 
throw  off  their  allegiance  to  the  United  States  Government,  and  but  for  the  success 
of  the  American  arms  in  Mexico,  and  the  subsequent  cession  of  Territory  to  the 
United  States,  the  Mormons  would  have  set  up  an  independent  Government  in  the 
Rocky  Mountains,  or  have  been  forced  to  recognize  Mexican  authority.  With  the 
latter  Brigham  would  doubtless  have  made  very  short  work. 


240 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


ready  en  route  for  "  Upper  California,"  and  also  facilitating  the 
transportation  of  those  in  the  Eastern  States  by  sending  them 
round  the  Cape  to  the  Pacific  coast,  if  they  would  serve  the 
country  as  soldiers. 

On  the  3rd  of  June  the  Hon.  "W.  L.  Marcy,  Secretary  of 
War,  wrote  to  General  S.  W.  Kearney,  then  in  command  at 
Fort  Leavenworth,  directing  the  General's  attention  to  the  mi- 
gration of  the  Mormons,  and  saying  that  the  Government  de- 
sired the  General  to  use  all  proper  means  to  eJffect  a  good 
understanding  with  the  leaders,  to  the  end  that  the  United 
States  might  obtain  their  "  cooperation  "  in  taking  possession 
of  and  holding  that  country,  and  that  the  General  was  thereby 
authorized  to  muster  into  service  such  among  them  as  could  be 
induced  to  vohmteer^^^  but  the  number  was  not  to  exceed 
one- third  of  the  force  which  the  General  had  been  instructed 
to  lead  overland  to  California.  The  Mormon  troops  were  also, 
as  much  as  possible,  to  be  allowed  to  elect  their  own  oiBcers. 

The  visit  of  elder  Little  to  Washington,  his  petition  for 
aid,  the  expressed  sympathy  of  the  President  for  the  exiles,  the 
favourable  interviews  of  elder  Little  with  the  cabinet  and  influ- 
ential gentlemen,  the  President's  intimation  of  his  confidence 
in  the  Mormons  as  "  true  American  citizens,"  and  his  inten- 
tion of  making  them  a  good  proposition,  with  the  prompt  order 
of  the  Secretary  of  War  to  General  Kearney  to  enlist  volun- 
teers among  them,  but  not  to  exceed  one-third  of  that  officer's 
command — all  these  are  so  harmonious,  and  so  like  the  honour- 
able relations  of  a  Government  that  sympathizes  with  a  hand- 
ful of  its  suffering  citizens,  and  seeks  to  aid  them  as  far  as  it 
consistently  can,  that  the  idea  of  duplicity  or  bad  faith  is  ut- 
terly banished,  and  the  contemplation  of  a  design  of  either 
forcing  the  Mormons  into  rebellion,  or  exposing  women  and 
children  to  destruction  by  savages,  is  rendered  perfectly  ab- 
surd. 

*  The  Mexican  war  created  great  popular  enthusiasm  everywhere  throughout 
the  Union,  and  the  offers  of  volunteer  regiments  in  many  of  the  States  far  exceeded 
the  wants  of  the  Government.  Gen.  Kearney's  instructions  to  Capt.  Allen,  not  to 
accept  more  than'one-third  of  the  GeneraVs  entire  force^  shoAV  conclusively  that  the 
instructions  of  the  Federal  Government  to  employ  the  Mormon  volunteers  was  an 
act  of  sympathetic  kindness.  The  Government  did  not  require  them  at  all,  but  ex- 
tended as  far  as  consistent  its  aid. 


INTERESTING  CORRESPONDENCE.  241 

Seeking  to  set  at  rest  this  disputed  subject,  the  Author  ad- 
dressed the  President  of  the  United  States,  and  Major-General 
Philip  St.  George  Cooke,  who  led  the  battalion  to  California, 
asking  for  information,  and  the  following  correspondence  en- 
sued : 

"AsTOE  House,  New  Yoek,  October  17,  1871. 

^''President  U.  S,  Grant: 

"  Your  Excellency  will,  I  trust,  excuse  the  liberty  that  I  take  in  solicit- 
ing through  you  information  from  the  War  Department,  as  your  order  only 
can  procure  it, 

^'In  1846,  when  the  Mormon  community  were  upon  the  western  fron- 
tiers, on  their  way  towards  the  Pacific,  500  of  their  number  were  enrolled 
by  a  United  States  officer,  Capt.  Allen,  at  Council  Bluffs,  Iowa,  into  the 
service  of  the  Government,  then  at  war  with  Mexico.  That  battalion,  on 
the  death  of  Capt.  Allen,  shortly  after  they  took  up  their  march  to  the 
Pacific,  was  placed  under  the  command  of  Lieu t.-Colonel  Philip  St.  George 
Cooke,  and  by  him  led  to  southern  California.  Their  service  was  highly 
commended  by  their  commander,  and  they  were  honourably  discharged 
on  tlie  Pacific  coast,  as  per  terms  of  enlistment. 

"  For  over  twenty  years  Brigham  Young  has  used  his  version  of  this 
Mormon  Battalion  very  effectively  in  attacking  the  Government,  by  repre- 
sentiDg  that  it  was  a  cruel  demand^  made  with  the  view  of  crippling  the 
expedition  and  leaving  it  exposed  to  the  attacks  of  the  Indians.  To  this, 
he  adds  that  the  demand  was  made  in  the  hope  that  the  Mormons  would 
refuse,  and,  in  so  refusing,  furnish  the  Government  a  pretext  for  prevent- 
ing their  further  exodus,  under  the  charge  that  they  were  going  to  join  an 
enemy's  country. 

"  Ridiculous  as  this  may  appear  to  your  Excellency,  I  know  of  nothing 
in  all  Mormon  history  that  has  been  so  potential  in  shaping  the  senti- 
ments of  the  Mormon  people  against  the  Government. 

"  I  have  carefully  considered  and  traced,  wherever  I  could,  the  circum- 
stances attending  this  Battalion  affair,  and  all  the  evidence  conveys  to  me 
the  very  contrary  of  what  Brigham  Young  asserts.  It  was  evidently  in 
sympathy  for  their  unfortunate  condition  that  the  Government  accepted 
that  Battalion,  and  paid  them  for  going  to  the  place  they  had  at  that 
time  upon  their  minds  to  go  to. 

"  If  your  Excellency  will  order  copies  of  all  that  pertains  to  the  Mor- 
mon Battalion  to  be  placed  at  my  disposal,  I  am  satisfied  that  the  publi- 
cation of  the  facts,  in  the  history  of  Utah  and  the  Mormons  which  I  will 
shortly  have  in  press,  will  do  much  to  destroy  the  pernicious  influence  of 
the  mis-statements  that  have  been  made  on  the  subject.  It  is  due  to  the 
national  Government  that  the  facts  should  be  properly  understood. 
"  Soliciting  your  Excellency's  favourable  action, 

"  I  am,  your  obedient  servant, 

T.  B.  H.  Stenhouse." 


242 


THE  KOCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


"  War  Department,  Washington  Citt,  Decerriber  15, 1871. 
"  T,  B.  H,  Stenhouse,  Esq.^  Astor  House,  New  York : 

Sir:  In  compliance  with  your  request  of  Oct.  17,  '71,  addressed  to 
the  President,  for  copies  of  documents  in  this  Department  relating  to  the 
Mormon  Battalion,  raised  for  the  service  of  the  U.  S.  during  the  Mexican 
war,  I  have  the  honour  to  send  you,  herewith,  a  copy  of  instructions  from 
Head  Quarters  Army  of  the  West,  dated  June  19,  1846,  for  the  raising  of 
the  Battalion,  which  comprises  all  the  information  in  this  Department  on 
the  subject,  except  subsequent  occasional  mention  of  the  whereabouts  of 
the  Battalion,  which  would  be  of  no  service  to  you. 

"  Very  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant. 

Wm.  W.  Belknap,  Secretary  of  War." 

"Head  Qtiarters  Army  of  the  West,  Fort  Leavenworth,  June  19, 1846. 

"  Sir:  It  is  understood  that  there  is  a  large  body  of  Mormons  wlio  are 
desirous  of  emigrating  to  California  for  the  purpose  of  settling  in  that  coun- 
try^ and  I  have  therefore  to  direct  that  you  will  proceed  to  their  camps  and 
endeavour  to  raise  from  amongst  them  four  or  five  companies  of  volunteers  to 
join  me  in  my  expedition  to  that  country — each  company  to  consist  of 
any  number  between  73  and  109 — the  officers  of  the  companies  will  be  a 
captain,  first  lieutenant  and  second  lieutenant,  who  will  be  elected  by  the 
privates  and  subject  to  your  approval,  and  the  captain  then  to  appoint 
the  non-commissioned  officers,  also  subject  to  your  approval.  The  com- 
panies upon  being  thus  organized,  will  be  mustered  by  you  into  the  ser- 
vice of  the  United  States,  and  from  that  day  will  commence  to  receive  the 
pay,  rations,  and  other  allowances  given  to  the  other  infantry  volunteers, 
each  according  to  his  rank.  You  will,  upon  mustering  into  service  the 
Fourth  company,  be  considered  as  having  the  rank,  pay,  emoluments  of  a 
lieutenant-colonel  of  infantry,  and  are  authorized  to  appoint  an  adjutant, 
sergeant-major,  and  quarter-master  sergeant  for  the  Battalion. 

"The  companies,  after  being  organized,  will  be  marched  to  this  post, 
where  they  will  be  armed  and  prepared  for  the  field,  after  which  they  will, 
under  your  command,  follow  on  my  trail  in  the  direction  of  Santa  F^,  and 
where  you  will  receive  further  orders  from  me. 

"  You  will,  upon  organizing  the  companies,  require  provisions,  wagons, 
horses,  mules,  etc.  You  must  purchase  everything  that  is  necessary,  and 
give  the  necessary  drafts  upon  the  quarter-master  and  commissary  depart- 
ments at  this  post,  which  drafts  will  be  paid  upon  presentation. 

"  You  will  have  the  Mormons  distinctly  to  understand^  that  I  wish  to  take 
them  AS  VOLUNTEERS  for  ticelve  months,  that  they  will  le  marched  to 
California,  receiving  pay  and  allowances  during  the  above  time,  and  at  its 
expiration  they  will  be  discharged  and  allowed  to  retain  as  their  private 
property  the  guns  and  accoutrements  to  le  furnished  to  them  at  this  post. 
Each  company  will  be  allowed  four  women  as  laundresses,  who  will  travel 
with  the  company,  receiving  rations  and  the  other  allowances  given  to 
the  laundresses  of  our  army. 


THE  GOVERNMENT  VINDICATED. 


243 


"  With  the  foregoing  conditions,  which  are  hereby  pledged  to  the  Mor- 
mons^ and  which  will  de  faithfully  Tcept  by  me  and  other  officers  in  behalf  of 
the  Government  of  the  United  States^  I  cannot  doubt  but  that  you  will  in  a 
few  days  be  able  to  raise  five  hundred  young  and  efficient  men  for  this 
expedition. 

"  Very  respectfully  your  obedient  servant, 

"  (Signed)  S.  W.  Keaeny,  Colonel  First  Dragoons. 
"Capt.  James  Allen,  First  Eegiment  Dragoons,  Fort  Leavenworth." 

"  I  certify  that  the  foregoing  is  a  true  copy  of  the  original  on  file  at 
this  office.  John  Potts,  Chief  Clerk. 

"  Wak  Department,  Washington,  December  15, 1871." 

"Head  Qfarters  Department  of  the  La^kes,  ) 
"  Detroit,  Michigan,  August  17,  1871.  J 

T,  B.  R,  Stenhouse,  Bsq,,  Astor  House^  New  Torlc : 
"  Sir  :  I  have  received  your  communication  of  the  11th  inst.,  which  in- 
vites any  statement  I  may  be  able  to  make — as  comoiander  of  the  '  Mor- 
mon Battalion '  in  the  war  with  Mexico — of  the  circumstances  of  their 
enlistment  and  service. 

You  say,  ^  If  Brigham  Young  is  right  in  the  statement  of  intended 

*  "  persecution  "  on  the  part  of  the  Government,  I  have  no  wish  to  make  it 
'  otherwise  appear,  nor  shall  I  try  it ;  but  if  he  is  wrong,  v/hich  I  believe 

*  he  is,  in  this  work,  I  deem  it  my  duty  to  not  only  defend  that  action  of 
'  the  Government,  but  to  show  its  kindness  and  sympathy. 

"  '  If  the  Battalion  understood  that  the  Government  demanded  their 
^enlistment  with  the  view  of  leaving  their  families  unprotected  and  ex- 

*  posed  to  the  Indians,  as  Brigham  Young  has  so  frequently  stated  it  since, 
4t  seems  that  the  commanding  officer  who  led  them  in  their  march  through 
'that  severe  campaign  would  have  heard  of  it  in  their  trying  hour.' 

"  I  was  not  at  Fort  Leavenworth  when  General  S.  W.  Kearney  sent 
Captain  Allen,  First  Dragoons,  to  meet  the  migration  of  the  Mormons 
from  Nauvoo  toward  the  Pacific  coast,  and  raise  a  volunteer  battalion,  and 
I  resigned  their  command  prior  to  their  discharge.  I  know  only  from 
frequent  intercourse,  subsequently,  with  General  Kearney,  and  my  intimate 
and  quite  friendly  relations  with  the  Battalion,  that  it  could  scarcely  have 
been  otherwise  than  a  friendly  interest  in  the  misfortunes  of  that  sect  in  which 
the  idea  was  conceived  and  executed^  to  enrol  a  portion  of  them^  as  volunteers^ 
and  so  assist  their  migration.  The  usual  regulations,  or  laws,  for  volun- 
teers, regarding  age,  and  also  the  number  of  women  to  be  transported  and 
fed,  were  much  relaxed  in  their  favour. 

"  I  do  not  remember  the  dates  of  their  payments ;  nor  do  I  know  if 
they  retained  their  arms  at  discharge. 

"  Respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 
"  Philip  St.  George  Cooke,  Brigadier-General  U.  S.  A." 

*  A  letter  from  William  Wood,  one  of  the  Battalion,  to  his  parents  in  England, 
dated  Pueblo  de  los  Angeles,  Upper  California,  July  16,  1847,  referring  to  their 


244 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


These  official  documents  should  undeceive  the  Mormon  peo- 
ple and  enable  them  to  see  how  grossly  they  have  been  de- 
luded by  the  story  of  the  Government  "persecution." 

On  the  12th  of  June,  Col.  Kane  left  Washington  for  the 
West  to  overtake  the  Mormon  camp,  and  was  accompanied  by 
elder  Little.  The  colonel  was  the  bearer  of  dispatches  from 
the  Government  to  General  Kearney  at  Fort  Leavenworth, 
and  others  in  California.  They  were  accompanied  as  far  as 
St.  Louis  by  Judge  Kane,  who  was  deeply  interested,  on  be- 
half of  the  Mormons,  in  their  success.  On  the  26th,  Captain 
Allen  had  reached  the  Mormon  camp  at  Mount  Pisgah,  but 
Brigham  Young  and  the  majority  of  the  apostles  were  still  fur- 
ther west,  and  that  officer  had  to  advance  thither  before  he 
could  be  listened  to  on  the  subject  of  volunteers. 

It  is  very  unlikely  that  Brigham  and  the  migrating  Mor- 
mons at  this  time  had  any  knowledge  of  the  proceedings  at 
Washington  between  elder  Little  and  the  Government.  There 
were  no  post  routes  in  that  country  in  those  days,  and  on  the 
appearance  of  Captain  Allen  among  them,  it  is  natural  to  sup- 
pose that  in  their  ignorance  of  the  facts,  the  very  mention  of 
enlisting  volunteers  to  serve  the  country  should  have  produced 
the  excitement  that  it  did.  For  anything  that  Brigham  might 
have  said  at  the  fir^t  sight  of  Captain  Allen,  he  would  be  rich- 
ly entitled  to  a  hearty  forgiveness.  Much  patriotism  could  not 
be  expected  in  fleeing,  homeless  exiles.  A  "  demand,"  if  such 
had  been  made,  for  five  hundred  men,  was  enough  to  provoke 
the  wrath  of  any  Saint ;  but  it  is  his  after-utterances,  with 
a  full  knowledge  of  the  facts,  that  give  point  to  the  charge, 
that  Brigham  designedly  calunmiates  the  Government. 

Colonel  Kane  in  his  Historical  Discourse  tells  the  story  of 
recruiting  the  Battalion  : 

"  At  the  commencement  of  the  Mexican  war,  the  President  considered 
it  desirable  to  march  a  body  of  reliable  infantry  to  California  at  as  early 
a  period  as  practicable,  and  the  known  hardihood  and  habits  of  discipline 
of  the  Mormons  were  supposed  peculiarly  to  fit  them  for  this  service.  As 
California  was  supposed  to  be  also  their  ultimate  destination,  the  long 

departure  from  Nauvoo,  says  :  "  With  this  view  we  left,  and  were  journeying  with 
our  teams,  when  the  United  States  Government  sent  an  invitation  for  so  many  men 
to  enlist  in  the  service  for  one  year,"  etc. — Millennial  Star^  vol.  x.,  p.  125. 


THE  BATTALION  BALL. 


245 


march  miglit  cost  them  less  than  other  citizens.  They  were  accordingly 
invited  to  furnish  a  "battalion  of  volunteers  early  in  the  month  of  July. 

The  call  could  hardly  have  been  more  inconveniently  timed.  The 
young,  and  those  who  could  best  have  been  spared,  were  then  away  from 
the  main  body,  either  with  pioneer  companies  in  the  van,  or,  their  faith  un- 
announced, seeking  work  and  food  about  the  north-western  settlements,  to 
supjDort  them  till  the  return  of  the  season  for  commencing  emigration. 
The  force  was,  therefore,  to  be  recruited  from  among  fathers  of  families, 
and  others,  whose  presence  it  was  most  desirable  to  retain. 

"There  were  some,  too,  who  could  not  view  the  invitation  without  jeal- 
ousy. They  had  twice  been  persuaded  by  (State)  Government  authorities 
in  Illinois  and  Missouri  to  give  up  their  arms  on  some  special  appeals  to 
their  patriotic  confidence,  and  had  then  been  left  to  the  malice  of  their 
enemies.  And  now  they  were  asked,  in  the  midst  of  the  Indian  country, 
to  surrender  over  five  hundred  of  their  best  men  for  a  war  march  of  thou- 
sands of  miles  to  California,  without  the  hope  of  return  till  after  the  con- 
quest of  that  country.    Could  they  view  such  a  proposition  with  favour  ? 

"But  the  feeling  of  country  triumphed.  The  Union  had  never 
wronged  them :  *  You  shall  have  your  battalion  at  once,  if  it  has  to  be  a 
class  of  our  elders,'  said  one,  himself  a  ruling  elder.  A  central  *  mass 
meeting '  for  council,  some  harangues  at  the  more  remotely  scattered 
camps,  an  American  flag  brought  out  from  a  storehouse  of  things  rescued, 
and  hoisted  to  the  top  of  a  tree  mast,  and  in  three  days  the  force  was  re- 
ported, mustered,  organized,  and  ready  to  march." 

The  colonel's  account  of  the  ball  given  to  the  Battalion  is 
deserving  of  its  place  in  this  Iiistory : 

"  There  was  no  sentimental  affectation  at  their  leave-taking.  The  af- 
ternoon before  was  appropriated  to  a  farewell  ball ;  a  more  merry  dancing 
rout  I  have  never  seen,  though  the  company  went  without  refreshments, 
and  their  ball-room  was  of  the  most  primitive.  It  was  the  custom,  when- 
ever the  larger  camps  rested  for  a  few  days  together,  to  make  great  ar- 
bours, or  boweries,  as  they  called  them,  of  poles  and  brush  and  wattling, 
as  places  of  shelter  for  their  meetings  of  devotion  or  conference.  In  one 
of  these,  v/here  the  ground  had  been  trodden  firm  and  hard  by  the  wor- 
shippers of  the  ,  popular  Father  Taylor's  precinct,  were  gathered  now  the 
mirth  and  beauty  of  the  Mormon  Israel. 

"  If  anything  told  the  Mormons  had  been  bred  to  other  lives,  it  was 
the  appearance  of  the  women  as  they  assembled  here.  Before  their  flight 
they  had  sold  their  watches  and  trinkets  as  the  most  available  resource  for 
raising  ready  money  ;  and  hence,  like  their  partners  who  wore  waistcoats 
cut  with  useless  watch-pockets,  they,  although  their  ears  were  pierced 
and  bore  the  loop-marks  of  rejected  pendants,  were  without  ear-rings, 
finger-rings,  chains,  or  brooches.  Except  such  ornaments,  however,  they 
lacked  nothing  most  becoming  the  attire  of  decorous  maidens.    The  neat- 


246  THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 

ly  darned  white  stockings,  and  clean  bright  petticoat,  the  artistically 
clear-starched  collar  and  chemisette,  the  something  faded,  only  because 
too  well  washed,  lawn  or  gingham  gown,  that  fitted  modishly  to  the  waist 
of  its  pretty  w^earer — these,  if  any  ot  them  spoke  of  poverty,  spoke  of  a 
poverty  that  had  known  its  better  days. 


"  With  the  rest  attended  the  elders  of  the  Church  wdthin  call,  includ- 
ing nearly  all  the  chiefs  of  the  High  Council,  with  their  wives  and  chil- 
dren. They,  the  gravest  and  most  trouble-worn,  seemed  the  most  anxious 
of  any  to  be' first  to  throw  off  the  burden  of  heavy  thoughts.  Their  lead- 
ing off  the  dancing  in  a  great  double  cotillion  was  the  signal  which  bade 
the  festivity  commence.  To  the  canto  of  debonnair  violins,  the  cheer  of 
horns,  the  jingle  of  sleigh-bells,  and  the  jovial  snoring  of  the  tambourine, 
they  did  dance  !  None  of  your  minuets  or  other  mortuary  processions  of  • 
gentles  in  etiquette,  tight  shoes,  and  pinching  gloves,  but  the  spirited  and 
scientific  displavs  of  our  venerated  and  merry  grandparents,  who  were 
not  above  following  the  fiddle  to  the  Fox-Chase  Inn  or  Gardens  of  Gray's 
Ferry.  French  fours,  Copenhagen  jigs,  Virginia  reels,  and  the  hke  for- 
gotten figures,  executed  with  the  spirit  of  people  too  happy  to  be  slow^  or 
bashful,  or  constrained.  Light  hearts,  lithe  figures,  and  light  feet  had  it 
their  own  way  from  an  early  hour  till  after  the  sun  had  dipped  behind 
the  sharp  sky  line  of  the  Omaha  hills.  Silence  was  then  called,  and  a 
well-cultivated  mezzo-soprano  voice,  belonging  to  a  young  lady  with  fair 
face  and  dark  eyes,  gave,  with  quartette  accompaniment,  a  little  song,  the 
notes  of  which  I  have  been  unsuccessful  in  repeated  efforts  to  obtain  since 
-—a  version  of  the  text,  touching  to  all  earthly  wanderers  : 

" '  By  the  rivers  of  Babylon  we  sat  down  and  wept : 
We  wept  when  we  remembered  Zion.' 


TIMELY  AID  FROM  THE  GOVERNMENT. 


247 


"  There  was  danger  of  some  expression  of  feeling  when  the  song  was 
over,  for  it  had  begun  to  draw  tears  ;  but,  breaking  the  quiet  with  his  hard 
voice,  an  elder  asked  the  blessing  of  Heaven  on  all  who,  with  purity  of 
heart  and  brotherhood  of  spirit,  had  mingled  in  that  society,  and -then  all 
dispersed,  hastening  to  cover  from  the  falling  dews." 

With  the  departure  of  the  Battalion,  an  agent  accompanied 
them  to  Leavenworth,  where  he  is  reported  to  have  drawn 
$20,000  "  advance  pay,"  and  with  that  timely  aid,  Brigham 
Young  made  such  outfitting  purchases  in  St.  Louis  as  were 
greatly  needed.  It  is  also  understood  that  an  agent  continued 
with  the  Battalion  until  another  draft  could  be  made  for  their 
pay,  before  entering  upon  their  march  across  the  desert.  Small 
as  such  sums  were,  yet  in  the  situation  and  poverty  of  the  ex- 
iles it  was  certainly  timely  aid  from  the  Government.  There 
has  been  much  personal  dissatisfaction  expressed  about  the 
use  made  of  these  funds,  yet  the  most  bitter  of  his  opponents 
acknowledged  that  Brigham  showed  great  sagacity  in  at  once 
furnishing  the  Battalion."^ 

With  the  presence  of  Col.  Kane  and  elder  Little  among 
the  apostles,  the  Washington  proceedings  were  explained.  On 
the  7th  of  August,  the  Saints  assembled  to  choose  twelve  men 
from  among  the  elders  to  act  as  a  High  Council  in  the  new  Stake 
of  Zion,  organized  on  the  banks  of  the  Missouri,  and  to  trans- 
act other  business  pertaining  to  the  settlement  of  "  Winter 

Quarters."  After  this  meeting,  a  consultation  was  held  with 
Colonel  Kane,  and  the  apostles  advised  together.  It  was  then 
resolved  that  an  address  to  President  Polk  should  be  framed, 
expressive  of  the  gratitude  of  the  Ghurch  of  Jesus  Christ  of 
Latter-Day  Saints  towards  him  for  his  henevoleat  design  "  of 
"  arming  and  planting  fve  hundred  of  our  volunteers  in  Gali- 
'\fornia^  to  take  possession  of  that  country^  and  for  our  good^\ 
"  and  also  praying  the  President  of  the  United  States  not  to 

appoint  Governor  Boggs  of  Missouri — the  notorious  enemy 

*  There  are  very  hard  stories  told  about  the  use  of  this  money  in  the  hands  of 
Brigham.  Affidavits  have  been  made  of  his  heartless  indifference  to  the  wants  of 
the  wives  and  families  of  the  absent  soldiers.  In  Mrs.  Waite's  "  Early  History  of 
Brigham  Young,"  pp.  6-7,  the  affidavit  of  Alexander  McCord  is  given,  relating  to 
this  affair,  and  bears  evidence  of  truthfulness. 

f  The  Mormons  who  remained  in  Nauvoo  voted  the  Democratic  ticket  at  the 
August  election  in  1846.    Almond  W.  Babbitt,  the  agent  of  the  Church  there,  as- 


248 


THE  KOCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


"  of  the  Saints — as  Governor  of  California  and  Oregon."  Thi^ 
is  a  quotation  from  the  written  language  of  one  of  the  apostles, 
and  bears  the  stamp  of  the  genuine  sentiments  of  the  Mormon 
leaders  at  the  time.  The  allusion  to  ex-Governor  B  i;gs  is 
thoroughly  characteristic. 

Some  months  after  the  Battalion  was  in  the  service  of  the 
country,  another  apostle  *  addressed  the  following  language  to 
the  British  Saints : 

"  Although  we  have  been  inhumanly  and  barbarously  dealt  with  by 
the  surrounding  country  where  we  dwelt,  yet  the  President  of  the  United 
States  is  favourably  disposed  to  us.  He  has  sent  out  orders  to  have  five 
hundred  of  our  brethren  employed  in  an  expedition  that  was  fitting  out 
against  California,  with  orders  for  them  to  be  employed  for  one  year,  and 
then  to  be  discharged  in  California,  and  to  have  their  arms  and  imple- 
ments of  war  given  to  them  at  the  expiration  of  the  term  ;  and  as  there  is 
no  prospect  of  any  opposition,  it  amounts  to  the  same  as  paying  them 

FOR  GOING  TO  THE  PLACE  WHERE  THEY  WERE  DESTINED  TO  GO  WITHOUT. 

They  also  had  the  privilege  of  choosing  theii'  own  leaders." 

Another  apostle,  very  recently,  haranguing  the  people  in 
the  Tabernacle  upon  the  persecutions  of  the  Saints,  is  reported 
in  the  Chicago  Tribune  to  have  uttered  the  following : 

"  The  Government  sent  an  agent  who  demanded  five  hundred  volun- 
teers for  the  Mexican  war,  which  was  two  hundred  times  the  proportion 
raised  by  the  country.  This  was  done  that  our  teams ^  and  our  women^  and 
our  children^  might  he  left  defenceless  in  the  Indian  country^  and  so  he  Mlled 
or  perish.  They  said  that  if  we  would  furnish  them  the  men,  we  might  go 
on  in  peace ;  if  not,  they  would  cut  us  off  on  our  journey." 

This  fruitful  subject — the  Government  persecution  " — has 
done  incalculable  mischief  to  the  Saints.  It  has  robbed  them 
of  the  natural  loyalty  of  good  citizens,  and  led  them  to  curse 
the  Government  which  protects  them,  and  to  pray  for  the  over- 
throw and  destruction  of  the  nation. 

serted  that  this  change  in  their  politics  was  an  expression  of  their  gratitude  to 
President  Polk.    Governor  Ford  says  they  voted  from  the  followmg  considerations : 

"  The  President  of  the  United  States  had  permitted  the  Mormons  to  settle  on 
the  Indian  lands  on  the  Missouri  river,  and  had  taken  five  hundred  of  them  into  the 
service  as  soldiers  in  the  war  with  Mexico ;  and  in  consequence  of  these  favours  the 
Mormons  felt  under  obligations  to  vote  for  democrats,  in  support  of  the  administra- 
tion ;  and  so  determined  were  they  that  their  support  of  the  President  should  be 
efficient,  that  they  all  voted  three  or  four  times  each  for  member  of  Congress." — 
"  History  of  Illinois,"  p.  414. 

*  John  Taylor,  Millennial  Star,  November  15,  1846. 


BENTON  AND  TAYLOR  IN  THE  NETHER  REGIONS.  249 

To  say  that  Brigliam  did  alone  invent  the  story  of  the  Gov- 
ernment seeking  the  destruction  of  the  Saints  when  the  Bat- 
talion was  recruited,  would  be  charging  him  unjustly.  One 
of  the  elders  wrote  to  him  from  the  East,  stating  that  Senator 
Benton,  of  Missouri,  disliked  the  Mormons,  and  had  prevailed 
upon  President  Polk  to  call  for  volunteers,  believing  that  they 
would  refuse,  and  in  that  case  the  President  pledged  to  the 
Senator  that  the  forces  of  the  United  States  sliould  be  sent 
against  them,  to  annihilate  the  whole  migrating  body. 

That  a  man  of  Brigham  Young's  hard  sense  should  believe 
such  a  statement,  is  only  credible  upon  the  theory  that  people 
easily  adopt  what  is  harmonious  with  their  own  inclinations. 
He  naturally  hated  Missouri,  and  he  could,  therefore,  willingly 
accept  any  vicious  story  told  him  about  that  State,  or  any  one 
from  it.  On  such  an  unlikely  report  ^'  Old  Tom  Benton  " 
has  been  consigned  to  "  his  place,"  and  now  keeps  company  in 
the  nether  regions  with  "  Old  Zach  Taylor,"  who  in  some  un- 
fortunate way  had  given  umbrage  to  the  Prophet  Brigham.  It 
is  proper  to  add  that  in  a  recent  conversation  with  Mrs.  Gen. 
John  C.  Fremont,  who  had  the  pleasure  of  assisting  her 
honoured  father.  Senator  Benton,  as  private  secretary,  the 
Author  discovered  nothing  that  suggested  confirmation  of 
Brigham's  charge,  but  much  to  the  contrary.  That  distin- 
guished lady  claimed  that  Senator  Benton  was  not  the  man  to 
seek  to  reach  the  Mormons  through  any  covert  means,  involv- 
ing another's  responsibility. 

Besides  this,  there  is  such  an  air  of  good  faith  in  the  action 
of  the  Government  throughout,  that  no  sane  man  could  believe 
in  the  diabolical  scheme  attributed  to  Senator  Benton  and  said 
to  have  been  approved  by  President  Polk.  The  story  was  only 
good  to  tell  the  Saints,  in  order  to  cultivate  their  dislike  to  the 
Republic,  and  increase  their  endearment  to  "  the  kingdom." 
No  other  motive  is  apparent,  and  certainly  no  other  result  has 
been  attained. 

It  is  greatly  to  be  regretted  that  a  battalion  recruited  from 
the  suggestions  of  the  kindest  philanthropy,  responded  to  so 
promptly,  at  such  personal  sacrifice  to  the  volunteers  and  their 
families,  and  with  such  an  excellent  record  for  faithful  service, 
should  be  for  ever  marred  in  the  mention  of  its  name  by  such 
bitter  vindictiveness  against  the  national  Government. 


CHAPTEE  XXXII. 


FOUNDING  OF  THE  FEONTIER  CITIES.— Brigham's  First  and  Last  Keve- 
lation— The  Departure  of  tlie  Pioneers— The  Discovery  of  Salt  Lake  Valley— 
The  Return  to  the  Missouri  River, 

On  the  banks  of  the  Missouri,  the  exiles  were  in  Indian 
Territory.  The  renowned  chief  of  the  Pottowattamies,  Pled 
Siche,  surnamed  Le  Clerc,  gave  them  a  kindly  welcome  on  the 
east  of  the  river,  and  JBig  Elk  was  as  gracious  on  the  west. 
The  red  men  were  liberal,  extending  to  them  the  free  use  of 
their  unoccupied  lands,  and  liberty  to  cut  all  the  timber  they 
required,  with  which  was  thrown  in  an  expression  of  genuine 
sympathy  for  their  misfortunes.  With  a  vivid  remembrance 
of  their  recent  troubles  in  Nanvoo,  and  their  flight  from  the 
abodes  of  the  "  pale-faces  "  in  the  depth  of  winter,  this  warmth 
of  human  feeling  made  a  deep  impression  upon  the  Mormons, 
and  during  their  stay  among  the  savages  they  returned  to  them 
manifold  the  favours  that  they  received. 

On  the  eastern  side  of  the  river,  camps  were  formed  wher- 
ever the  land  was  good  and  favoured  farming,  and  settlements 
sprang  up  near  the  streams  and  groves  of  timber.  The  main 
settlement  was  called  Kanesville,  in  honour  of  Colonel  Kane, 
and  was  the  foundation  of  what  is  now  Council  Bluffs  City, 
Iowa. 

The  main  body  of  the  emigrants  crossed  the  river,  and  lo- 
cated six  miles  north  of  what  is  now  Omaha,  Nebraska.  There 
they  built  up  "  Winter  Quarters,"  a  city  of  some  seven  hun- 
dred log-huts  and  dug-outs,"  in  the  midst  of  which  was  the 
"  Tabernacle  of  the  congregation,"  where  the  disciples  assem- 
bled for  worship  and  instruction. 

Mount  Pisgah,  Garden  Grove,  Kanesville,  and  Winter 


BRIGHAM'S  FIRST  AND  LAST  REVELATION.  253 


Quarters,  were  necessary  resting-places  for  the  weary,  where 
they  might  recruit  their  strength  and  replenish  their  stores  of 
grain  for  the  preservation  of  themselves  and  cattle.  It  was  a 
hard  life.  The  best  among  them  had  nothing  too  much,  and 
many  of  them  lacked  the  ordinary  necessaries  of  life ;  but  it 
was  suffering  for  the  faith,  and  they  bore  their  privations  with 
heroism. 

On  the  14th  of  January,  1847,  Brigliam  Young  issued,  from 
his  head  quarters,  "  The  Word  and  Will  of  the  Lord  concern- 
"  ing  the  Camp  of  Israel  in  their  journeyings  to  the  West." 
As  it  is  the  only  occasion  on  which  Brigham  has  given  to  the 
Saints  a  written  revelation,  it  deserves  a  place  in  history.  It 
reads  thus  : 

"  Let  all  the  people  of  the  Church  of  Jesus  Christ  of  Latter-day  Saints, 
and  those  who  journey  with  them,  be  organized  into  companies,  with  a 
covenant  and  a  promise  to  keep  all  the  commandments  and  statutes  of  the 
Lord  our  God.  Let  the  companies  be  organized  with  captains  of  hun- 
dreds, and  captains  of  fifties,  and  captains  of  tens,  with  a  president  and 
counsellor  at  their  head,  under  direction  of  the  Twelve  Apostles :  and  this 
shall  be  our  covenant,  that  we  will  walk  in  all  the  ordinances  of  the  Lord. 

Let  each  company  provide  itself  with  all  the  teams,  wagons,  provi- 
sions, and  all  other  necessaries  for  the  journey,  that  they  can.  When  the 
companies  are  organized,  let  them  go  to  witli  all  their  might,  to  prepare 
for  those  who  are  to  tarry.  Let  each  company,  with  their  captains  and 
presidents,  decide  how  many  can  go  next  spring ;  then  choose  out  a  sufli- 
cient  number  of  able-bodied  and  expert  men  to  take  teams,  seed,  and 
farming  utensils  to  go  as  pioneers  to  prepare  for  putting  in  the  spring 
crops.  Let  each  company  bear  an  equal  proportion,  according  to  the  divi- 
dend of  their  property,  in  taking  the  poor,  the  widows,  and  the  fatherless, 
and  tile  families  of  those  who  have  gone  with  the  army,  that  the  cries  of 
the  widow  and  the  fatherless  come  not  up  into  the  ears  of  the  Lord  against 
his  people. 

"  Let  each  company  prepare  houses,  and  fields  for  raising  grain  for 
those  who  are  to  remain  behind  this  season ;  and  this  is  the  will  of  the 
Lord  concerning  this  people. 

"  Let  every  man  use  all  his  influence  and  property  to  remove  this  peo- 
ple to  the  place  where  the  Lord  shall  locate  a  stake  of  Zion  •  and  if  ye  do 
this  with  a  pure  heart,  with  all  faithfulness,  ye  shall  be  blessed  in  your 
flocks,  and  in  your  herds,  and  in  your  fields,  and  in  your  houses,  and  in 
your  families.    ,    .  . 

"  Seek  ye,  and  keep  all  your  pledges  one  with  another,  and  covet  not 
that  which  is  thy  brother's.  Keep  yourselves  from  evil ;  take  not  the 
aame  of  the  Lord  thy  God  in  vain ;  for  I  am  the  Lord  your  God,  even 


254 


THE  KOOKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


the  God  of  your  fathers — the  God  of  Abraham,  Isaac,  and  of  Jacob.  I  am 
he  who  led  the  children  of  Israel  out  of  the  land  of  Egypt,  and  my  arm 
is  stretched  out  in  the  last  days  to  save  my  people  Israel.    .    .  . 

"  Have  I  not  delivered  you  from  your  enemies  only  in  that  I  have  left 
a  witness  of  my  name  ?  Now,  therefore,  hearken  !  oh,  ye  people  of  my 
Church,  and  ye  Elders  listen  together.  You  have  received  my  kingdom  : 
Be  diligent  in  keeping  all  my  commandments,  lest  judgment  come  upon 
you,  and  your  faith  fail  you,  and  your  enemies  triumph  over  you.  Amen, 
and  Amen." 

With  the  Saints  this  document  found  peculiar  favour.  It 
was  to  them  ^'  the  Lord  "  again,  after  a  long  silence,  manifest- 
ing himself  as  in  the  days  of  Joseph,  and  it  foresliadowed  that 
his  presence  would  go  with  them  in  their  journey  over  the 
desert,  and  that  under  his  direction  they  would  reach  the  prom- 
ised land.  This  is  the  first  time  that  this  document  has  been 
given  to  the  public,  and  the  student  of  Mormon  revelations 
will  remark  a  striking  difference  between  the  last  revelation 
of  Joseph  Smith  on  polygamy,  and  the  first  of  Brigham  Young 
on  emigration.  Both  are  stamped  with  the  characteristics  of 
the  men,  and  their  peculiar  situations  at  the  moment.  It  is 
difficult  to  perceive  the  same  authorship  in  both,  yet  both  are 
claimed  as  emanations  from  Jesus  Christ. 

Accepting  the  phenomenal  manifestation  of  "  revelation  " 
in  past  ages,  as  well  as  that  claimed  by  the  modern  spiritual- 
ists, there  is  nothing  in  Brigham's  revelation,  nor  in  those  of 
Joseph  Smith,  that  is  incomprehensible,  except  the  boldness  of 
tlte  assertion  that  they  are  "  revelations  from  "  the  Lord  ; 
and  sincerity  may  even  be  accorded  to  that  assumption,  grant- 
ing that  it  is  only  a  piece  of  folly  arising  from  ignorance  of 
latent  powers  of  the  human  mind  which  develop  in  certain 
conditions  or  surroundings.  The  world  has  abounded  with 
notable  instances  of  remarkable  men  and  women  who  have  be- 
lieved themselves  to  be  the  recipients  of  some  divine  mission 
in  politics  or  in  religion,  and  who  in  one  department  or  the 
other  have  performed  prodigies  of  valour  or  miracles  of  faith, 
which,  without  the  impressions  claimed  to  be  revelations," 
would  never  have  been  performed.  If  Joseph  had  kept  o-ut 
"  Thus  saith  the  Lord,"  and  the  assumption  of  sanctity,  from 
his  revelation  on  polygamy,  the  reader  would  never  have  sus- 
pected that  document  to  have  had  any  other  origin  than  Jo- 


REVELATIONS  IMPROVE  IN  STYLE. 


255 


seph  Smith  in  the  deep  distress  and  trouble  in  which  he  was  at 
that  time.  Leaving  out  of  Brigham's  revelation  the  few  words 
about  "  the  Lord,"  it  is  just  such  a  document  as  any  com- 
mander of  an  expedition  passing  through  an  unexplored  coun- 
try infested  with  Indians  would  have  given  to  his  soldiers, 
and  where  it  bears  marks  of  difference  from  such  military  or- 
ders, it  is  the  difference  between  addressing  a  promiscuous 
multitude  instead  of  a  disciplined  army. 

"  The  Lord's  "  style  of  revelation  to  Brigham  is  a  great 
improvement  upon  "  the  Lord's  "  style  of  revelation  to  Joseph. 
It  is  just  as  much  better  English  in  Brigham's  case  than  in 
that  of  Joseph,  as  Willard  Eichards's  literary  education  was 
superior  to  that  of  William  Clayton  !  "  The  Lord's  "  English 
in  the  Book  of  Mormon,  while  Oliver  Cowdery  was  Joseph's 
scribe,  and  Joseph  was  tenacious  in  clinging  to  his  unaltered 
inspirations,  is  a  remarkable  specimen  of  English  composition ; 
but  as  Joseph  gathered  around  him  better  scribes,  and  concluded 
that  "  the  Lord's "  revelations  could  be  somewhat  improved, 
they  became  more  readable. 

The  annual  conference  of  the  Church  was  held  at  "Winter 
Quarters  on  the  6th  of  April,  1847,  and  the  people  assembled 
from  all  parts  of  the  country  and  prepared  for  moving  West. 
On  the  14th  of  that  month  a  party  of  one  hundred  and  forty- 
three  picked  men,  with  three  women,  two  children,  and  seventy- 
three  wagons,  drawn  by  horses  and  oxen,  left  the  Missouri  river 
for  the  Eocky  Mountains,  under  the  leadership  of  Brigham 
Young. 

As  soon  as  the  pioneers  got  out  from  camp  and  had  bidden 
adieu  to  their  families,  they  were  organized  into  companies,  as 
directed  in  the  revelation,  and  put  in  fighting  trim,  lest  they 
should  be  forced  to  try  hostilities  with  the  Indians.  Every  one 
carried  his  gun  loaded,  but  uncapped,  in  his  hand,  walked  by 
the  side  of  his  wagon,  and  was  forbidden  to  leave  it'  unless  or- 
dered to  do  so.  Brigham  was  general,  and  his  accustomed 
caution  was  an  excellent  supplement  to  his  revelation. 

The  Indians  sometimes  sallied  out  as  the  pioneers  passed 
their  villages,  but  when  the  brethren  "  received  them  in  half 
moon  phalanx,"  the  red-skins  preferred  presents  to  lead,  and 
allowed  the  emigrants,  after  a  brief  "  pow-wow,"  to  pass  on 
16 


256 


THE  KOCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


Nothing  of  special  interest  occurred  on  the  journey  of  the  pio 
neers  beyond  what  has  been  common  to  all  travel  over  the 
plains  ;  still,  it  is  never  to  be  forgotten  that  the  Saints  claim  to 
have  "  made  the  roads,  bridged  the  streams,  and  killed  the 
"  snakes." 

Before  reaching  Salt  Lake  City  the  pioneers  met  with  the 
renowned  Jim  "  Bridger,  who  did  anything  but  encourage 
them  with  hopes  of  finding  a  fruitful  land  in  Salt  Lake  Basin, 
and,  with  the  usual  liberality  of  the  West,  "  Jim  "  was  pre- 
pared to  give  a  thousand  dollars  for  the  first  ear  of  corn  tliat 
Brigham  could  raise  there. 

Jim  had  lived  in  wigwams  with  squaws  for  half  a  long  life- 
time, far  away  from  the  abodes  of  the  "  pale-faces,"  and  up  to 
that  hour  he  had  not  heard  of  the  wonders  of  the  modern  gos- 
pel. Brigham  knew  what  faith  was  going  to  do — his  kind  of 
faith — and  he  prophesied  liberally  to  Jim  about  what*he  and 
his  squaws  would  yet  live  to  see.  Jim  could  not  comprehend 
how  that  the  summer-parched  soil,  with  a  rainless  sky  over- 
head, was  going  to  sustain  any  body  of  civilized  people,  as 
those  now  approaching  from  the  East,  and  advised  the  Mor- 
mons to  travel  on.  He  had  ^'  trapped  "  all  over  the  country 
for  a  score  of  years,  and  knew  every  green  sward  that  dotted 
the  banks  of  the  rivers,  and  had  counted  the  verdure-clothed 
springs  that  were  few  and  far  between,  and  small  even  then. 
But  the  more  that  the  future  of  Zion  was  doubtful  in  Jim's 
mind,  the  more  Brigham  abounded  in  grace  and  prophesied. 
Jim  had  never  seen  the  heavens  dropping  rain — "  only  very 
"occasionally!"  Brigham  had  studied  irrigation.  Jim  was 
looking  for  favours  from  above.  Brigham  was  counting  on  the 
labours  of  below. 

Before  the  pioneers  reached  Salt  Lake  Yalley  they  were 
met  by  elder  Brannan,  who  had  sailed  from  New  York,  in  the 
Brooklyn,  to  San  Francisco.  He  had  made  the  journey  over- 
land to  report  to  Brigham  that  California  was  a  rich  country 
and  a  glorious  place  for  the  future  gathering  of  the  Saints. 
But  Brigham  did  not  like  the  report.  He  preferred  the  desert. 
A  choice  and  rich  land  would  attract  the  Gentiles,  and  the 
Saints  would  soon  be  overwhelmed  and  rooted  out,  as  they  had 
been  in  Missouri  and  Blinois.  He  wanted  to  locate  where  there 


MAP    OF   SALT   LAKE  VALLEY. 


DISCOVERY  OF  SALT  LAKE  VALLEY. 


259 


was  nothing  to  tempt  the  Gentile  emigration.  He  desired  iso- 
lation, that  he  might  bnild  np  the  kingdom."  A  detachment 
of  one  hundred  and  forty  of  the  Battalion  joined  the  pioneers 
en  route  on  the  4th  of  July,  and  advanced  westward  with  them 
to  the  Salt  Lake  Yalley. 

On  the  22nd  of  J uly  the  apostle  Orson  Pratt  and  a  few 
others  reached  the  rim  of  the  Salt  Lake  Basin,  and  the  next 
day  they  rode  over  a  portion  of  the  valley,  exploring  for  a 
camping-ground  near  wood  and  water.  They  returned  to*the 
camp  of  the  pioneers,  and  reported  that  they  had  found  the 
place  that  Joseph  had  spoken  of  where  the  Church  could  be 
located,  and  where  the  Saints  could  increase  and  multiply  with- 
out molestation. 

On  the  morning  of  the  24th  of  July,  1847,  when  Brigham 
Young  and  the  body  of  the  pioneers  first  got  a  glimpse  of  the 
Great  Basin,  there  was  a  universal  exclamation — "  The  Land 
"of  Promise!  The  Land  of  Promise! — held  in  reserve  by 
"  the  hand  of  God  for  the  resting-place  of  His  Saints !  "  Thus 
writes  the  historian.  After  a  tedious  journey  over  unmade 
roads,  a  distance  of  1,100  miles,  and  passing  through  so  many 
difficulties  by  the  way,  it  would  have  been  strange  indeed  had 
the  weary  travellers  gazed  upon  the  beautiful  scenery  of  Salt 
Lake  Valley  without  admiration  and  "  ecstacies  of  joy." 

From  the  mouth  of  the  canon  through  which  the  pioneers 
entered  the  valley,  the  view  is  ravishing.    In  the  distant  west . 
the  Great  Salt  Lake  lies  glistening  like  a  sheet  of  silver,  and 
in  every  direction  that  the  eye  can  travel  lofty  mountains 
bound  the  horizon. 

Brigham  was  sick  when  he  reached  the  Yalley,  but  he  was 
*no  less  enthusiastic  than  the  others,  and  was  fully  satisfied 
that  they  had  reached  the  Zion  of  the  Mountains,  that  had 
been  the  theme  of  ancient  prediction. 

On  the  banks  of  a  small  stream  southwest  of  the  Taber- 
nacle block,  the  pioneers  made  their  first  encampment,  and,  as 
soon  as  their  horses  and  cattle  were  unhitched  and  cared  for, 
the  Yalley  of  Great  Salt  Lake  was  consecrated  to  the  Lord. 

In  the  same  hour  the  ploughs  were  taken  from  the  wagons 
and  the  earth  was  upturned  to  receive  the  seed  for  the  autumn 
crops,  upon  which  so  much  depended  for  the  support  of  the 


260 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


coming  emigration.  While  a  portion  of  the  pioneers  were 
thus  engaged,  others  were  constructing  a  dam,  by  which  the 
waters  of  the  creek  could  be  controlled,  and  irrigation  would 
be  secure  for  the  dry  and  hitherto  barren  soil.  No  rain  was 
anticipated,  but  "providentially  "  a  thunder-storm  burst  upon 
them,  which  was  accepted  as  an  omen  of  the  favour  of  "  the 
"  Lord."  The  thunders  and  lightnings  of  Sinai,  and  the  smit- 
ing of  the  rock  in  Horeb  while  the  chosen  people  travelled 
through  the  desert  of  Zin,  were  not  more  assuring  to  the 
wanderers  of  the  presence  of  the  great  Hebrew  lawgiver  than 
was  the  thunder-storm  of  the  24th  of  July,  1847  to  "  modern 
"  Israel." 

The  following  day  was  the  first  of  the  week,  and  the  Sab- 
bath was  to  be  hallowed  as  a  perpetual  institution  in  Zion. 
Brigham,  sick  and  peevish,  invited  those  present  who  could 
not  keep  the  Sabbath  as  a  day  of  rest  and  worship,  to  "  leave, 
"  and  go  their  own  way  among  the  ungodly." 

Exploring  expeditions  were  sent  out  in  every  direction  to 
gain  a  knowledge  of  the  surrounding  country.  One  party 
found  on  the  west  side  of  Jordan  about  a  hundred  goats,  sheep, 
and  antelopes  playing  about  the  hills,  and  before  they  returned 
they  made  their  first  acquaintance  with  the  Utah  Indians.  On 
the  north  side  of  where  Salt  Lake  City  now  stands,  a  party 
ascended  a  high  peak  of  the  mountain,  from  which  they  over- 
looked the  whole  valley.  Subsequently  on  this  summit  they 
hoisted  the  national  flag,  and  named  the  mountain  Ensign 
Peak.  Brigham  is  credited,  in  Gentile  traditions,  with  having 
ascended  this  mountain  and  conversed  with  some  angel  who 
made  important  revelations  to  him,  and  traced  the  laying  out 
of  the  Temple  block.  The  orthodox  are  silent  on  this  subject, 
which  is  a  pretty  certain  contradiction  of  the  story.  If  true,  it 
would  have  been  told. 

On  the  28th,  the  Temple  block  was  selected — a  plot  of  forty 
acres  ;  and  a  city,  two  miles  square,  was  laid  off  in  lots  of  eight 
rods  by  tweilty,  exclusive  of  streets,  and  the  blocks  of  eight 
rods  each,  making  ten  acres  to  the  block.  The  streets  were 
laid  out  towards  the  cardinal  points  of  the  compass,  eight  rods 
wide,  with  a  sidewalk  of  twenty  feet.  The  houses  were  di- 
rected to  be  built  in  the  centre  of  the  lot,  twenty  feet  from  the 


THE  PIONEERS  RETURN  TO  MISSOURI. 


261 


front  line,  and  shade  trees  were  ordered  to  be  planted  in  all  the 
streets.  By  a  foolish  economy  of  land,  the  Temple  block  was 
trimmed  from  forty  to  ten  acres. 

After  the  apostles,  the  pioneers,  and  members  of  the  Bat- 
tali6n  had  selected  their  inheritances  in  this  New  Zion,  and  had 
put  in  their  autmnn  crops,  most  of  them  returned  to  the  Mis- 
souri river  to  prepare  their  families  for  emigrating  in  the  com- 
ing spring.  On  their  return  journey  the  party  were  exceed- 
ingly short  of  rations,  and  had  to  rely  almost  entirely  upon 
their  rifles  for  supplies.  They  endured  much  suffering.  The 
Indians  harassed  them,  and  on  the  way  stole  from  them  fifty 
horses  and  mules.  There  was,  however,  no  death  among  the 
brethren,  though  many  of  them  were  sick  when  they  first  start- 
ed from  the  Missouri  on  the  exploring  expedition.  On  the  last 
day  of  October  they  arrived  at  Winter  Quarters,  after  an  ab- 
sence of  eight  months,  and  were  received  with  great  joy. 


CHAPTEE  XXXIII. 

CHANGES  IN  THE  CHUECH.— Brigham  Young  assumes  Joseph's  Authority 
and  Place — The  Emigration  from  Europe  re-opened — Migration  of  the  Saints  to 
the  New  Zion — Brigham  invites  Presidents,  Emperors,  Kings,  Princes,  Nobles, 
etc.,  to  come  to  the  Help  of  "  the  Lord  " — The  Pioneers  en  route. 

The  grand  importance  and  success  of  the  mission  of  the 
pioneers  to  the  Eocky  Mountains  was  the  beginning  of  a  new 
era  in  Morraonism. 

Up  to  this  time  Israel  had  been  "  in  bondage  among  the 
"  Gentiles."  The  laws  that  govern  the  citizens  of  the  United 
States  had  restrained  the  Saints  from  living  np  to  the  higher 
laws  of  the  kingdom."  But  from  this  time  they  were  to 
have  a  national  existence,  and  in  nearly  every  public  document 
and  in  every  sermon  in  the  Tabernacle  they  were  henceforth 
to  be  spoken  of  as  "  this  people." 

From  the  death  of  Joseph  and  the  dis-fellowshipping  of  Eig- 
don,  the  Quorum  of  the  Twelve  Apostles  had  had  the  honour 
of  leading  the  Saints,  and  Brigham  was  its  senior  member  and 
President.  In  his  opinion,  however,  the  time  had  now  arrived 
for  a  change. 

At  Winter  Quarters  there  was  a  log-cabin,  about  fifty  feet 
long,  situated  near  the  centre  of  the  settlement.  The  roof  and 
slanting  sides  and  ends  of  the  structure  were  covered  with  turf 
about  two  feet  thick.  It  had  several  small  windows  in  the  roof 
and  a  door  near  one  end.  Into  it  none  could  look ;  from  it 
nothing  could  be  heard.  This  was  the  Council-House.'^  It 
was  here  that  "  the  Lord  "  spoke  unto  his  servants. 

It  •is  a  general  idea  with  the  unsophisticated  that  when 
"  the  Lord  "  reveals  his  will  concerning  the  Church,  the  peo- 
ple listen,  comprehend,  and  obey.  'It  had  been  understood  in 


BRIGHAM  SEEKS  THE  UPPER  SEAT. 


263 


this  manner  with  Joseph  Smith ;  but  Brigham  Young  was  as 
yet  unused  to  the  style  of  the  heavenly  world,  and  was  ex- 
tremely cautious,  preparing  to  grope  his  way  to  the  goal  of 
his  desires  rather  than  risk  the  hasty  announcement  of  "the 
"  Lord's  "  programme. 

As  he  was  leading  back  the  pioneers  from  Salt  Lake  to  the 
Missouri  river,  he  divulged  for  the  first  time  his  idea  of  the  de- 
sirability of  reorganizing  the  Church  "  as  it  was  in  the  days  of 
"  Joseph,"  with  a  President  and  two  counsellors,  forming  a 
quorum,  called  The  First  Presidency.  The  apostle  Wilford 
Woodruff  was  taken  into  his  confidence,  and  to  him  Brigham's 
purpose  was  first  communicated  as  a  suggestion.  Brother 
"Woodruff  did  not  see  it  very  clearly,  for  the  Church  and  the 
world  had  been  assured  that  the  twelve  apostles  were  to  lead 
the  Saints,  and  that  the  place  of  Joseph  over  the  Church  was 
not  to  be  filled.  Brother  Woodruff,  however,  is  a  man  of  great 
faith,  humble  and  tractable  in  the  hands  of  "  the  Lord,"  and  be- 
ing more  a  follower  than  a  leader,  he  soon  saw  the  point  very 
clearly.  Brigham  was  successful;  he  had  gained  an  apostle 
upon  whom  he  could  count. 

The  apostle  Kimball,  who  stood  next  to  Brigham  in  author- 
ity, and  Willard  Richards,  the  best  scholar  and  secretary  of  the 
Twelve,  were,  if  the  proposed  change  were  effected,  to  be  ele- 
vated to  the  First  Presidency  as  counsellors.  These,  with  Wood- 
ruff and  Brigham,  constituted  four  of  the  Twelve  already  dis- 
posed of.  Elder  E.  T.  Benson  had  been  ordained  an  apostle 
while  crossing  the  plains  going  West ;  he  could,  therefore,  of- 
fer no  opposition  to  the  change,  had  he  even  been  capable  of 
doing  so.  Amasa  Lyman  and  Geo.  A.  Smith  were  men  of  ex- 
cellent dispositions,  and  themselves  free  from  all  guile  in  the 
way  of  ambition — they  were  sure  to  sustain  ^'  the  Lord."  Ly- 
man Wight  had  not  followed  Brigham  westward,  and  so  there 
was  no  occasion  to  speak  of  him.  There  remained,  therefore, 
but  four  men  in  the  Quorum  of  the  Twelve — Orson  Hyde,  Par- 
ley P.  Pratt,  Orson  Pratt,  and  John  Taylor — to  be  dealt  with. 
Each  of  these  had  retained  some  personal  identity,  and  believed 
in  the  first  preachings  and  "  whisperings  of  the  spirit "  after 
the  death  of  Joseph,  which  promised  that  the  Twelve  Apostles 
should  lead  the  Church. 


264 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


By  tlie  assassination  of  the  two  Smiths,  Brigham  Young, 
being  the  eldest  of  the  apostles  and  President  of  the  Quornm, 
became,  de  facto,  the  leader,  though  the  Twelve  were  nomin- 
ally the  guiding  head."  The  elevation  of  Brigham  and  his 
two  counsellors  opened  the  way  for  Hyde,  and  made  him 
President  of  the  apostles,  and  in  case  of  Brigham's  death  he 
would  have  become  the  head  of  the  Church.  "  The  finger  of 
"  the  Lord "  was  clear  to  brother  Hyde,  and  he  heard  "  the 
"  voice  of  the  Lord  "  calling  upon  his  servant  Brigham  to  step 
forward  and  assume  that  position.  Of  course  he  did ;  but 
the  Pratts  and  Taylor  were  not  so  favoured. 

.  On  the  5th  of  December,  1847,  in  that  long  mud-roofed 
Council  House  which  was  impervious  to  sound  from  without, 
and  from  within  which  not  the  loudest  wrangle  could  be  heard 
by  the  passer-by,  sat  Brigham  and  his  apostles  debating  on  the 
proposed  change.  Elder  Taylor  offered  a  manly  opposition, 
while  Orson  Pratt  sternly  clung  to  the  order  of  the  Church,  its 
revelations,  preaching,  and  promises ;  and  Parley  was  eloquent 
for  the  headship  of  the  Church  remaining  with  the  Twelve. 
But  wordy  opposition  availed  nothing,  and  an  appeal  to  the 
people  would  have  divided  the  Church.  They  fully  realized 
that  no  opposition  to  Brigham  Young  was  possible  within  the 
Church,  and  they  dared  not  step  without  to  accomplish  it. 
They  had  silently  to  submit,  but  Brigham  has  never  forgiven 
that  hostility. 

The  coming  change  was  soon  bruited  among  the  people, 
and  by  them  heard  at  first  with  astonishment.  A  general  con- 
ference of  all  the  Saints  was  convened  at  Winter  Quarters,  and 
there  the  election  of  Brigham  took  place.  Soon  after  that 
council  a  four  days'  meeting  was  held  in  the  Log  Tabernacle 
near  Kanesville,  and  there  the  proposed  change  was  the  sub- 
ject of  discourse.  Faithful  brethren  were  invited  to  speak  on 
the  subject,  and  one  by  one  gave  in  their  adhesion  to  the  re- 
organization. When  the  moment  for  voting  had  arrived,  every 
man  was  to  be  seen  and  to  be  understood.  As  soon  as  the 
apostles  raised  their  hands  affirmatively,  the  battle  was  over. 
Their  example  was  followed,  and,  in  their  order,  the  High  Coun- 
^  cil,  the  high  priests,  seventies,  elders,  priests,  teachers,  and 
deacons,  and  finally  the  vast  congregation  of  women,  raised 


BRIGHAM  ELECTED  PRESIDENT. 


265 


their  hands  to  heaven  in  token  that  they  would  sustain 
Brigham  Yonng.  Of  this  election  he  wrote  to  the  president 
of  the  British  Church :  "  I  feel  glory,  hallelujah  !  Nothing 
"  more  has  been  done  to-day  than  what  I  knew  would  be  done 
"  when  Joseph  died."  ^ 

Thus  Brigham  became  the  "  President  of  the  Church  of 
"Jesus  Christ  of  Latter-day  Saints  throughout  the  whole 
"world."  Kimball  and  Richards  becatiie  his  counsellors,  and 
Hyde  was  made  president  of  the  apostles. 

This  move  of  Brigham's  has  been  charged  against  him  as 
an  act  of  usurpation  ;  but  that  amounts  to  very  little.  The 
Mormon  people  have  accepted  the  position  of  "unchallenged 
"  obedience,"  and  it  would  have  been  incompatible  with  their 
own  profession  of  faith  to  question  any  proposition  emanating 
from  the  head  of  the  Church.  Brigham's  action,  then,  with 
Brigham's  former  teaching,  is  all  explicable  by  the  doctrine  of 
"  expediency." 

There  is  a  tinge  of  Cromwell  and  Napoleon  about  Brigham 
that  is  really  charming  to  the  very  humble  Mormons.  Should 
he  hereafter  at  any  time  propose  to  organize  the  United  States 
iilto  a  kingdom,  and  crown  himself  its  monarch,  the  Saints 
would  be  as  sure  to  vote  for  him  unanimously.  There  is  no 
alternative.  To  doubt  his  proposition  is  to  doubt  heaven,  and 
to  leave  themselves  without  a  head  to  lead  them. 

With  the  Church  reorganized  and  a  new  Zion  to  be  built 
up,  the  elders  were  again  ready  for  missionary  work. 

The  Mormon  emigration  from  Europe  and  all  other  distant 
countries,  that  had  closed  with  the  exodus  from  Nauvoo,  was 
again  opened.  A  general  epistle,  issued  on  the  23rd  of  Decem- 
ber, announced  the  route  from  Liverpool  to  be  via  New  Orleans, 
St.  Louis,  and  up  the  Missouri  to  Council  Bluffs,  and  the  emi- 
grants were  to  bring  with  them  all  kinds  of  choice  seeds  of 
grain,  vegetables,  fruits,  trees,  vines — the  best  stock  of  beasts, 
birds,  and  fowl ;  the  best  tools  and  machinery,  together  with 
every  interesting  book,  map,  chart,  and  scientific  work  which 
they  could  obtain.  They  were  to  bring  their  treasures  of  pre- 
cious metals  and  those  of  general  utility,  the  curiosities  of  art 
and  nature,  "  everything  in  their  possession  or  within  their 

*  Millennial  Star,  Vol.  X.,  p.  116. 


266 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


"reach,  to  build  in  strengtli  and  stability,  to  beautify,  adorn 
"  and  embellish,  to  delight  and  cast  a  fragrance  over  the  house 
"  of  the  Lord." 

With  a  flourish  of  national  feeling,  Brigham,  following  the 
time-honoured  custom  of  the  British  monarch,  announced  in 
that  general  epistle  that^the  Mormons  were  "  at  peace  with  all 
"nations,  kingdoms,  powers,  governments,  and  authorities," 
save  "  the  kingdom  atid  power  of  darkness ;  "  and  invited, 
"  presidents,  emperors,  kings,  princes,  nobles,  governors,  rulers, 
"and  judges,"  and  the  rest  of  mankind,  "  to  come  and  help  us 
"  to  build  a  house  to  the  name  of  the  God  of  Jacob." 

At  this  period  Brigham  appears  to  have  been  very  intent 
upon  building  the  Temple.  When  he  was  419  miles  west  of 
Winter  Quarters,  July  13,  184:8,  he  wrote  to  Orson  Spencer, 
the  President  of  the  Church  in  Britain  :  "  While  you  tarry 
"  in  England  I  wish  you  would  exert  yourself  to  gather  up  as 
"  much  tithing  as  you  possibly  can,  and  bring  it  with  you,  in 
"  order  to  prepare  for  glass,  nails,  paints,  and  such  other  arti- 
"  cles  as  will  be  needed  to  bring  from  the  States  to  assist  in 
"building up  the  Temple  of  the  Lord  in  the  valley  of  the  Great 
"  Salt  Lake."  Twenty-four  years  have  since  passed  away,  and 
the  Temple  is  but  a  few  feet  above  the  ground,  while  it  is  stated 
that  millions  have  been  collected  by  tithing  and  contribution 
for  its  erection  !  ^ 

The  "  day  of  deliverance  has  surely  come,"  and  the  camps 
of  Israel  on  the  banks  of  Missouri  were  alive  in  the  spring  of 
1848  making  preparations  for  departure.  All  who  could, 
wanted  to  go. 

The  same  order  of  travel  that  "  the  Lord "  had  revealed 
through  his  servant  Brigham  for  the  guidance  of  the  pioneers 
was  again  observed,  and  captains  of  tens,  fifties,  and  hundreds 
were  chosen.  By  the  beginning  of  June  the  pilgrims  were  en 
route.  The  following  inventory  of  the  first  five  companies  is 
interesting.  Altogether  there  were  623  wagons,  1,891  souls, 
131  horses,  M  mules,  2,012  oxen,  983  cows,  334  loose  cattle,  654 
sheep,  237  pigs,  904  chickens,  54  cats,  134  dogs,  3  goats,  10 
geese,  11  doves,  1  squirrel,  and  5  ducks. 

Henceforth  the  Mormon  emigration  across  the  plains  was 
"  the  Lord  "  gathering  Israel  home  to  the  "  chambers  of  the 


GATHERING  ISRAEL  HOME. 


267 


"mountains  "  preparatory  to  the  great  day  of  wrath  that  was 
to  come  upon  the  Gentile  world. 

Following  the  pioneers  to  Great  Salt  Lake  Yalley,  about 
four  thousand  of  the  Mormons  arrived  in  September  and  Octo- 
ber, taking  with  them  a  large  amount  of  grain  and  agricultural 
implements,  as  well  as  the  remnant  of  their  property  from  Nau- 
.  voo,  with  which  to  commence  a  new  home.  The  first  winter 
was  fortunately  mild,  and  the  emigrants  sufifered  little,  while 
the  stock  rambled  about  enjoying  the  spontaneous  luxuries  of 
a  virgin  soil. 

The  great  body  of  the  Saints  from  the  Missouri  river  fol- 
lowed Brigham  and  his  family  in  the  summer  of  184:8,  and  the 
new  settlement  was  greatly  strengthened  in  numbers  and  with 
every  description  of  labour  necessary  to  its  development. 


CHAPTER  ZXXIY. 


THE  CIVIL  HISTOEY  OF  UTAH.  — The  "State  of  Deseret"  created  — The 
Crickets  destroy  the  Crops — A  Miracle  performed  —  Great  Privations  of  the 
Mormons  —  Territorial  Government  extended  over  Utah  —  Trouble  with  the 
Federal  Officers. 

The  tronbles  of  the  Saints  in  Jackson  county,  Missouri — if 
Joseph's  revelations  are  accepted  as  divine  communications — 
conveyed  to  "  the  Lord "  and  his  Saints  valuable  experience 
inhuman  affairs.  The  last  revelation  affecting  that  '^Zion" 
illustrated  clearly  two  simple  propositions :  First,  that  if  the 
Saints  purchased  all  the  land  in  Jackson  county,  there  would 
be  no  land  left  for  the  Gentiles  to  purchase.  Secondly,  that  as 
the  Gentiles  had  always  troubled  the  Mormons  while  they  were 
living  among  them,  if  there  were  no  Gentiles  among  these  the 
Saints  would  not  be  troubled.  This  logic  was  not  lost  upon 
Brigham,  and  henceforth  the  policy  of  the  Church  was  to  oc- 
cupy all  the  available  lands  in  the  county  just  as  fast  as  they 
could  do  so. 

What  is  now  Davis  and  Weber  counties,  directly  north  of 
Salt  Lake  City,  was  taken  possession  of  by  the  Mormons  in 
the  spring  of  1848.  Miles  Goodyier,  an  Indian  trader,  at  that 
time  occupied  the  land  on  which  is  now  built  the  city  of  Og- 
den,  where  the  Union  and  Pacific  Railroads  form  their  junc- 
tion; and  from  this  trader,  Captain  James  Brown,  of  the  Mor- 
mon Battalion,  purchased  his  shanties  and  a  Mexican  grant  of 
land,  and  got  him  out  of  the  way  of  "  the  kingdom."  Tooele 
county,  about  forty  miles  to  the  west  of  Salt  Lake  City,  and 
Utah  county,  about  the  same  distance  to  the  south,  were  taken 
possession  of  in  the  spring  of  1849. 

Up  to  this  time  there  was  no  United  States  civil  govern- 
ment in  the  country. 


FOUNDING  THE  "STATE  OF  DESERET/ 


269 


When  the  Mormous  arrived"  in  the  valley  of  the  Great  Salt 
Lake,  in  July,  184:7,  the  Territory  belonged  to  Mexico ;  but  by 
the  treaty  of  Guadaloupe  Hidalgo,  in  March,  1848,  it  was 
passed  over  to  the  United  States  with  New  Mexico  and  the 
whole  of  Upper  California.  This  was  unforeseen  and  unde- 
sirable to  the  Mormon  leaders,  for  they  could  have  dictated 
terms  to  Mexico  and  have  worked  out  better  the  theocratic 
problem  with  the  relics  of  the  Montezumas,  than  with  the 
Anglo-Saxon  descendants  of  the  Pilgrim  Fathers. 

The  United  States  government  was  slow  in  extending  its 
political  jurisdiction  over  the  newly-acquired  domain,  and  this 
furnished  the  apostles  and  prophets  an  opportunity  of  creating 
"a  provisional  independent  government"  for  themselves. 

A  convention  of  citizens  was  held  in  Great  Salt  Lake  City 
on  the  5th  of  March,  1849,  at  which  (on  the  18th)  the  follow- 
ing constitution  was  adopted : 

"  We,  the  people,  grateful  to,  the  Supreme  Being  for  the  blessings 
hitherto  enjoyed,  and  feeling  our  dependence  on  Him  for  a  continuation 
of  those  blessings,  Do  ordain  and  establish  a  free  and  independent 
Government  by  the  name  of  the  State  of  Deseret,  including  all  the 
territory  of  the  United  States  within  the  following  boundaries,  to  wit : 
commencing  at  the  33°  of  north  latitude,  where  it  crosses  the  108^  of  longi- 
tude, west  of  Greenwich ;  thence  running  south  and  west  to  the  boundary 
of  Mexico  ;  thence  west  to  and  down  the  main  cliannel  of  the  Gila  river 
(or  the  northern  line  of  Mexico),  and  on  the  northern  boundary  of  Lower 
California  to  the  Pacific  Ocean ;  thence  along  the  coast  northwesterly  to 
the  118°  30'  of  west  longitude;  thence  north  to  where  said  line  intersects 
the  dividing  ridge  of  the  Sierra  Nevada  Mountains  to  the  dividing  range 
of  mountains  that  separates  the  waters  flowing  into  the  Columbia  river 
from  the  waters  running  into  the  great  Basin  on  the  south,  to  the  summit 
of  the  Wind  River  chain  of  mountains ;  thence  southeast  and  south  by 
the  dividing  range  of  mountains  that  separates  the  waters  flowing  into  the 
Gulf  of  Mexico  from  the  waters  flowing  into  the  Gulf  of  California,  to  the 
place  of  beginning  as  set  forth  in  a  map  drawn  by  Charles  Preuss  and  pub- 
lished by  order  of  the  Senate  of  the  United  States  in  1848." 

A  glance  at  the  map  of  North  America  will  furnish  some 
idea  of  the  modest  aspirations  of  the  convention.  Within  the 
boundaries  of  that  "  State  of  Deseret "  there  was  room  enough 
to  hold  half  of  the  monarchies  of  Europe. 

Brigham  Young  was  elected  Governor  of  the  new  State, 
and,  with  the  other  officers  elected,  swore  fidelity  to  the  Con- 


270 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


stitution  of  the  United  States.  The  legislative  Assembly  met 
•  in  July,  elected  Almon  W,  Babbitt  delegate  to  Congress,  and 
sent  him  immediately  to  Washington  with  the  constitution  and 
a  memorial  praying  for  the  admission  of  "  Deseret "  into  the 
Union. 

Though  rejoicing  in  their  deliverance  from  Gentile  mobs, 
and  happy  in  the  prospect  of  future  greatness,  the  Saints  were 
not  yet  free  from  the  cares  and  anxieties  of  life.  Their  situ- 
ation in  the  "  fat  valleys  of  Ephraim  "  was  for  sonie  years  pre- 
carious. Their  first  crops  were  abundant  and  timely,  but  those 
of  the  following  year  caused  them  great  anxiety.  At  one  time 
myriads  of  crickets  attacked  their  fields  of  grain,  till  it  seemed 
that  all  would  be  utterly  destroyed;  but  "the  Lord"  sent 
flocks  of  gulls  from  the  islands  of  the  lake  to  devour  the  de- 
stroyers. The  gulls  came  in  the  early  dawn  of  morning  and 
feasted  upon  tbe  crickets  all  day.  When  full,  they  disgorged 
them  and  began  again  their  repast,  and  repeated  their  expe- 
rience in  eating  till  night  closed  upon  their  labours.  The  Mor- 
mons very  naturally  claim  that  the  coming  of  the  gulls  was  a 
great  miracle  in  their  behalf.  Of  course  the  sceptical  might 
have  something  to  say  about  who  sent  the  crickets ;  but  grati- 
tude for  any  kind  providence  is  better  encouraged  than  con- 
temned.^ 

The  crops  that  escaped  the  ravages  of  the  crickets  exhibited 
in  their  abundance  that  the  virgin  soil  of  the  valleys  was  very 
rich.  Oats  were  reported  to  do  better  than  in  the  States  ;t 
wheat  yielded  commonly  sixty  bushels  to  the  acre ;  and  other 
grains  and  vegetables  were  equally  well  reported  in  the  first 
year. 

"  One  of  tlie  elders  states  that  he  had  sown  eleven  pounds  of  California 
wheat,  on  the  14tb  of  April,  and  from  that  reaped  twenty-two  bushels  in 
the  latter  part  of  July.  From  half  a  bushel  of  common  English  wheat, 
on  an  acre  and  a  half  of  land,  he  reaped  over  twenty  bushels,  and  one 

*  An  enthusiastic  Mormon  writer,  seeking  to  place  divine  interference  beyond  all 
doubt,  asserted  that  "  there  were  no  gulls  in  the  country  before  the  Mormons  went 
there  r''  This  statement  is  about  as  facetious  as  that  of  one  of  the  apostles  who  re- 
ported that  no  harm  had  befallen  the  pioneers,  "  except  in  two  or  three  instances 
horses  were  shot  accidentally,  or  killed  hy  not  hearkening  to  counsel  t 

f  P.  P.  Pratt's  letter  [August  7,  1848]  to  Brigham  Young,  Millennial  Star^  Vol. 
X.,  p.  370. 


GREAT  FERTILITY  OF  THE  LAND. 


271 


grain  of  seven-eared  wheat  produced  seventy-two  ears.  Barley  that  was 
sowed  ripened  and  was  reaped  and  carried  ofF,  the  land  irrigated  and 
produced  from  the  roots  a  fresh  crop  four  times  the  quantity  of  the  first 
crop.  Oats  that  were  sown  produced  a  good  crop,  were  cut  down  and 
cleared,  the  roots  again  sprang  up,  and  produced  another  beautiful  crop. 
Peas,  first  plant,  a  good  crop  ripened,  gathered,  then  planted  the  same 
peas,  yielded  another  crop  and  again  a  third  crop  is  now  growing.  Beet- 
seed  planted  this  spring  produced  beets  as  thick  as  my  leg,  which  went  to 
seed  and  yielded  a  great  quantity.  Cabbage  seed  planted  this  spring  pro- 
duced seed  again." 

To  this  flattering  story  of  the  productiveness  of  the  conntryj 
elder  Thomas  Bullock,  Brigham's  clerk,  adds :  "  Above  all  they 
"  report  that  Mother  Sessions  [une  accoucheuse]  has  had  a  har- 
"  vest  of  248  little  cherubs  since  living  in  the  valley.  Many 
"cases  of  twins.  In  a  row  of  seven  houses  joining  each  other, 
"  eight  births  in  one  week."  His  soul  bounding  with  grati- 
tude, "  brother  Thomas  "  exclaims  : 

"  Oh,  ye  hungry  souls,  rejoice  and  shout  for  joy  !  Praise  the  Lord, 
and  give  thanks  1  Oh,  ye  barren ;  ye  who  have  been  bereft  of  your  chil- 
dren, praise  the  Lord.  The  place  is  found  where  you  can  rear  your  tender 
offspring  like  olive  branches  round  your  tables,  where  they  can  have  plenty 
to  be  fed  and  clothed  withal ;  v/here  your  souls  can  be  lifted  up  unto  the 
Lord  God  of  Hosts,  for  his  mercies  endure  for  ever.  The  place  is  found 
where  the  Saints  can  rear  another  temple  to  the  Great  Jehovah ;  hear  his 
word,  and  from  whence  his  laws  may  go  forth  to  the  ends  of  the  earth. 
Hosanna,  Hosanna,  Hosanna  to  God  and  the  Lamb  for  ever.  Amen." 

However  much  the  foreign  Saints  may  already  have  rejoiced 
in  the  Latter-day  faith,  such  a  letter  was  worth  a  hundred  ser- 
mons and  epistles  upon  emigration.  The  Author  well  remem- 
bers how  it  caught  the  toiling,  struggling,  poor  Saints  of  Brit- 
ain, and  the  delicate  comfort  extended  to  the  spinsters  was  fiot 
unappreciated.  Many  a  downcast  mourning  soul  drank  con- 
solation and  sang  with  joy — "  To  the  West,  to  the  West,  to  the 
"  land  of  the  free !" 

The  large  increase  of  emigrants  in  1848,  together  with  the 
destruction  of  the  crops  by  the  grasshoppers,  rendered  provis- 
ions very  scarce  in  the  spring  of  1849.  The  inventory  of  pro- 
visions showed  that  there  was  only  three-quarters  of  a  pound 
of  breadstufts  per  day  for  each  person  up  to  the  5th  of  July. 
The  people  were  put  upon  rations,  and  much  suffering  ensued. 
IT 


212 


THE  EOCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


Many  of  them  went  out  with  the  Indians  and  dug  small  native 
roots,  and  ate  them  with  anything  they  could  get.  It  is  re- 
lated tliat  some,  in  their  destitution,  even  took  the  hides  of 
animals  with  which  they  had  covered  the  roofs  of  their  houses, 
and  cut  them  up  and  cooked  them  for  their  use. 

"  The  desert  to  which  they  had  come  was  as  cheerless  as  their  past  his- 
tory. From  cruel  foes  they  had  fled  to  as  unfeeling  a  wilderness.  Re- 
newed difficulties  demanded  a  renewed  efTort  from  Brigham.  Everything 
depended  on  him.  Starvation  and  nakedness  stared  in  the  gloomy  faces 
of  the  desponding  people.  Murmurs  and  complaints  were  uttered.  He 
quelled  everything ;  scolded,  pleaded,  threatened,  prophesied,  and  sub- 
dued them.  With  a  restless  but  resistless  energy  he  set  them  to  work,  and 
worked  himself  as  their  example.  He  directed  their  labours,  controlled 
their  domestic  affairs,  preached  at  them,  to  them,  for  them.  He  told  fool- 
ish anecdotes  to  make  them  laugh,  encouraged  their  dancing  to  make 
them  merry,  got  up  theatrical  performances  to  distract  their  minds,  and 
made  them  work  hard,  certain  of  rendering  them  contented  by-and-by. 
^Feared  with  a  stronger  fear,  venerated  with  a  more  rational  veneration, 
but  not  loved  with  the  same  clinging  tenderness  that  the  people  still  felt 
for  Joseph  Smith,  Brigham  swayed  them  at  his  will.  They  learned  to 
dread  his  iron  hand,  and  were  daunted  by  his  iron  heart."  * 

The  harvest  of  1849  was  fortunately  abundant,  and  all  was 
saved. 

In  August  of  that  year  Captain  Howard  Stansbury,  of  the 
United  States  army  topographical  engineers,  with  his  assist- 
ants, arrived  in  the  valley  for  the  purpose  of  making  a  govern- 
ment survey. 

Thronghont  the  winter  of  1849-50  the  Indians  south  of 
Salt  Lake  became  very  troublesome,  stealing  cattle,  and  finally 
firing  upon  the  settlers.  Brigham  preferred  peace  to  war  with 
them  :  thought  that  it  was  cheaper  to  feed  than  to  fight  them, 
and  pursued  a  conciliatory  policy.  But  the  red  man  required 
experience.  As  Governor  of  the  State  of  Deseret,  Brigham 
called  out  the  militia,  entrusted  it  to  Gen.  Daniel  H.  Wells, 
who,  accompanied  by  a  Heuteaant  *of  Capt.  Stansbury's  com- 
mand, and  a  hundred  of  "  the  brethren,"  went  after  the  Indians. 
The  Mormons  drove  the  red-skins  out  from  the  banks  of  the 
Timpanogos  on  to  Utah  lake,  which  was  then  frozen,  and  there 
killed  about  thirty  and  took  over  twice  that  number  prisoners. 

*  "  Mormonism  :  Its  Leaders  and  Designs,"  p.  145. 


MORMONS  DISCOVER  GOLD  IN  CALIFORNIA. 


273 


The  whites  lost  one  man,  and  six  wounded.  This  fight  and 
the  disposition  of  the  prisoners  *  struck  the  Indians  with  ter- 
ror, and  their  braves  sued  for  peace. 

Another  change  was  in  store  for  the  Saints. 

Three. of  the  Battalion  Mormons,  upon  being  discharged 
from  the  United  States  service  in  California,  found  occupation 
with  Thomas  Marshall,  of  gold-discovery  notoriety,  and  while 
working  for  him,  digging  Capt.  Sutter's  mill-race,  these  three 
"  brethren  "  claim  to  have  found  the  gold.  The  glory  of  this 
event  is,  therefore,  appropriated  by  the  Saints,  and  forms  part 
of  the  buncombe  speeches  on  all  great  occasions,  when  the  vir- 
tues and  worth  of  the  Saints  are  exhibited. 

The  immense  emigration  across  the  plains  in  1850  brought 
large  quantities  of  clothing,  dry-goods,  and  general  merchan- 
dise into  Great  Salt  Lake  City.  Many  of  the  immigrants  had 
loaded  up  with  heavy  stocks  of  goods,  mechanics'  tools,  and 
general  machinery,  expecting  to  find  a  ready  sale  for  them  in 
the  new  Eldorado.  Most  of  them  had  splendid  outfits,  and 
everything  necessary  to  support  themselves  in  a  new  country. 
Some  parties,  who  had  left  the  States  late,  had  travelled  fast 
and  passed  the  other  immigrants  on  the  way,  brought  the  re- 
port that  steamers  had  sailed  from  New  York  loaded  with  pas- 
sengers and  merchandise  for  California,  and  that  the  new  coun- 
try would  be  flooded  with  both. 

"With  such  a  report  ringing  in  their  ears,  there  was  now  no 
time  to  lose,  and  everything  was  to  be  sacrificed  to  expedite 
the  journey.  When  they  arrived  in  Salt  Lake  Valley,  the 
Mormons  obtained  almost  everything  they  wanted  in  exchange 
for  grain  and  vegetables.  Stories  are  related  of  the  frantic  haste 
with  which  many  of  the  emigrants  would  part  with  wagons, 
cattle,  and  goods,  for  a  horse  or  mule  outfit  to  carry  them  to 
California.    The  Saints  were  thus  suddenly  prosperous,  and 

*  It  is  said  that  the  order  was  given  to  "  leave  neither  root  nor  branch  of  them," 
and  that  it  was  executed  to  the  very  letter. 

"  A  party  was  driven  up  Table  Mountain,  but  were  induced  to  come  down  and 
surrender.  They  were  guarded  in  camp  until  the  morning,  and  then  ordered  to  give 
up  their  weapons.  They  refused  to  do  this,  and  acting  in  a  sullen  and  hostile  manner, 
were  fired  upon  and  nearly  all  killed  immediately.  A  few  broke  through  the  line 
of  sentinels,  and  endeavoured  to  escape  by  crossing  the  lake  on  the  ice,  but  were 
chased  down  by  horsemen,  and  '  ceased  to  breathe.'  My  informant  was  an  actor  ic 
the  terrible  scene." — "  Gunnison,"  p.  147. 


274 


THE  EOCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


several  of  the  predictions  of  the  leaders  were,  in  this  manner, 
claimed  to  be  fulfilled. 

In  the  midst  of  their  distress  in  the  wilderness,  when  leav- 
ing civilization  and  commerce  behind,  and,  to  all  human  ap- 
pearance, going  into  a  desert  where  the  Gentiles  would  not 
follow  them,  Heber  C.  Kimball  had  predicted  to  the  Saints 
that  they  "  would  yet  buy  goods  as  cheap  in  the  mountains  as 
"  they  could  in  New  York  city."  Brigham  had  told  them 
that  in  five  years  "  they  would  be  better  off  than  ever  they 
"  were  *before,"  and  thus  the  unlooked-for  rush  to  California 
fulfilled  the  prediction,  and  "  the  people  acknowledged  the  ac- 
"  complishment  of  that  divine  inspiration."  At  the  same  time 
one  of  Joseph's  predictions  had  its  fulfilment.  *  When  the  Kirt- 
land  Safety  Society  Bank  burst  in  1838,  its  notes  were  not 
worth  the  clean  paper.  Joseph  predicted  that  "  they  would 
"  yet  be  as  good  as  gold."  When  the  Battalion  gold  discover- 
ers returned  to  the  valley,  they  deposited  with  the  Church 
leaders  large  quantities  of  gold-dust,  and,  with  that  as  a  basis, 
the  Kirtland  notes  were  for  a  little  time  put  into  circulation  as 
a  convenience,  "  on  a  par  with  gold,"  and  in  tliat  way  the  pre- 
diction was  fulfilled.  Had  the  bundles  of  the  Kirtland  Safety 
Society  notes  still  in  Ohio  been  convertible  and  "good  as  gold," 
the  holders  of  that  paper  would  have  seen  the  prediction  and 
its  fulfilment  more  clearly.  A  momentary  convenience  of  ex- 
change between  Brother  Smith  and  Brother  Jones  in  Salt  Lake 
valley  .(for  momentary  and  very  limited  it  certainly  was)  be- 
ing the  fulfilment  of  a  prediction,  requires  an  "  eye  of  faith  " 
to  see. 

The  Congress  of  the  United  States  ignored  the  "  State  of 
"  Deseret ; "  and  on  the  9th  of  September,  1850,  extended  over 
the  country  occupied  by  the  Mormons  the  Territorial  organi- 
zation of  Utah  within  the  following  limits  :  "  bounded  on  the 
"  west  by  the  State  of  California,  on  the  north  by  the  Territory 
"  of  Oregon,  on  the  east  by  the  summits  of  the  Kocky  Mountains, 
"and  on  the  south  by  the  37th  parallel  of  north  latitude,"  with 
the  proviso  that  Congress  should  be  at  liberty,  when  it  might 
be  deemed  ^*  convenient  and  proper,"  to  cut  it  up  into  two  or 
more  Territories,  or  to  attach  any  portion  of  it  to  any  other 
State  or  Territory.    On  the  28th  of  that  month,  his  Excellen- 


TERRITORY  OF  UTAH  CREATED. 


275 


cy  Millard  Fillmore,  President  of  the  United  States,  appointed, 
"  with  the  advice  and  consent  of  the  Senate,"  Brigham  Young, 
of  Deseret,  Governor ;  B.  D.  Harris,  of  Yermont,  Secretary  ; 
Joseph  Buffington,  of  Pennsylvania,  Chief-Justice ;  Perry  E. 
Brocchus,  of  Alabama,  Zerubbabel  Snow,  of  Ohio,  Associate 
Justices ;  Seth  M.  Blair,  of  Deseret,  U.  S.  Attorney ;  and 
Joseph  L.  Heywood,  of  Deseret,  U.  S.  Marshal. 

Mr.  Buffington  declined  serving  as  chief-justice,  and  Lem- 
uel G.  Brandebury  was  appointed  in  his  stead. 

Snow,  Blair,  and  Ileywood  were  Mormons,  and,  with  Brig- 
ham  added,  it  gave  the  majority  of  the  Federal  ofl&ces  to  the 
Saints,  for  which  the  name  of  President  Fillmore  is  held  in 
high  esteem.  At  once  the  political  capital  of  Utah — a  hundred 
and  fifty  miles  south  of  Salt  Lake  City — was  designated  Fill- 
more, and  the  county  Millard.  It  is  due  to  this  statesman  to 
add,  that  the  charge  which  has  been  frequently  made  against 
him,  of  appointing  Brigham  Young  governor  while  he  knew 
"that  he  had  eight  wives,"  is  very  unfair.  President  Fillmore 
appointed  Brigham  on  the  recommendation  of  Col.  Thomas  L. 
Kane,  and  upon  the  assurance  of  that  gentleman  that  the 
charges  against  Brigham  Young's  Christian  morality  were  un- 
founded. Col.  Kane  was  long  enough  among  the  Mormons, 
and  familiar  enough  with  them  on  their  journey  between  Nau- 
voo  and  Council  Bluffs,  to  have  learned  that  polygamy  was  a 
fact  in  Mormonism,  unless  the  Mormons  designedly  kept  him 
in  ignorance,  and  deceived  him.  The  larger  number  of  the 
"  eight  wives  "  complained  of  were  sealed  to  Brigham  on  the 
banks  of  the  Missouri.  Probably,  Col.  Kane  did  not  personally 
know  polygamy  to  be  a  fact,  and  certainly  neither  President 
Fillmore  nor  the  Senate  knew  it."^ 

On  the  3rd  of  February,  1851,  Brigham  Young  took  the 
oath  of  office,  and  was  formally  acknowledged  governor  of 
Utah.  He  preferred  Deseret  under  the  Lord,"  but  with  the 
characteristic  instinct  of  his  nature — the  love  of  rule — ^rather 
than  see  a  Gentile  appointed  governor  of  Utah,  he  himself  ac- 
cepted that  office  under  Congress.  On  the  25th  of  March  he 
issued  a  special  message  to  the  general  assembly  of  the  State 
of  Deseret,  notifying  them  of  the  action  of  Congress.    On  the 

*  The  Author  was  so  iaformed  by  letter  from  ex-President  Fillmore. 


276 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


5th  of  April,  1852,  Deseret  merged  into  Utah  officially,  but  the 
State  organization  was  continued  and  exists  to-day  as  much  as 
ever  it  did.  IsTominally,  the  civil  authority  is  Utah  :  defacto^ 
it  is  Deseret.  The  Government  pays  the  Territorial  legislators 
tlieir^e?^  die7n  for  making  the  laws  of  Utah,  and  hands  them 
their  mileage  at  the  end  of  the  session.  On  the  day  succeeding 
the  close,  Brigham,  as  governor  of  Deseret,  convenes  them  as  a 
State  legislation  :  reads  his  message  to  them,  and  some  one  pro- 
poses that  the  laws  of  the  legislature  of  Utah  be  adopted  by 
the  State  of  Deseret.  In  this  manner,  Brigham  is  continued 
governor  defacto^  and  hence  the  tenacity  with  which  the  name 
of  "  Deseret  "  is  preserved.  To  give  to  the  State  that  succeeds 
the  Territory  of  Utah  any  other  name  than  "  Deseret "  would 
be  to  throw  discredit  upon  the  inspiration  that  named  the  pro- 
visional Government  in  1849.  Let  but  the  Federal  Congress 
name  it  "  Deseret  " — come  when  it  may  into  the  Union — and 
Brigham  and  his  worshippers  will  see,  through  all  the  tortuous 
windings  of  its  history  for  over  a  score  of  years,  the  finger  of 
God,  and  the  dark  deeds  of  the  past  will  be  sanctified  in  their 
sight.  They  will  believe  that  "  the  Lord  "  has  been  with  Brig- 
ham throughout. 

The  Gentile  Federal  officers  arrived  in  July  of  1851,  and 
very  soon  after  their  arrival  concluded  that  Utah  was  not  the 
most  pleasant  place  in  the  world  for  unbelievers.  They  at- 
tended a  special  conference  of  the  Church  held  in  September, 
and  were  honoured  with  an  invitation  to  sit  on  the  platform 
with  the  prophets.  On  that  occasion  the  proposition  was  made 
to  send  a  block  of  Utah  marble  or  granite  as  the  Territorial 
contribution  to  the  Washington  monument  at  the  seat  of  Gov- 
ernment. Associate  Justice  Brocchus  made  a  speech,  and  before 
closing  it  drifted  on  to  polygamy,  lie  spoke  irreverently  of 
that  institution,  going  so  far  as  to  assure  the  ladies  of  its  im- 
morality, reproved  the  leaders  for  their  disrespectful  language 
concerning  the  Government  and  their  consignment  of  Presi 
dent  Zachary  Taylor  to  the  nether  regions.  This  was  some- 
thing new  in  the  Kocky  Mountain  Zion,  and  the  "  Lion  of  the 
"  Lord  "  was  in  a  moment  aroused. 

The  audience  was  indignant  at  Brocchus,  and  when  Brigham 
let  himself  loose  on  to  the  unfortunate  Judge,  the  people  would 


FIRST  TROUBLE  WITH  THE  FEDERAL  OFFICERS. 


277 


have  torn  that  Federal  functionary  into  shreds  if  the  Prophet 
had  not  restrained  them.  When  Brigham  reiterated  the  situa- 
tion and  locality  of  the  then  recently  deceased  President  Tay- 
lor, the  Judge  put  in  a  demurrer,  on  which  "  brother  Heber  " 
kindly  touched  his  Honour  on  the  shoulder  and  assured  him 
tliat  he  need  not  doubt  the  statement,  for  he  would  see  him 
when  he  got  there.  Heber's  witty  endorsement  of  Brigham 
was  anything  but  reassuring  to  the  Judge. 

It  was  on  this  occasion  that  Brigham  immortalized  the 
crooking  of  his  little  finger.  "  If,"  said  he,  "  I  had  but  crooked 
''my  little  finger,  he  would  have  been  used  up  ;  but  I  did  not 
"  bend  it.  If  I  had,  the  sisters  alone  felt  indignant  enough 
"  to  have  chopped  him  in  pieces."  ^  Since  that  memorable 
day  he  had  not  infrequently  warned  the  troublesome  of  the 
danger  of  crooking  that  finger,  and  it  was  no  idle  threat  when 
he  said  :  "  Apostates,  or  men  who  never  made  any  profession 
"  of  religion,  had  better  be  careful  how  they  come  here,  lest  I 
"  should  bend  my  little  finger."  f 

Judge  Brocchns,  failing  to  humble  himself  before  "the  ser- 
"  vants  of  the  Lord,"  thought  that  retirement  from  the  Terri- 
tory would  be  favoured  by  the  Life  Insurance  Company,  and 
he,  accompanied  by  Chief  Justice  Brandebury  and  Secretary 
Harris,  soon  after  bade  a  long  farewell  to  Zion.  Miss  Eliza 
E.  Snow's  clever  pen  satirized  the  retreating  Federals,  in  popu- 
lar verse,  and  assured  them  and  the  world  when  they  left  the 
Saints  that : 

"  They  only  of  themselves  bereft  us." 

This,  however,  was  only  poetic  truth,  for  Secretary  Harris, 
who  was  the  custodian  of  the  Territorial  funds,  retired  with 
$24,000,  w^hich  had  been  appropriated  by  Congress  for  the 
"per  diem  "  and  mileage  of  the  legislature.  This  was  a  great 
annoyance  to  the  Prophet-Governor,  and  he  attempted  to  re- 
strain the  Secretary  ;  but  Mr.  Harris  stuck  to  the  treasure  and 
returned  it  to  the  proper  department  of  the  Government. 

The  Federal  officers,  on  their  arrival  in  the  Eastern  States, 
published  a  hastily  written  statement  of  the  whole  occurrence, 
and  very  indiscreetly  used  the  expression  that  "Polygamy 
"monopolized  all  the  women,  which  made  it  very  inconvenient 
*  "  Journal  of  Discourses,"  p.  186-7.  f  lb.,  p.  167. 


278 


TnE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


"  for  the  Federal  officers  to  reside  there."  Loose  as  people 
might  suppose  frontier  life  to  be,  no  one  anticipated  that  rep- 
resentatives of  the  Federal  Government  would  thus  express 
themselves.    That  one  sentence  annihilated  them. 

Over  the  signature  of  Jedediah  M.  Grant,  Brigham's  coun- 
sellor, *a  series  of  letters  was  addressed  to  the  New  York 
Herald^  under  the  title  of  Truth  for  the  Mormons,"  in  which 
the  Federal  officials  were  turned  into  ridicule  and  fiercely 
handled.  The  Herald  gave  the  public  only  one  letter;  but 
Grant,  nothing  daunted,  published  the  whole  series  in  pamphlet 
form,  and  scattered  them  broadcast.  The  Grant  letters,  from 
their  forcible  and  pungent  style,  attracted  the  attention  of  lit- 
erary men  as  gems  of  wit  and  vigorous  English.  They  were 
so  far  superior  to  the  Mormon  literature  that  preceded  them, 
and  so  much  above  Jedediah  himself,  that  great  credit  was 
given  by  the  Saints  to  the  special  inspiration  which  controlled 
him.  In  after  years  it  was  really  painful  to  the  Author  to 
learn  that  two  of  Pennsylvania's  honoured  sons,  already  al- 
luded to  in  this  work — one  no  less  than  an  ex-Vice-President 
of  the  United  States,  and  the  other  enjoying  a  military  title — 
were  the  inspiration  and  authors  of  the  famous  letters.  What 
a  charm  there  is  in  a  mild  and  harmless  delusion  ! 

On  the  departure  of  the  judges  and  secretary  from  Utah, 
Brigham  apuointed  his  counsellor,  Willard  Richards,  Secretary 
of  the  Territory.  Associate  Justice  Snow,  being  a  Mormon, 
took  no  offence,  and  remained,  and  the  Legislature  of  the  Ter- 
ritory clothed  the  Probate  courts  with  "  both  appellate  and 
"  original  jurisdiction,"  and  tlie  Federal  judges  could  there- 
after be  easily  dispensed  with.  The  Saints  had  really  no  use 
for  them. 


CHAPTER  XXKV. 


THE  IRKEPEESSIBLE  CONFLICT  BETWEEN  THEOCRACY  AND  EE- 
PUBLIC  ANISM— The  Federal  Officers  in  Utah— Some  become  Sycophants  to 
the  Priesthood — Some  are  defiant — Brigham  Young  a  Second  Time  appointed 
Governor — Trouble  with  the  Federal  Judges—  They  leave  the  Territory. 

In  liis  moments  of  calm  reflection,  Judge  Brocclius  may  have 
concluded  tliat  his  zeal  against  polygamy  had  outstripped  his 
prudence.  The  Government  took  that  view  of  it,  and  quietly 
"dropped"  the  '^runaway  judges  and  secretary."  Judges 
Eeed  and  Shaver,  with  Secretary  Ferris,  soon  replaced  Bran- 
debury,  Brocchus,  and  Harris.    Brigham  was  triumphant. 

The  new  appointees,  as  might  be  expected,  received  a  cor- 
dial welcome.  The  judges  reciprocated,  but  the  secretary 
shared  the  sentiments  of  his  predecessor.  The  judges  deliv- 
ered some  favourable  speeches  and  wrote  some  friendly  letters, 
but  the  secretary  soon  after  published  a  book  expressing  senti- 
ments the  very  antipodes  of  those  uttered  by  his  Federal  asso- 
ciates. Thenceforth  Brigham's  policy  was  to  array  the  Federal 
officers  against  each  other,  and  in  doing  so  he  has  been  singu- 
larly successful. 

The  successors  of  the  "  runaway"  officials  held  brief  tenure 
of  power.  Judge  Reed  returned  to  New  York  on  a  visit,  and 
there  died.  Judge  Shaver,  apparently  in  good  health  at  night, 
was  found  the  next  morning  dead  in  his  bed.  Secretary  Fer- 
ris, after  a  short  residence,  went  to  California.  Though  Judge 
Shaver  had  spoken  very  kindly  of  the  Mormons,  and  was  ex- 
ceedingly "social"  wath  "the  brethren,"  his  sudden  death 
furnished  gossips  with  the  story  of  his  being  poisoned  on  ac- 
count of  some  supposed  difficulty  with  Brigham.  The  Author 
has  never  seen  any  ground  for  such  a  suspicion."^  The  judge 
*  Mrs.  Waite  says:  "There  was  some  difficulty  between  the  judge  and  the 


280 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


was  buried  with  processional  honours,  and  a  discourse  by  one  of 
the  apostles  embalmed  his  memory  in  the  history  of  the  Church. 

Chief- J ustice  John  F.  Kinney,  Associate  Justices  George 
P.  Stiles  and  W.  W.  Drummond,  and  Secretary  Aliiion  W. 
Babbitt,  were  the  third  batch  "  of  olBcials.  Judge  Kinney 
has*  a  very  important  history,  and  appears  frequently  in  this 
work.  Judge  Stiles  had  been  reared  in  Mormonism,  but  was 
inharmonious  with  the  priesthood.  Judge  Drummond  turned 
out  a  perfect  Mephistopheles  to  the  Saints.  Secretary  Babbitt 
was  a  full-fledged  Mormon. 

At  this  period  of  Utah  history  the  Government  at  Washing- 
ton was  seemingly  very  kindly  disposed  towards  the  Saints,  as 
all  but  two  of  the  Federal  oflSces  were  held  by  Mormons ;  but  the 
political  thermometer  at  Washington  is  always  very  variable. 

The  report  of  the  "  runaway "  officials,  though  it  accom- 
plished notliing  for  themselves,  stirred  up  the  nation  respect- 
ing polygamy,  and  what  was  regarded  as  defiance  of  Govern- 
ment. Up  to  the  time  of  this  report,  the  Church  had  made  no 
public  acknowledgment  of  polygamy  as  a  principle  of  the  faith. 
It  could  now  no  longer  be  concealed,  and  Brighani  announced 
that  he  was  ready  to  publish  the  revelation. 

The  avowal  of  polygamy  was  for  a  time  a  grave  subject  at 
Washington  ;  but  that  was  a  question  only  of  morals,  and  Con- 
gress is  slow  to  legislate  on  morality.  The  reported  speech, 
"  Old  Zachary  is  in  hell,  and  I  am  glad  of  it,"  charged  to  Brig- 
ham,  stirred  up  the  political  animus  at  the  seat  of  government 
a  vast  deal  more,  and  in  course  of  time  Brigham's  removal  from 
the  governorship  was  resolved  upon. 

In  a  Tabernacle  address,  June  19,  1853,  Brigham  denied 
being  the  author  of  the  statement  about  President  Taylor,  and 
said  that  he  had  only  endorsed  the  statement  of  some  one  else: 
"  I  simply  bore  testimony  to  the  truth  of  it."  ^  In  his  denial 
he  manifests  an  evasiveness  that  does  not  improve  the  subject. 

Brigham  was,  however,  secure  as  Governor.   His  words, 
am  and  will  he  Governor^  and  no  jpower  can  hinder  it^'^  were 

Prophet,  the  nature  of  which  was  not  distinctly  known.    The  difficulty  increased, 
and  one  morning  the  judge  was  found  dead  in  his  bed.    The  heads  of  the  Church 
took  great  pains  to  have  the  affair  investigated,  and  came  to  the  conclusion  that  the 
judge  had  died  of  some  *  disease  of  the  head  ! '  "  (Page  24.) 
*  "Journal  of  Discourses,"  vol.  i.,  p.  135. 


BRIGHAM  REAPPOINTED  GOVERNOR. 


281 


very  galling  to  those  who  sought  his  removal.  But  behind  that 
boldness  there  appeared  in  the  published  sermon  a  shrewd 
proviso  to  fall  back  upon  in  case  his  removal  should  be  accom- 
plished :  "  Until  the  Lord  Almighty  says^  'Brigham^  you  need 
'  not  he  Governor  any  longer.'*  " 

In  1854,  Lieutenant-Colonel  E.  J.  Steptoe,  with  about  three 
hundred  of  his  regiment,  arrived  in  the  Territory  on  their  way 
to  California.  Much  kind  attention  was  paid  to  the  colonel 
and  his  officers  ;  social  parties  were  frequent,  and  very  pleasant 
relations  existed. 

Early  in  December,  President  Pierce  tendered  to  the  colonel 
the  appointment  of  Governor  of  Utah ;  but  before  the  next  re- 
turning monthly  mail,  a  memorial  to  his  Excellency,  headed 
by  Chief-Justice  Kinney,  was  signed,  requesting  Brigham's  re- 
appointment as  Governor  and-  Superintendent  of  Indian  Af- 
fairs. The  colonel's  name  followed  that  of  Kinney,  and  the 
names  of  the  officers  of  the  regiment — three  Mormons — Judge 
Shaver  and  District- Attorney  HoUman. 

A  very  romantic  story  is  told  by  Mrs.  C.  Y.  Waite,  in  her 
book,  in  which  Brigham  is  charged  with  using  two  sisters  of 
easy  virtue  to  enveigle  the  colonel  into  an  unpleasant  position, 
by  which,  in  the  language  of  the  Tabernacle,  "  the  Lord  put  a 
"hook  in  the  colonel's  nose."  But,  without  that  incentive  to 
leave  the  Saints,  the  colonel  doubtless  preferred  the  profession 
of  arms  to  the  honour  of  being  Governor  over  a  handful  of  poor 
people  in  a  desert  so  far  removed  from  the  rest  of  mankind, 
and  after  receiving  such  demonstrative  kindness  from  the  Mor- 
mons, could  not  well  afford  to  accept  an  appointment  which 
would  have  ousted  his  chief  host  against  the  wishes  of  the  peo- 
ple. It  is  said  that  the  colonel's  letter  of  appointment  was  not 
hastily  delivered  after  it  reached  Salt  Lake  City,  and  between 
the  arrival  of  the  mail  that  should  have  brought  the  appoint- 
ment and'  the  arrival  of  the  mail  at  which  the  letter  of  appoint 
ment  w^as  delivered,  dancing  parties  were  given  that  secured 
the  kind  feeling  of  the  colonel  and  his  officers.  "The  Lord" 
had  not  yet  concluded,  "Brigham,  you  need  not  be  Governor 
"  any  longer,"  and  so,  in  1855,  he  was  reappointed  by  Presi- 
dent Franklin  Pierce. 

In  the  organic  act  of  the  Territory  it  is  provided  that  "  the 


282 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


"governor,  secretary,  chief  justice  and  associate  justices,  attor- 
"  nej  and  marshal,  shall  be  nominated,  and  by  and  with  the 
"  advice  and  consent  of  the  Senate,  appointed  by  the  President 
"of  the  United  States."  In  the  list  of  first  Federal  appoint- 
ments the  last  two  important  offices — those  of  United  States 
attorney  and  United  States  marshal — were  filled  by  two  Mor- 
mons, Messrs.  Seth  M.  Blair  and  Joseph  L.  Heywood.  With 
the  appointment  of  a  Gentile  to  the  oflSce  of  United  States 
marshal  as  successor  of  Mr.  Heywood,  the  question  of  jurisdic- 
tion was  forced  upon  the  attention  of  the  court,  and  very  sin- 
gularly the  most  important  question  that  has  agitated  Utah 
during  twenty  years  was  first  entertained  before  a  Federal  judge 
who  had  himself  been  many  years  a  Mormon, 

The  Territorial  Legislature  had  created  a  Territorial  mar- 
shal, and  now  a  conflict  was  inevitable  between  him  and  the 
marshal  appointed  by  the  United  States.  The  United  States 
marshal  claimed  that  he  was  the  executive  officer  of  the  United 
States  courts,  whether  the  business  before  the  court  was  fed- 
eral or  territorial ;  the  Mormon  marshal  claimed  that  he  was 
the  officer  of  the  United  States  court  while  it  was  occupied 
with  territorial  business.  It  was  of  little  consequence  to  any 
one  whether  the  fees  of  the  court  sliould  pass  into  the  pocket 
of  a  United  States  marshal  or  a  territorial  marshal ;  but  it  was 
a  matter  of  great  importance  to  every  one  which  of  these  two 
officials  should  empanel  the  juries  and  enforce  the  writs  of 
the  court. 

Judge  Stiles  favoured  the  claim  of  the  United  States  mar- 
shal, and  brought  a  storm  of  wrath  about  his  head.  Had  he 
been  purely  a  Gentile  judge,  he  would  have  fared  better,  but 
being  a  renegade  Mormon,  and  defying  the  priesthood  that  he 
once  obeyed,  there  was  no  indignity  too  great  to  oiFer  him. 
Some  Mormon  lawyers  entered  the  court  while  the  question 
was  pending,  and,  led  by  the  best  lawyer  among  them,  insulted 
and  threatened  the  judge  with  personal  violence  unless  he  ruled 
as  they  demanded.  On  account  of  these  intimidations  he  has- 
tily adjourned  his  court.* 

*  Though  under  no  circumstances  could  there  be  offered  any  palliation  for  such 
an  ofifence,  there  is  at  the  same  time  a  degree  of  satisfaction  in  reading  that  the 
outrage  was  reserved  for  the  person  of  Judge  Stiles.    He  was  the  counsel  who  sus- 


SPREADING  ABROAD  THE  CURTAINS  OF  ZION. 


283 


Some  of  the  "good  brethren"  had  now  their  attention  di- 
rected to  the  renegade  judge,  and  while  he  was  absent  from  his 
office  they  gatliered  up  the  records  of  the  United  States  Dis- 
trict Courts,  placed  them  in  safe  keeping,  and  afterwards  made 
a  fire  of  books  and  papers  found  in  his  office.  On  his  return, 
when  he  saw  the  fire,  he  very  naturally  concluded,  as  his  office 
was  ransacked,  that  all  the  looTcs^  records^  and  papers  were  de- 
stroyed. That  insane  and  foolish  outrage  created  a  great  sen- 
sation throughout  the  States  adverse  to  the  Saints. 

Consistently  with  their  programme,  and  possessing  a  great 
country  in  which  "Israel  could  increase  and  multiply  and 
"  become  a  great  people,"  the  leaders  were  continually  calling 
upon  the  Saints  to  "  spread  abroad  the  curtains  of  Zion,"  and 
as  soon  as  it  was  safe  to  venture  in  advance  of  a  settlement 
already  made,  the  survey  of  another  was  immediately  com- 
menced. 

North  and  south  of  Salt  Lake  the  Mormon  colonists  had 
only  the  Indians  to  contend  with,  and  by  judiciously  avoiding 
any  conflict  with  the  red  men  they  experienced  comparatively 
little  trouble.  But  when  the  colonists  pushed  forward  to  the 
western  frontier  of  the  Territory  they  there  met  with  the  ad- 
venturous miner,  and  peace  was  thenceforth  very  doubtful. 

In  1854,  the  western  mission  was  given  to  about  seventy 

tained  Joseph  Smith  and  the  Nauvoo  Municipality  in  their  interpretation  of  the  city 
ordinance  which  warranted  the  destruction  of  the  Nauvoo  Expositor  as  a  nuisance. 
Had  the  lawyer  of  Nauvoo  set  his  face  against  the  first  outrage,  the  judge  in  the 
Rocky  Mountains  would  probably  never  have  been  the  subject  of  a  similar  ex- 
perience. 

The  successor  of  Judge  Stiles,  the  Hon.  C.  E.  Sinclair,  in  the  first  session  of^ 
the  United  States  District  Court,  after  the  arrival  of  the  United  Stales  troops,  under 
Colonel  Albert  Sidney  Johnson,  pursued  wit4i  determined  energy  those  who  had  in- 
fiulted  and  intimidated  his  predecessor.  On  the  14th  of  December,  1858,  a  Mormon 
grand  jury  made  the  following  presentment : 

"  The  grand  jury  find  that  James  Ferguson,  of  Great  Salt  Lake  City,  U.  T.,  did 
use  language  and  threats  calculated  to  intimidate  Judge  George  P.  Stiles,  United 
States  district  judge,  while  in  the  execution  of  his  official  duties  and  presiding  as 
judge  of  this  District  Court  at  the  February  term,  1857. 

"  Said  threats  and  language  used  to  George  P.  Stiles. 

"  Eleazer  Miller,  Foreman." 

Mr.  Ferguson  was  by  instinct  a  gentleman :  his  actions  on  this  occasion  find  in- 
terpretation in  the  general  spirit  of  the  tunes,  Israel  was  determined  not  to  be 
beaten. 


284 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


families,  who  were  directed  to  go  out  to  Carson  Yalley — about 
'  seven  hundred  miles — under  the  supervision  of  Orson  Hyde, 
the  jDresident  of  the  apostles.  Soon  after  that,  the  Legislature 
of  Utah  organized  the  whole  of  that  district  under  the  name 
of  Carson  county,  appointing  at  the  same  time  elder  Hyde  as 
probate  judge. 

It  soon  became  evident  that  the  Gentiles  would  resist  all 
Mormon  law  wherever  there  was  a  hope  of  success.  It  was 
difficult  for  the  miners  to  comprehend  how  the  Mormons  could 
legitimately  exercise  any  authority  over  them.  They  had  only 
heard  of  the  Mormons  as  a  religious  community,  and  when  the 
apostolic  probate  judge  had  assessments  to  make,  or'the  officers 
of  his  court  had  decrees  to  enforce,  it  seemed  to  the  'Hionest 
miner"  a  huge  joke,  or  unbearable  tyranny. 

Besides  the  occupation  of  the  country  by  the  mining  popu- 
lation, enterprising  men  found  that  it  was  well  adapted  for 
cattle  grazing  and  farming.  Families  soon  settled  there,  and 
the  population  was  about  equally  composed  of  Gentiles  and 
Mormons.  The  Gentiles  snapped  their  fingers  at  the  Mormon 
lawgivers,  and  an  anti-Mormon  organization  was  soon  estab- 
lished. The  apostle-judge  had  rendered  some  decision  that  re- 
quired enforcement.  The  officer  of  the  court  called  for  a  posse 
to  assist  him,  and  the  parties  immediately  arranged  themselves 
for  battle,  and  "for  two  weeks,"  says  the  Hon.  James  M. 
Crane,  "  their  armies  camped  nearly  in  sight  of  each  other, 
"  without  coming  to  a  direct  battle."  "  The  Lord,"  ever  watch- 
ful over  his  Saints,  revealed  to  "  brother  Orson  "  that  it  w^as 
necessary  to  call  off*  the  brethren,  and  thus  this  bloodless  war 
for  the  moment  ended. 

This  Mormon  experience  in  western  colonization  differed 
little  in  spirit  and  principle  from  that  which  previously  existed 
in  Missouri  and  Illinois.  There  is  "an  instinctive  feeling  of  dis- 
like to  civil  rule  being  administered  by  any  one  claiming  eccle- 
siastical authority. 

The  anti-Mormons  appealed  to  Congress,  and  asked  that  the 
eastern  boundary  of  California  might  be  extended  still  further 
east,  so  that  the  settlers  in  Carson  Yalley  might  find  them- 
selves under  the  jurisdiction  of  citizens  like  themselves.  In 
this  memorial  they  alleged  all  sorts  of  bad  things  against  the 


JUDGE  DRUMMOND'S  "COMPANION." 


285 


Mormon  rulers,  and  particularly  objected  to  the  probate  judge 
taking  into  their  midst  "one  of  his  spiritual  wives  for  whom 
"he  claims  recognition,  which  the  ladies  petitioning  indig- 
"  nantly  refuse." 

Congress  discountenanced  the  suggestion  that  the  bound- 
aries  of  the  Golden  State  should  be  extended,  but  sympathized 
with  the  Gentile  population,  and  expressed  an  opinion  that 
"  some  measure  of  wider  scope  is  necessary  to  effect  a  radical 
"  cure  of  the  moral  and  political  pestilence  which  makes  Utah 
"  the  scandal  of  the  American  people." 

Associate-Justice  W.  W.  Drummond,  it  is  asserted  by  the 
Mormons,  brought  with  him  to  the  Territory  "  a  lady  compan- 
"ion,"  while  his  wife  and  family  were  left  in  Illinois.  After 
the  notice  of  his  arrival  in  the  Mormon  paper  had  been  pub- 
lished, some  relatives  of  Mrs.  Drummond  paid  a  visit  to  the 
judge's  "  companion,"  and,  unfortunatelj^  for  the  judge,  the 
"  lady  "  from  St.  Louis  did  not  answer  to  the  description  of 
the  wife  in  Oquawkee.  The  discovery  did  not  long  remain 
a  secret.  The  "lady"  travelled  with  his  Honour  wherever 
he  held  court,  and  on  some  occasions  she  sat  beside  him  on  the 
bench. 

Plurality  of  wives  was  to  the  Mormons  a  part  of  their  re- 
ligion openly  acknowledged  to  all  the  world.  Drummond's 
plurality  was  the  outrage  of  a  respectable  wife  of  excellent 
reputation  for  the  indulgence  of  a  common  prostitute,  and  the 
whole  of  his  conduct  .was  a  gross  insult  to  the  Government 
which  he  represented,  and  the  people  among  whom  he  was 
sent  to  administer  law.  For  any  contempt  that  the  Mormons 
exhibited  towards  such  a  man,  there  is  no  need  of  apology. 

In  the  spring  of  1857,  Drummond  went  to  Carson  Valley 
to  hold  court  in  the  place  of  Judge  Stiles,  who  repaired  to  the 
seat  of  Government  to  make  affidavit  of  the  breaking  up  of 
his  court  and  the  destruction  of  the  records  of  the  District 
Courts. 

As  soon  as  Drummond  reached  the  Pacific  coast  he  made  a 
fierce  attack  upon  the  Mormons  in  the  papers  of  San  Francisco. 
His  exposure — much  of  it  false,  and  much  of  it  exaggerated — 
added  to  the  affidavit  of  Judge  Stiles  in  Washington,  aroused 
Congress  to  demand  immediate  action. 


286  THE  KOOKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


The  attack  upon  Judge  Stiles  in  a  public  court  of  the  United 
States,  and  the  subsequent  outrage  in  his  office,  would  be  inex- 
plicable to  the  reader  had  it  transpired  outside  of  Utah.  To 
the  people  of  that  Territory  it  presented  no  such  difficulty,  for 
it  occurred  during  that  fearful  period  of  fanaticism  designated 
The  Eeformation,"  of  which  an  expose  is  given  in  the  suc- 
ceeding chapter. 

At  no  period  of  the  history  of  Utah  has  there  been  a  per- 
fect entente  cordiale  between  the  representatives  of  the  Govern- 
ment there.  Some  one  among  the  Federal  officers  has  always 
been  found  who  could  either  be  "managed"  or  held  in  sub- 
mission by  the  threat  of  exposure  of  personal  history,  and  in 
such  a  case  the  Scripture  sentiment  is  reversed,  and  he  who  is 
not  against  us  is  for  us.  Among  those  friendly,  the  sympathy 
may  at  times  have  been  honest  ;  but  the  adhesion  to  the  priest- 
hood and  the  services  rendered  to  the  Territory  by  the  greater 
number  of  such  officials  were  evidently  for  the  attainment  of  a 
personal  purpose. 

Few  Federal  appointments  have  been  made  at  Washington 
for  Utah  that  some  representative  of  the  Church  did  not  essay 
in  some  way  to  control,  and  where  kindness  was  unappreciated 
and  a  determination  evinced  from  the  beginning  by  a  Federal 
officer  to  keep  clear  from  all  entangling  alliances,  that  man's 
history  and  pedigree  were  exceedingly  useful  and  sure  to  be 
reached.  lie  was  a  "  dangerous  man,"  and  if  anything  could 
be  discovered  about  him,  from  the  hanging  of  his  great-grand- 
father down  to  some  recent  peccadillo  of  his  own,  the  pigeon- 
hole of  his  alphabetical  letter  was  soon  a  repository  of  "  useful 
"  information." 

The  fourth  of  July,  and  the  anniversary  of  the  arrival  of 
the  Mormon  pioneers  in  Salt  Lake  Yalley  [July  24],  have 
been  useful  institutions  for  ascertaining  the  sentiments  of 
newly-appointed  officials.  "What  wonderful  and  varied  devel- 
opments have  been  made ! 

•  If  the  new  officers  arrived  during  the  latter  months  of  the 
year,  "  the  parties  "  at  the  Social  Hall  furnished  excellent  op- 
portunities for  polite  "  complimentary  "  invitations,  to  which 
the  kindly-disposed  Federals  failed  not  to  respond,  especially 
if  the  gentleman  were  a  "  bachelor,"  with  "  his  family  in  the 


PLEASANT  ATTENTIONS. 


287 


"  States,"  or  had  some  pending  divorce  on  his  mind.  To  be 
introduced  by  "President "  Brigham  Young  to  the  assembled 

Saints  as    The  Honourable  Blackstone ;  "  "  The  Honour- 

able  Scratchitorum  of  State  ;  "  "  Colonel  ,  command* 

ing  the  U.  S.  A.,  at  Camp  ; "  "  Major  ,  Superintendent 

of  Indian  Affairs,"  was  an  honour  to  be  blushiiigly  acknowl- 
edged and  indelibly  imprinted  upon  the  soul's  remembrance. 
To  all  this  public  attention  add  a  personal  introduction  to  Mrs. 
A —  Young ;  and  of  necessity  to  the  other  half  dozen,  Mrs. 
B— ,  Mrs.  C—  Mrs.  D— ,  Mrs.  E— ,  Mrs.  F— ,  and  Mrs.  G— 
Young ;  and  the  bewildered  Federal  was  in  a  fair  way  to  real- 
ize that  he  was  "  an  object  of  interest  "  and  a  personage  of 
some  importance.  Conducting  himself  with  the  usual  gallantry 
of  good  society,  there  were  at  least  these  seven  cotillions  to  be 
gone  through  with  first,  and  when  there  was  added  to  these 
the  partnership  in  the  dance  of  downy  cheeks  in  the  rosy  bloom 
of  maidenhood,  that  Federal  was  ready  to  swear  that  "  the 
"  Mormons  were  the  best  people  upon  the  earth."  To  rivet 
his  devotion  he  is  invited  to  the  right  hand  of  the  Prophet  at 
"  the  first  supper  table  "  where  he  hears  the  humble  invocation 
upon  the  food,  and  learns  that  it  is  all  due  to  the  Lord's  favour 
to  His  peculiar  people  in  the  mountains.  The  heart  of  the 
newly-arrived  Federal  is  softened,  and  he  pledges  eternal  friend- 
ship to  the  Patriarch. 

To  the  inspiration  of  such  attentions  may  be  attributed 
the  numerous  letters  which  have  been  hastily  written  from 
Utah  "  to  America,"  recounting  tlie  industry,  the  sobriety  of 
the  people,  the  salubrity  of  the  climate,  the  bushels  of  wheat 
to  the  acre,  the  peace  that  reigned  in  Zion,  the  delicious  fruit, 
the  Prophet's  youthful  appearance,  and  a  denial  of  the  un- 
founded extravagances  that  have  always  been  in  circulation 
against  the  Mormons !  In  the  fruit  season  that  Federal  could 
tell  of  the  early  delicacies  of  the  plant,  the  vine,  and  the  tree, 
before  the  market  liad  offered  them  to  the  public.  His  utterances 
and  his  compliments  were  reported,  and  the  columns  of  his 
home  newspaper  were  watched  and  culled,  and  the  first  inspi- 
rations from  the  Territory  were  carefully  republished  for  the 
edification  of  the  Saints  in  the  mountains.  Should  after- ex- 
perience change  his  first  impressions,  or  from  one  cause  or 
18 


288 


THE  KOCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


another  should  his  friendship  chill,  he  was  rendered  powerless 
to  act  without  submitting  himself  to  the  charge  of  inconsist- 
ency, and  few  men  of  that  class  have  the  courage  to  avow  an 
error  or  to  retrace  a  foolish  step. 

.With  as  unjustifiable  haste,  other  Federal  officers  have  l-e- 
trayed  uumanly  hostility  to  the  Mormons,  before  they  well 
knew  with  what  they  had  to  deal.  They  were  ready  to  con- 
sign the  leaders  to  the  penitentiary,  or  to  the  nethermost  regions 
of  the  bottomless  pit,  and  were  never  slow  to  express  openly  the 
pleasure  it  would  afford  them  to  expedite  in  an  official  way  the 
travels  of  apostles,  prophets,  and  bishops  to  either  destination. 

One  Federal  chief-justice  went  so  far  in  his  devotion  to 
Zion  as  to  accept  baptismal  initiation  into  the  Church.  He 
was  afterwards  ordained  a  high'  priest,  and  was  sent  to  Con- 
gress as  delegate.  His  successor  on  the  bench  was  as  much 
opposed  to  the  priesthood  as  he  had  been  subservient  to  it,  and 
while  the  delegate  was  operating  in  favour  of  the  Church  at 
Washington,  the  new  chief-justice  was  as  diligent  in  Utah  on 
the  opposite  side,  and  in  his  antipathy  denounced  everything 
Mormon.  In  his  view.  Nature  herself  had  stamped  her  curse 
npon  the  land.  The  very  peaches  were  "  unnatural  and  bas- 
"  tard,"  while  all  know  that  that  fruit  in  Utah  is  unsurpassed 
in  luscious  richness. 

To  such  varied  individual  proclivities — from  fawning  and 
servile  abasement,  to  the  manifestation  of  violent  antipathies 
— Utah  owes  much  of  the  unreliableness  of  its  history ;  but  be- 
neath all,  and  the  cause  of  all  these  exhibitions,  was  the  true 
difficulty — the  "  irrepressible  conflict "  between  theocracy  and 
republicanism. 

The  Federal  officer  who  had  nothing  to  ask  for,  saw  in  his 
government  and  the  statute^  of  the  nation  the  highest  devel- 
opment of  civilization  and  human  liberty,  and  he  could  but 
seek  their  supremacy,  and  demand  that  they  should  be  respect- 
ed and  obeyed.  As  naturally,  Brigham  Young  was  sincere  in 
circumventing,  by  every  possible  means,  the  assertion  of  any 
human  will  to  govern  the  Saints,  in  endeavouring  to  evade 
every  Congressional  statute,  and  prostrating  the  national  rep- 
resentation at  the  feet  of  the  Priesthood  to  accomplish  the  tri- 
umph of  "  the  kingdom." 


FEDERAL  OFFICERS  "TOADY"  TO  THE  PROPHET.  289 

The  other  Federal  officers,  outside  of  the  judiciary,  have 
generally  been  let  alone  " — collision  in  the  exercise  of  their 
several  duties  was  not  inevitable.  A  Superintendent  of  Indi- 
ans could  distribute  blankets  and  flour ;  a  Surveyor-General 
could  drive  stakes,  run  lines,  and  make  maps  without  hurting 
any  one's  interest  or  any  one's  inclinations  ;  a  Governor  could 
make  up  his  mind  to  "  do  nothing,"  and  a  Secretary  could 
promptly  pay  the  legislators  their  ^er  diem  and  mileage  with- 
out asking  questions  about  the  comforts  or  troubles  of  a  patri- 
arch's life.  All  this  had  been  done,  and  the  "  elect  of  the 
Lord  "  and  the  representatives  of  republicanism  have  walked 
together  and  danced  together  with  perfect  unity,  but  when 
either  of  these  officials  has  "  taken  sides  "  with  the  hostile  ju- 
diciary and  given  them  aid  and  comfort,"  the  enchantment 
of  the  circle  has  been  rudely  broken. 

An  Indian  Superintendent  once  drifted  into  hostility,  and, 
among  other  things,  exposed  the  "  Mountain-Meadows  mas- 
"sacre."  He  had  quietly  misappropriated  Indian  property, 
and  his  delinquencies  were  proclaimed  "  upon  the  house-tops." 
Two  Superintendents  succeeded  him,  who  were  both  kindly 
disposed  towards  the  Church  leaders.  They  may  not,  perhaps, 
have  stolen  more  abundantly,  for  they  were  judicious.  They 
became  wealthy,  however,  but  against  them  nought  was  ever 
insinuated. 

In  a  fit  of  discontent,  an  Indian  interpreter,  a  Mormon, 
dictated  a  statement  of  the  peculations  of  one  of  these  friendly 
Superintendents,  made  due  affidavits  of  the  facts,  affixed  his 
name  to  the  document,  and  all  was  ready  for  exposure.  By 
some  legerdemain  the  document  disappeared,  and  the  inter- 
preter suddenly  lost  all  recollection  of  the  facts.  On  leaving 
Utah,  that  Superintendent  was  further  honoured  by  his  gov- 
ernment, and  in  return  for  the  kindness  shown  him  in  Utah  he 
laboured  for  Zion  at  Washington. 

Another  Federal  officer  recently  there  was  in  perfect  ecst^- 
cies  over  Zion.  His  wife  and  he  travelled  frequently  with 
Brigham  Young,  in  his  annual  visits  to  the  settlements,  and 
shared  with  the  apostles,  prophets,  and  bishops  a  place  on  the 
platform  in  the  public  assemblies.  In  his  admiration,  as  he 
witnessed  Brigham's  equipage  and  followers  on  a  visiting  tour 


290 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  .  SAINTS. 


north,  he  ejaculated  to  the  Author :  "  Brigham  has  the  best 
"  thing  in  America  !  "  That  judgment  was  well  founded.  In 
return  for  all  the  favours  of  which  that  Federal  official  was  the 
recipient,  the  revenue  office  was  conducted  by  Mormon  assist- 
ants, and  clerks. 

Two  secretaries,  and,  in  course  of  time,  both  acting-gov- 
ernors,  were  vastly  more  serviceable  than  if  they  had  been 
members  of  the  Quorum  of  Apostles. 

The  ostensible  "friendship"  of  these  Federal  officials  has 
done  a  great  wrong  to  the  people  of  Utah.  It  has  clothed  the 
tongues  of  the  priesthood  with  what  they  have  claimed  as  im- 
partial testimony  from  gentlemen  outside  of  the  Church,  and 
the  mass  of  the  people,  who  knew  not  the  why  and  the  where- 
fore, very  naturally  accepted  such  testimony  as  a  corroboration 
of  their  faith  and  of  the  rightful  course  of  their  leaders,  and  as 
naturally  prejudiced  them  against  the  men  who  had  dared  to 
tell  them  unpleasant  facts.  Whoever  else  has  been  deceived 
by  such  testimony,  there  is  no  reason  for  concluding  that  either 
the  ruling  priesthood  or  the  officials  themselves  were  among 
that  number.  Brigham's  enmity  against  the  Government  is 
too  deeply  rooted  for  him  ever  to  have  trusted  one  of  its  repre- 
sentatives beyond  what  he  wanted  the  public  to  be  told,  and  it 
has  been  easily  discernible  in  private  intercourse  with  these 
officials,  that  their  services  were  nicely  balanced  as  quid  pro 
quo.  Every  one  of  them  has  discovered,  sooner  or  later,  that 
Brigham  was  their  Richelieu. 

These  few  pliant  officials  have  more  successfully  covered  up 
the  wrongs  committed  in  Utah — have  done  more  to  shield  the 
guilty  and  to  deceive  the  public  than  all  their  other  Federal 
associates  have  ever  been  able  to  do  in  telling  the  truth,  en- 
forcing the  execution  of  law,  bringing  crime  to  light,  and  reach- 
ing the  guilty  with  punishment. 

Concealment  encouraged  fanaticism,  and  crimes  were  com- 
mitted which  would  never  have  been  attempted  had  the  vigi- 
lance of  the  law  been  a  certainty.  Had  the  wrongs  and  mur- 
ders in  Utah  been  dealt  with  promptly  at  the  time  of  their  oc- 
currence, it  would  have  been  to  the  honour  of  the  Territofy 
to-day  that  the  violation  of  law  had  never  gone  unpunished, 
and  that  terrible  fanaticism,  which  struck  terror  into  the  souls 


GREAT  SCARCITY  OF  BREAD. 


291 


of  all  who  witnessed  its  influence,  would  have  been  suppressed 
in  its  infancy. 

The  social  position  of  the  Mormons  during  all  this  time 
was  as  trying  as  their  political  and  judicial  controversy  and 
wire-pulling  were  bewildering.  The  wealth  that  was  left  in 
Great  Salt  Lake  City  by  the  passing  emigration  to  the  gold- 
mines of  California  was  only  temporary.  Many  of  the  inhabi- 
tants of  the  Territory  soon  became  very  poor.  The  crops  had 
failed  in  1854:,  and  famine  stared  them  in  the  face,  and  in  some 
of  the  settlements  the  winters  had  been  very  severe,  and  the 
cattle  ranging  in  the  valleys  died  in  great  numbers. 

All  this,  of  course,  was  calculated  to  weaken  many  in  the 
farth  who  had  supposed  that  the  heavens  were  specially  propi- 
tious to  Zion,  and  the  priesthood  added  to  the  bitterness  of 
privation  the  assertion  that  "  the  Lord "  was  punishing  the 
Saints  for  their  unfaithfulness.  Without  a  hope  outside  of 
Mormonism,  they  took  their  chastisement  humbly,  prayed  more 
and  worked  harder. 

The  best  provided  families  in  Utah,  throughout  the  winter 
of  1855-6,  had  to  "  ration "  their  families  to  the  smallest 
amount  of  bread-stuffs  per  day,  in  order  to  subsist  until  the 
following  harvest.    The  condition  of  the  poor  was  appalling.^ 

*  In  a  letter  from  Heber  C.  Kimball,  dated  Salt  Lake  City,  February  29,  1856, 
published  in  the  Millennial  Star^  he  says : 

"  I  have  been  under  the  necessity  of  rationing  my  family,  and  also  yours,  to  two- 
thirds  of  a  pound  of  bread-stuffs  per  day  each ;  as  the  last  week  is  up  to-day,  we 
shall  commence  on  half  a  pound  each.  Brother  Brigham  told  me  to-day  that  he 
had  put  his  family  on  half  a  pound  each,  for  there  is  scarcely  any  grain  in  the  coun- 
try, and  there  are  thousands  that  have  none  at  all  scarcely.  We  shall  be  under  the 
necessity  of  eating  the  bran  along  with  the  flour,  and  shall  think  ourselves  doing 
well  with  half  a  pound  a  day  at  that.  So  you  can  judge  whether  or  not  we  can  get 
through  until  harvest  without  digging  roots.  Still,  we  are  better  off  than  the  most 
of  the  people  in  these  valleys  and  mountains.  There  are  several  wards  ui  this  city 
who  have  not  over  two  weeks'  provisions  on  hand." 


CHAPTEE  XXXYL 


THE  "  EEFOKM ATION  "  IN  UTAH.— Its  Extraordinary  Origin— Shortcomings 
of  the  Saints — Jeddy's"  Frenzy — Sinners  re-baptized — Terrible  Enthusiasm — 
Tabernacle  l^eachings — Doctrine  of  the  "  Blood  Atonement " — Human  Sacrifice 
commended — Erring  Saints  to  offer  up  their  Blood  as  Incense — ^Brother  H^ber 
declares  that  BrigTiam  Yotmg  is  God  to  the  Mormons — Strange  Preaching — Con- 
fessions of  the  Saints — ^Brigham's  Casuistry  about  Ke-baptizing — Extraordinary 
Public  Meetings  of  the  Priesthood — A  "Reign  of  Terror" — Shocking  Outrages 
upon  Citizens — Crusade  against  Intellectual  Societies — Eesults  of  the  "Eefor- 
mation" — An  Important  Letter — What  Brigham  and  the  Leaders  really  said  in 
the  Tabernacle — ^Apostates  and  Gentiles  threatened. 

In  all  nations,  and  in  almost  every  age,  something  lias  been 
heard  of  "reform."  Mormonism  had  also  its  " Eeformation." 
But  there  was  nothing  in  common  between  the  notable  refor- 
mations in  the  world's  history  and  that  which  is  inscribed  in 
the  annals  of  the  Kocky  Mountain  territory  in  1856. 

The  Mormon  writers  have  been  studiously  silent  about  the 
"  Reformation "  in  Utah,  and  here  the  Author  would  have 
gladly  passed  it  by  ;  but  he  feels  that,  furnishing  as  it  does  a 
clue  to  some  of  the  worst  crimes  which  blacken  the  page  of 
American  history,  its  tale  of  horrors  imperatively  demands  a 
place  in  this  volume. 

While  many  important  features  in  the  lives  of  the  Utah 
Saints  will  pass  away  and  be  forgotten,  the  "Reformation" 
will  be  remembered  for  ever.  It  was  the  outburst  of  the  worst 
elements  of  fanaticism — a  fanaticism  at  once  blind,  dangerous, 
and  terrible,  but  at  the  same  time  the  natural  result  of  the 
teachings  of  the  Tabernacle. 

The  Author,  not  being  then  in  Utah,  presents  to  the  reader 
a  graphic  sketch — never  before  published — from  the  pen  of 
an  eye-witness,  then  and  now  a  resident  of  Salt  Lake  City : 


THE  BEGINNING  OF  THE  REFORMATION. 


293 


"Early  in  tlie  fall  of  1856,  president  Jedediah  M.  Grant  went  to  Kays- 
ville,  about  twenty-five  miles  north  of  Salt  Lake  City,  to  preach  and  hold 
a  local  conference  meeting.  He  invited  a  few  elders  to  meet  him  there,  and 
take  part  in  the  exercises 
with  him.  To  one  of  t  hese 
elders  he  lent  his  mule  to 
bear  him  thither.  One  of 
the  party  being  a  good 
horseman  made theothers 
keep  up,  going  at  a  good 
pace;  and  on  arrival  at 
the  bishop's  house  at 
Kaysville,  where '  brother 
Jeddy  '  awaited  them,  he 
scanned  the  animals  close- 
ly; they  seemed  to  be  heat- 
ed, sweating,  and  rather 
jaded.  No  remarks  were 
made  just  then,  and  the  whole  party,  apparently  with  good  feeling,  went 
to  the  meeting  together.  The  brethren  delivered  themselves  in  their  usual 
style,  and  'seemed  good'  in  testifying  to  Hhe  work,'  exhorting  their 
hearers  to  faithfulness.  Jedediah  was  the  last  speaker,  and,  during  his 
remarks,  he  charged  his  brethren,  the  elders,  in  the  bitterest  manner  with 
cruelty  to  his  mule  and  the  other  animals,  and  with  riding  in  such  a  man- 
ner as  to  nearly  kill  them.  After  denounciug  the  speakers  who  had 
preceded  him  for  inconsistency  between  their  preaching  and  practice, 
and  accusing  them  of  hypocrisy,  he  assailed  the  bishop  and  his  counsel- 
lors for  inactivity  and  carelessness,  and  charged  the  congregation  gener- 
ally with  all  manner  of  wickedness,  calling  upon  them  to  repent  and  *  do 
'  their  first  works  over  again,'  or  God's  judgment  would  overtake  them 
sjDeedily.  Thus  began  the  noted  *  Eeformation  '  in  Utah,  and  '  accusation 
*  of  the  brethren'  became  forthwith  a  mania  with  this  reformer.  The  same 
spirit  was  caught  quickly  by  others,  who  found  it  easier  to  break  and  pull 
down  than  to  teach,  inspire,  and  build  up,  and  it  was  quickly  difiused 
everywhere  throughout  Zion. 

"  Another  meeting  was  appointed  to  convene  in  a  few  weeks,  when 
'  J  eddy '  and  most  of  the  elders  then  present  were  again  there.  Accusa- 
tion after  accusation,  more  bitter  than  before,  was  hurled  at  the  *  Saints,' 
and  they  were  commanded  to  be  re-tajptized,^  In  accordance  with  this, 
after  the  exercises  at  night,  numbers  were  re-baptized  by  the  elders,  and 
though  the  weather  was  cold  and  unfavourable,  Jeddy  himself  remained 
in  the  water  until  he  shivered  with  cold  and  contracted  the  disease  from 
which  he  never  recovered. 

*  It  is  a  privilege  accorded  to  the  Mormons  to  be  "  baptized  for  the  remissicn 
"of  sins"  not  only  on  entering  the  Church,  but  as  often  afterwards  as  conscience 
may  demand  it. 


The  Beginning  of  the  Reformation — "  Jeddy^s"  Mule. 


294 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


"  At  the  Tabernacle  in  Salt  Lake  City,  Jedediah  addressed  the  Saints 
every  Sunday  afterwards,  charging  them  with  sins  and  crimes  of  almost 
every  description.  The  bishops  were  'whipped'  for  dereliction  of  duty, 
for  being  *  old  fogies,'  and  not  being  strict  in  making  the  Saints  pay  their 
tithing  to  '  the  Lord.'  All  were  called  upon  to  confess  their  sins,  and  to 
make  Jinown  to  God's  servant  the  crimes  of  which  they  were  guilty.  The 
most  extravagant  language  and  bitter  denunciations  were  uttered  against 
tlie  Saints,  and  strict,  unquestioning  obedience  to  the  priesthood  was  com- 
manded in  all  things,  with  the  consecration  of  body,  soul,  and  property  to 
the  Church.  Individuals  were  hinted  at  and  sins  imputed  to  them  which 
they  dared  not  deny,  nor  even  attempt  to  defend  themselves,  however  in- 
nocent they  might  be. 

'  I  would  advise  some  of  you  men  here,'  said  Jeddy  on  one  occasion, 
'  to  go  to  President  Young  and  confess  your  sins,  and  ask  him  to  take  you 
*  outside  the  city  and  have  your  blood  shed  to  atone  for  your  sins.'  'All 
that  you  have  and  are  belong  to  God,,  and  must  be  devoted  to  his  Church. 
Not  only  your  money,  and  goods,  and  talents,  but  your  wives  and  chil- 
dren should  be  at  all  times  ready  to  be  devoted  to  his  servant.' 

"'If  President  Young  wants  my  wives  I  will  give  them  to  him  without 
a  grumble,  and  he  can  take  them  whenever  he  likes.' 

"  Heber  C.  Kimball  felt  only  too  happy  to  follow  in  the  wake  of  Grant : 
he  used  the  most  disgusting  vituperatives,  for  which  he  was  noted,  and 
indulged  in  unheard-of  accusations. 

"  He  declared  to  the  people  that  Brigham  Young  was  his  God,  and 
their  God,  and  the  only  God  they  would  ever  see  if  they  did  not  obey  him: 
'  Joseph  Smith  was  God  to  the  inhabitants  of  the  earth  when  he  was 
'amongst  us,  and  Brigham  is  God  now.'  This  strain  was  caught  up  and 
reiterated  by  many  of  the  elders,  from  Orson  Hyde,  the  president  of  the 
twelve  apostles,  down  to  the  most  ignorant  teacher,  and  to  question  it 
openly  was  to  be  put  under  the  ban. 

"Meetings  were  held  throughout  the  city,  and  'missionaries'  were  ap- 
pointed to  preach  in  and  visit  every  ward  throughout  the  Territory. 

"The  elders  returning  from  Europe  were  appointed  to  preach  to  the 
people,  and  to  learn  their  sins.  In  the  excitement,  to  which  every  one  was 
expected  to  bend  and  catch  '  the  spirit  of  the  work,'  men — immoral,  igno- 
rant men— were  sent  as  'home  missionaries'  to  keep  them  at  work,  that 
they  might  thereby  gain  their  living  irrespective  of  qualification  or  re- 
ligious worth. 

"  Three  brethren,  notorious  for  earning  their  living  by  fiddling  at  the 
dances,  and  who  were  in  every  respect  unqualified  to  teach  moral  prin- 
ciples, were  ordered  to  go  as  missionaries  and  make  their  living  in  that 
capacity,  as  the  '  Reformation '  allowed  no  dancing.    These  men — H-^p 

H  r,  J — n  J  s,  and  J — h  M  y — ignorant  themselves  of  knowing 

anything  of  religious  truth,  and  innocent  of  attempting  to  acquire  it,  the 
laughing-stock  secretly  of  the  better  informed,  would  shout  out,  '  wake 
up,'  '  repent,'  '  obey  counsel,'  '  pay  tithing,'  '  consecrate  your  property  to 


EXTRAORDINARY  CONFESSIONS. 


295 


the  Church,'  '  get  more  wives,'  and  *  give  us  a  good  collection,'  and  they 
were  deemed  full  of '  the  Spirit.' 

Elders  were  sent  to  the  various  settlements  and  stationed  at  certain 
places,  whose  duty  it  was  to  excite  people  to  confess  their  secret  sins  and 
reveal  their  private  conduct  to  them  and  the  bishops.  Teachers  were  ap- 
pointed in  every  ward  and  for  every  block,  whose  duties  were  to  pry  into 
every  secret  and  learn  the  private  history  of  every  family.  Men,  women, 
and  children  were  aslced  the  most  indelicate  questions  about  private  actions  and 
secret  thoughts.  Husbands  were  asked  inconvenient  questions  about  rela- 
tions with  their  wives,  and  wives  about  their  husbands,  by  rude  and  ig- 
norant teachers,  and  'counsel'  was  given  accordingly.  Girls  were  coun- 
selled to  marry  into  polygamy  to  old  men  ^  that  they  might  be  saved,'  for 
young  men  were  '  not  tried '  in  the  kingdom  and  could  not  '  save  '  the 
girls ;  and  in  many  instances  young  women  were  forced  to  break  off  en- 
gagements with  young  men  whom  they  loved,  to  gratify  a  bishop's  pref- 
erence, a  missionary's  feelings,  or  a  great  elder's  desires. 

Meetings  were  held  by  all  the  'Quorums'  of  'High  Priests,'  'Sev- 
enties,' and  'Bishops,'  which  were  largely  attended.  The  greatest  zeal 
for  the  good  of  '  the  kingdom'  and  unquestioning  obedience  v/ere  mani- 
fested, and  the  weak  in  faith,  the  doubting,  and  rebellious  were,  with 
'  Uncle  Sam '  and  all  the  Gentiles,  denounced  without  mercy. 

"  A  catechism  was  printed  by  authority  of  Brigham  Young,  and  a  copy 
of  it  was  put  into  the  hands  of  everj  missionary,  elder,  bishop  and  teacher, 
who  catechized  with  unblushing  effrontery  every  member  of  the  Church. 
Those  refusing  to  answer  were  cursed  and  reported  at  the  bishops'  meet- 
ings as  worthy  to  be  disfellowshipped,  and  those  who  honestly  told  their 
feelings  were  likewise  reported  to  the  authorities,  and  became  objects  of 
attack  and  abuse  at  the  public  meetings,  while  their  private  characters 
became  topics  of  scandal  and  gossip. 

"  The  confessions  of  the  Saints  were  texts  for  discourses,  and  curses 
were  hurled  on  them  publicly.  The  revelation  of  sins  wormed  out  of  them 
by  the  catechism  and  other  methods  adopted  were  astonishing,  and  a 
lower  state  of  morals  was  discovered  to  exist  than  even  the  best  informed 
could  have  suspected. 

"  Polygamy,  notwithstanding  the  claims  of  the  Utah  writers,  had  not 
prevented  illicit  intercourse  between  the  sexes.  No  houses  of  professional 
prostitution  publicly  opened  their  doors  invitingly  to  the  Saints,  but  secret 
confessions  showed  that  private  evils  existed  in  the  cities  of  professed 
Saints  which  were  not  surpassed  by  the  inhabitants  of  many  cities  of 
'  Babylon '  in  which  '  all  classes  and  conditions  of  men  '  do  congregate. 
Thefts,  roguishness,  cheating,  and  lying  were  divulged,  which  had  been 
carried  on  for  years.  As  illustrative  of  this  let  me  recite  a  pretty  well- 
known  occurrence. 

"  On  one  occasion  a  public  meeting  was  called  at  the  Social  Hall, 
which  was  very  largely  attended  by  the  priesthood  or  male  members  only. 
Brigham,  Heber,  '  Jeddy,'  and  others  addressed  the  elders.    Blind  and 


296 


THE  KOCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


burning  zeal  prompted  the  meanest  accusations  and  aspersions.  The  con- 
fessions, as  before  observed,  were  groundwork  for  reproofs,  rebukes,  and 
denunciations.  Brigham  in  his  speech  put  a  motion  as  follows  :  '  All  you 
'  who  have  been  guilty  of  committing  adultery,  stand  up.'  To  the  sur- 
prise of  some,  and  the  chagrin  of  the  presidency,  more  than  three-fourths 
stood  on  their  feet.*  Of  course,  no  women  being  present,  the  men  only 
answered  for  themselves — the  inference  could  only  be  imagined  about  the 
other  sex. 

The  truthful  and  simple  replies  to  the  questions  of  the  catechism 
revealed  more  than  was  expected.  Confidence  and  respect  were  lost,  and 
society  seemed  to  be  falling  in  pieces.  Brigham,  seeing  the  evil  results  of 
such  priestcraft  and  fanaticism  in  the  hands  of  ignorant  elders,  gave  general 
instructions,  by  obedience  to  which  the  Saints  could  evade  the  disgrace 
and  publicity  of  their  confessions.    Said  he :  *  Kepent  of  your  sins,  and 

*  be  baptized  for  the  remission  of  sins,  and,  as  they  are  washed  away  by 

*  the  ordinance  of  baptism,  you  can  say  truly  that  you  are  not  guilty  of  the 
'  sins  inquired  of  by  the  catechism,  though  you  may  have  committed  them.' 
Many  easily  caught  at  this  clue  and  rushed  to  the  baptismal  waters  to  be 
cleansed  from  their  iniquities,  and  to  bury  their  sins  from  mortal  eyes. 

"  At  the  meetings  of  the  priesthood,  schemes  were  mooted  and  plans 
adopted  to  remove  everything  obnoxious  to  the  ^  interests  of  the  king- 
dom.' The  reported  conduct  of  the  Gentiles  was  discussed  and  opinions 
were  offered  concerning  those  who  were  suspected  of  being  weak  in  the 
faith,  or  those  who  were  independent  enough  to  offer  opinions  adverse  to 
the  course  of  some  in  authority.    Extreme  measures,  based  upon  false  re- 

*  A  leading  bishop  in  Salt  Lake  City  recently  stated  to  the  Author  that  Brigham 
was  as  much  appalled  at  this  sight  as  was  Macbeth  when  he  beheld  the  woods  of 
Birnam  marching  on  to  Dunsinane.  A  bishop  arose  and  asked  if  there  were  not 
some  misunderstanding  among  the  brethren  concerning  the  question.  He  thought 
that  perhaps  the  elders  understood  Brigham's  inquiry  to  apply  to  their  conduct  be- 
fore they  had  thrown  off  the  works  of  the  devil  and  embraced  Mormonism  ;  but 
upon  Brigham  reiterating  that  it  was  the  adultery  committed  since  they  had  entered 
the  Church,  the  brethren  to  a  man  still  stood  up.  Brigham  had  evoked  a  spectre 
that  he  little  expected. 

A  gentleman,  who  in  one  of  the  counties  filled  the  position  of  "  Father  Confes- 
"  sor  ^'  in  those  times,  frankly  admits  the  truthfulness  of  the  report  about  the  meet- 
ing, but  protests  against  it  being  regarded  as  an  indication  of  the  actual  morality  of 
the  mass  of  the  people  of  Utah.  In  that  interpretation  the  Author  fully  concurs, 
for  though  the  number  in  this  assembly  who  confessed  their  guilt  was,  as  reported, 
very  large,  the  violation  of  morality  has  to  be  considered  as  occurring  at  some  time 
daring  the  whole  course  of  their  lives  as  Mormons.  It  does  not  seem  possible  that 
much  of  this  could  have  occurred  in  Utah.  During  the  twenty-five  years'  associa- 
tion of  the  Author  with  Mormonism,  he  never  knew  of  more  than  two  or  three 
cases  of  this  kind,  and  the  transgressors  were  immediately  excommunicated.  With- 
out considering  the  penalty  of  the  "  endowment  "  [death],  there  has, always  been  a 
dreadful  horror  of  the  crime  of  adultery  in  the  minds  of  the  Mormons. 


REIGN  OF  TERROR  AMONG  THE  SAINTS; 


297 


ports,  were  used  towards  many,  and  the  victims  had  no  time  or  opportu- 
nity to  explain,  nor  any  means  of  redress  afterwards.  The  following  are 
some  instances  in  point. 

"  During  a  meeting  of  the  faithful  missionaries  held  in  the  Historian's 
office,  presided  over  by  Brother  Brigham,  when  zeal  ran  high  and  testi- 
monies were  delivered,  and  determination  of  faithfulness  expressed  in  the 
warmest  manner,  several 
brethren  walked  out  to 
perform  some  mission 
that  had  been  pre-ar- 
ranged. That  same  even- 
ing the  house  and  store 
of  Mr.  H.  J.  Jarvis  was 
entered  by  some  brethren 
in  disguise.  They  walked 
into  his  store,  and  when 
he  had  served  a  customer 
present,  they  suddenly 
caught  him  by  the  hair 

of  his  head  and  dragged  Eeforming  a  Heretic, 

him  over  the  counter, 

pulled  him  into  the  street,  and  threw  him  on  to  the  snow,  threatening  his 
life  if  he  made  a  noise.  They  reentered  his  store,  took  what  they  pleased 
to  the  amount  of  $750,  set  fire  to  the  place,  besmeared  the  parlor  furni- 
ture with  their  own  filth,  and  decamped,  '  breathing  threatenings  and 
slaughter.'  His  wives  (for  he  had  two  sweetly- dispositioned,  good  wom- 
en) rushed  up  stairs  to  save  the  children,  and  after  returning  with  them 
succeeded  in  extinguishing  the  fire,  which  had  now  reached  to  within  one 
foot  of  the  powder,  but  not  without  burning  their  arms  and  hands.  Mr. 

Jarvis  and  family  went  to  a  neighbour's  house  occupied  by  elder  ,  the 

representative  of  'God'  in  the  Endowment  House,  for  protection,  but 
were  refused  shelter.  Brother  -saying  that  they  could  not  remain  there. 

"  '  Why  ? '  asked  Mr.  Jarvis. 

"  '  Because  Israel  is  at  work.' 

" '  What  have  I  done  to  be  thus  treated,  and  to  be  refused  shelter  for 
my  family  ? '  asked  Mr.  Jarvis. 

"  '  You  have  spoken  evil  of  the  authorities,'  replied  the  Elder,  who 
seemed  to  know  the  cause  and  to  have  expected  the  result. 

"  '  I  have  never  done  so,'  said  Mr.  Jarvis. 

"  '  You  have  had  Gentiles  to  supper  in  your  house,'  again  replied  the 
Elder. 

*  I  never  had ;  but  if  I  had,  I  had  a  perfect  right  to  do  so  if  I  liked,' 
was  the  honest  reply. 

''  Mr.  Jarvis  was  a  man  of  unimpeachable  moral  character,  a  respectable 
merchant,  and  would  be  esteemed  a  good  citizen  in  any  community.  He 
went  to  Daniel  Spencer,  President  of  the  Stake  of  Zion,  and  to  Bishop 


298 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


Kesler  in  the  ward  in  which  the  outrage  occurred,  to  seek  protection,  as 
he  was  afraid  of  his  life.  Mr.  Spencer  sympathized  with  him  very  much 
privately,  but  could  not  obtain  for  him  an  interview  with  Brigham.  Kes- 
ler could  do  nothing  for  him,  regretted  the  abuse,  and  promised  that  he 
would  see  to  it  that  he  should  be  no  further  molested. 

"  William  H.  Wilson,  a  man  of  excellent  character  and  much  talent, 
was  a  clerk  in  General  Burr's  office.  At  a  late  hour  at  night  a  rap  was 
heard  at  his  door.  He  arose  out  of  bed,  slipped  on  his  trowsers,  and  went 
to  the  door.  There  he  was  seized  by  several  strong  men  and  taken  away 
forcibly  towards  Jordan  river,  and  detained  there  by  the  ruffians  till  next 
night.  He  was  abused  and  his  life  threatened.  He  inquired  the  cause  of 
the  seizure,  and  was  told  that  he  was  clerking  for  a  United  States'  official, 
and  was  writing  articles  to  E'ew  York  papers  against  the  Church.  This 
he  emphatically  denied. 

"  Their  intention  he  believed  was  to  kill  him,  but  before  attempting 
the  act,  one  of  the  party  who  knew  Mi  Wilson  well  and  wanted  to  serve 
him,  stated  that  they  ought  to  be  certain  of  his  guilt  before  doing  vio- 
lence. After  some  deliberation  it  was  agreed  to  release  him  upon  con- 
dition that  he  would  swear  never  to  divulge  the  outrage  and  its  perpetra- 
tors. His  wife,  who  sujBTered  indescribably  during  this  time,  sought  to  obtain 
an  interview  with  Governor  Young,  but  there  was  no  access  to  his  august 
presence  for  the  wife  of  a  person  so  weak  in  the  faith  and  who  was  in  the 
hands  of  the  minions  of  the  Church.  Mr.  Landon,  likewise  a  clerk  in 
General  Burr's  office,  fled  when  he  heard  of  the  seizure  of  Mr.  Wilson,  and 
escaped  on  foot  to  Virginia,  i^evada,  report  says,  suffering  horribly  for 
food,  and  shoes,  and  shelter. 

"  Job  Salter,  watchmaker,  a  good  citizen,  was  taken  from  his  house  by 
some  faithful  elders  at  night,  whipped  and  abused  because  he  did  not  en- 
ter into  all  the  spirit  of  the  '  Reformation '  and  accuse  himself  of  sins, 
but  was  allowed  to  return  to  his  family  after  being  sworn  not  disclose  the 
perpetrators  of  the  foul  deed. 

"  Brigham  Young,  who  was  not  only  president  of  the  Church,  but  gov- 
ernor of  the  Territory,  took  no  notice  of  these  and  other  outrages,  but  by 
his  silence  gave  reason  to  believe  that  he  countenanced  the  villainy.  These 
outrages  were  the  legitimate  result  of  the  teaching  of  the  elders  in  the 
Tabernacle,  the  doctrines  set  forth  by  Jedediah  Grant,  and  even  by  Brig- 
ham Young  himself. 

"  The  sweetest  words  that  Jesus  ever  uttered — *  Love  thy  neighbour  as 
thyself,'  were  commented  upon  by  Brigham  to  show  that  a  man  would  be 
loving  his  neighbour  as  himself  if  he  killed  him  '  rather  than  he  should 
'  apostatize.'  *  This  terrible  rendering  of  the  Gospel  of  humanity  is  too  well 

*  Such  a  perversion  of  the  language  of  Jesus  by  any  person  professing  Chris- 
tianity might  appear  to  the  reader  utterly  impossible ;  but  that  Brigham  Young  did 
so  interpret  these  words,  and  fully  commended  his  interpretation  being  carried  into 
effect,  the  following  extract  from  his  sermon  will  demonstrate : 

When  will  we  love  our  neighbours  as  ourselves  ?   In  the  first  place,  Jesus 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  SHEDDING  BLOOD. 


299 


remembered  by  many.  The  results  of  such  teachings  were  experienced  in 
the  outrages  committed  during  the  height  of  the  so-called  '  Reformation, ' 
in  various  parts  of  the  Territory,  while  those  alone  were  pronoimced  faith- 
ful who  were  most  imbued  with  this  horrid  fanaticism.  Many  more  ex- 
amples might  be  given. 

"  Everything  that  was  not  ordered  and  presided  over  by  the  priest- 
hood, was  denounced  as  leading  to  apostacy,  and  all  who  did  not  take  an 
active  part  in  self-accusation  of  the  meanest  kind  were  suspected  of  deep 
sin,  and  treated  accordingly.  For  example,  a  number  of  young  elders  of 
literary  tastes  and  acquirements,  some  of  whom  were  acknowledged  to  be 

said  that  no  man  hateth  his  own  flesh.  It  is  admitted  by  all  that  every  person  loves 
himself.  Now  if  we  do  rightly  love  ourselves  we  want  to  be  saved  and  coatinue  to 
exist,  we  want  to  go  into  the  kingdom  where  we  can  enjoy  eternity  and  see  no  more 
sorrow  nor  death.  This  is  the  desire  of  every  person  who  believes  in  God.  Now 
take  a  person  in  this  congregation  who  has  knowledge  with  regard  to  being  saved 
in  the  kingdom  of  our  God  and  our  Father,  and  being  exalted,  one  who  knows  and 
understands  the  principles  of  eternal  life,  and  sees  the  beauties  and  excellency  of 
the  eternities  before  him  compared  with  the  vain  and  foolish  things  of  the  world, 
and  suppose  that  he  is  overtaken  in  a  gross  fault,  that  he  has  committed  a  sin  that 
he  knows  will  deprive  him  of  that  exaltation  which  he  desires,  and  that  he  cannot 
attain  to  it  without  the  shedding  of  his  blood,  and  also  knows  that  by  having  his 
blood  shed  he  will  atone  for  that  sin  and  be  saved  and  exalted  with  the  gods,  is 
there  a  man  or  woman  in  this  house  but  would  say  '  Shed  my  blood  that  I  might  be 
'  saved  and  exalted  with  the  gods  ?  ' 

All  mankind  love  themselves ;  and  let  those  principles  be  known  by  an  in- 
dividual, and  he  would  be  glad  to  have  his  blood  shed,  'J 'his  would  be  loving  ourselves 
even  unto  an  eternal  exaltation.  Will  you  love  your  brothers  or  sisters  likewise  when 
they  have  a  sin  that  cannot  be  atoned  for  without  the  shedding  of  their  blood  ?  Will 
you  love  that  man  or  woman  well  enough  to  shed  their  blood?  That  is  what  Jesus 
Christ  meant.  He  never  told  a  man  or  woman  to  love  their  enemies  in  their 
wickedness,  never.  He  never  meant  any  such  thing ;  His  language  is  left  as  it  is 
for  those  to  read  who  have  the  spirit  to  discern  between  truth  and  error ;  it  was  so 
left  for  those  who  can  discern  the  things  of  God.  Jesus  Christ  never  meant  that 
we  should  love  a  wicked  man  in  his  wickedness. 

"  1  could  refer  you  to  plenty  of  instances  where  men  have  been  righteously  slain  in 
order  to  atone  for  their  sins.  I  have  seen  scores  and  hundreds  of  people  for  whom 
there  would  have  been  a  chance  (in  the  last  resurrection  there  will  be)  if  their  lives 
had  been  taken  and  their  blood  spilled  on  the  ground  as  a  smoking  incense  to  the 
Almighty,  but  who  are  now  angels  to  the  devil,  until  our  elder  brother,  Jesus  Christ, 
raises  them  up,  conquers  death,  hell,  and  the  grave. 

"  I  have  known  a  great  many  men  who  have  left  this  Church  for  whom  there  is 
no  chance  whatever  for  exaltation^  but  if  their  blood  had  been  spilled  it  ivould  have  been 
better  for  them. 

"  The  wickedness  and  ignorance  of  the  nations  forbid  this  principle  being  in  full 
force^  but  the  time  will  come  when  the  law  of  god  will  be  in  full  force.  This 
is  loving  our  neighbour  as  ourselves  ;  if  he  needs  help,  help  him  ;  i  f  he  wants  salva- 
tion and  it  is  necessary  to  spill  his  blood  on  the  earth  in  order  thai  he  may  be  savedy 
spill  it. 

"  Any  of  you  who  understand  the  principles  of  eternity,  if  you  have  sinned  a  sin 
requiring  the  shedding  of  blood,  except  the  sin  unto  death,  should  not  be  satisfied 
or  rest  until  your  blood  should  be  spilled,  that  you  might  gain  that  salvation  you 
desire.  That  is  the  way  to  love  mankind.  .  .  .  Light  and  darkness  cannot  dwell 
together,  and  so  it  is  with  the  kingdom  of  God. 

"  Now  brethren  and  sisters,  will  you  live  your  religion  ?  How  many  hundreds  of 
times  have  I  asked  that  question  ?  Will  the  Latter-Day  Saints  live  their  religion?  " 

Discourse  in  the  Tabernacle,  February  8,  1857,  published  in  the  "Journal  of 
Discourses,"  Vol.  IV.,  pp.  219,  220. 


300 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


men  of  superior  talent,  organized  a  '  Literary  and  Musical  Society,'  a  few 
f  months  before  the  '  Reformation '  began.  They  gave  public  entertainments 
to  their  friends,  which  consisted  of  original  essays  and  poems,  recitations, 
declamations,  orations  and  music.  They  had  ample  talent  among  their 
own  committee  to  occupy  the  evenings  fully  and  to  make  them  highly  in- 
teresting ;  but  as  they  designed  to  diflPuse  a  love  of  literature  and  music 
throughout  Zion,  they  called  in  all  the  talent  that  surrounded  them,  Any 
new  arrival  from  the  States  or  Europe  possessed  of  talent  was  at  once 
waited  upon  and  requested  to  add  to  the  interest  of  the  entertainment. 
The  society  became  very  popular,  was  conducted  in  an  interesting  manner, 
and  was  governed .  as  a  thoroughly  democratic  institution,  each  member 
of  the  committee  occupying  the  chair  and  keeping  door  in  turn.  This 
society  would  have  done  credit  to  any  city  in  the  world,  and  would  have 
reflected  honour  on  its  originators.  The  meetings  which  were  held  weekly 
were  opened  and  closed  by  singing  and  prayer.  But  they  became  too 
popular,  and  flourished  without  the  president's  direction,  and  consequently 
drew  forth  the  denunciations  of  Brigham,  Heber,  and  *  Jeddy.'  In  the 
public  meetings  at  the  Tabernacle  the  committee  and  society  became  the 
objects  of  ridicule,  contempt  and  abuse,  charging  them  with  pride,  am- 
bition, big-headedness,  conceit,  and  sins.  A  meeting  was  afterwards  called 
by  the  society,  its  object  being,  after  the  exercises  were  concluded,  to  dis- 
solve itself.  Brigham,  Heber,  and  *  Jeddy'  were  present,  *  and,  on  being 
invited  to  speak,  belittled  and  berated  the  institution,  and  on  being  in- 
formed that  the  society  would  dissolve  that  evening,  the  leaders  recom- 
mended— which  was  equal  to  a  command — that  the  members  become  as- 
sociated with  the  'Theological  Institution,'  a  pet  association  that  had 
died  about  three  years  before,  but  had  that  evening  very  conveniently  re- 
vived. Its  first  death  was  caused  by  the  short-sighted  course  character- 
izing many  of  Brigham's  policies,  by  appointing  favourites  to  occupy  po- 
sitions and  hold  offices  who  had  neither  ability,  taste,  nor  education  to 
•  fill  them.  This  institution  swallowed  the  Literary  and  Musical  Society  in 
one  night;  but  it  was  too  great  a  gulp,  and  it  died  again  in  two  weeks, 
never  to  be  revived. 

"In  order  to  add  insult  to  injury  and  to  crush  the  committee  com- 
pletely, the  next  Sunday,  in  the  Tabernacle,  eight  of  the  most  prominent 
and  efficient  members  of  the  Literary  and  Musical  Society  were  called  to 
be  door-keepers  at  the  Tabernacle  ! 

"  On  the  motion  being  announced  to  that  effbct  a  titter  passed  through 
the  vast  congregation,  most  of  whom  understood  the  matter  to  be  a  pun- 
ishment. The  gentlemen,  '  obedient  to  the  heavenly  call,'  entered  at  once 
upon  their  newly  appointed  duties,  and  honoured  the  ofiSce,  if  the  office 
did  not  honour  them.  They  did  their  duty,- and  were  afterwards  compli- 
mented for  their  efi[iciency  and  punctuality  by  those  who  sought  to  crush 
them. 

"  The  *  Reformation '  wrought  more  evil  than  good,  and  it  is  now  re- 
garded by  the  best  men  in  the  Church  as  the  height  of  folly  and  fanati- 


TERRIBLE  FANATICISM. 


301 


cism.  To  Jedediah — a  positive,  impulsive,  bigoted  man — it  became  a 
monomania ;  but  it  brought  Brigham,  Heber,  and  others  into  its  spirit 
willingly,  as  it  is  more  consonant  with  the  feelings  of  ignorant,  untutored 
zealots  to  condemn,  debase,  and  degrade  others,  than  to  lead  them  to  vir- 
tue, goodness,  and  a  higher  life  by  noble  precepts  and  loving  teachings. 

"  The  *  Reformation '  was  employed  as  a  means  to  compel  hundreds 
and  thousands  to  engage  in  the  practice  of  polygamy ;  €ind  it  was  hinted 
and  secretly  taught  by  authority  that  women  should  form  relations  with 
more  than  one  man.*  Bigotry,  intolerance,  and  tyranny  were  fostered  by 
it;  weakness, folly,  and  sins  were  publicly  exposed ;  mutual  confidence  was 
destroyed ;  bad  feelings  and  suspicions  were  engendered ;  self-righteous- 
ness and  egotism  were  manifested  by  many  ;  sensuousness  in  matters  of 
religion,  and  materialism  were  its  characteristics ;  spirituality  and  piety 
w^ere  condemned  ;  and  narrow,  low,  exclusive  dogmas  were  received  as  the 
sublimest  truths. 

"  When  the  excitement  of  fanaticism  had  died  away,  and  calm  reflec- 
tion enlightened  the  minds  of  those  in  authority ;  when  they  had  seen  and 
learned  the  evil  effects  of  the  movement,  they  deeply  regretted  the  part 
they  had  taken  in  it,  and  Brigham  Young  himself  has  frequently  said  in 
public  that  he  was  '  ashamed  of  the  Reformation.'  .  .  .  ." 

With  the  above  stateinent  the  author  received  the  follow- 
ing letter : . 

"  Salt  Lake  Citt,  November  80,  1871. 
"  Dear  Stenhouse  :  I  have  read  carefully  the  accompanying  statement 
about  the  '  Reformation.'  I  know  personally  most  of  the  particulars  to 
be  true,  and  the  rest  I  am  perfectly  convinced  are  literally  correct.  If  you 
want  to  travel  wider  and  show  the  effect  in  the  country  of  the  inflamma- 
tory speeches  delivered  in  Salt  Lake  City  at  that  time,  you  can  mention 
the  Potter  and  Parrish  murders  at  Springville,  the  barbarous  castration  " 
of  a  young  man  in  San  Pete,  and,  to  cap  the  climax,  the  Mountain-Meadows 
massacre  ;  for  although  Brigham,  in  my  opinion,  never  ordered  these  mur- 
ders, they  were  the  obviously  legitimate  results  of  the  teachings  of  him- 
self, Heber,  *  Jeddy,'  and  other  leaders.  They  taught  that  ^righteous- 
'ness  was  laid  to  the  line,  and  judgment  to  the  plummet;'  that  'the  sin- 
*ner  in  Zion  should  tremble,  and  fearfulness  should  seize  the  hypocrite;' 
that  '  the  tree  which  did  not  bring  forth  good  fruit  should  be  hewn  down ; ' 

*  The  Author  has  no  personal  knowledge,  from  the  present  leaders  of  the  Church, 
of  this  teaching ;  but  he  has  often  heard  that  something  would  yet  be  taught  which 
"  would  test  the  brethren  as  much  as  polygamy  had  tried  the  sisters."  By  many 
elders  it  has  been  believed  that  there  was  some  foundation  for  the  accusation  that 
Joseph  had  taught  some  sisters  in  Nauvoo  that  it  was  their  privilege  to  entertain 
other  brethren  as  "  proxy  husbands "  during  the  absence  of  their  liege  lords  on 
mission.  One  lady  has  informed  the  Author  that  Joseph  so  taught  her.  All  such 
teaching  has  never  been  made  public,  and  it  is  doubtful  if  it  ever  extended  very  far, 
if,  indeed,  at  all  beyond  the  momentary  combination  of  passion  and  fanaticism. 


302 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


etc.  [Emphasis  was  laid  on  the  words  ^liewn  down^^  *  judgment,'  *  trem- 
ble,' and  others  equally  suggestive.]    *  We  must  not,'  it  was  said,  *  ask 

*  God  to  punish  our  enemies,  when  we  could  do  it  ourselves.'  Threats  of 
personal  violence  or  death  were  common  in  the  settlements  against  all  who 
dared  to  speak  against  the  priesthood,  or  in  any  way  protest  against  this 

*  reign  of  terror.' 

"  I  was  at  a  Sunday  meeting  in  the  spring  of  1857,  in  Provo,  when  the 
news  of  the  San  Pete  castration  was  referred  to  by  the  presiding  bishop 
— Blackburn.  Some  men  in  Provo  had  rebelled  against  authority  in  some 
trivial  matter,  and  Blackburn  shouted  in  his  Sunday  meeting— a  mixed 
congregation  of  all  ages  and  both  sexes — want  the  people  of  Provo 
'  to  understand  that  the  boys  in  Provo  can  use  the  knife  as  well  as  the 
^  boys  in  San  Pete.    Boys,  get  your  knives  ready,  there  is  work  for  you  ! 

*  We  must  not  be  behind  San  Pete  in  good  works?  The  result  of  this  was 
that  two  citizens,  named  Hooper  and  Beauvere,  both  having  families  at 
Provo,  left  the  following  night  for  Fort  Bridger,  and  returned  only  after 
Johnston's  army  came  into  the  valley  the  following  year.  Their  only  of- 
fence was  rebellion  against  the  priesthood. 

"  This  man,  Blackburn,  was  continued  in  office  at  least  a  year  after  this, 
and  was  afterwards  taken  from  his  bishopric  and  sent  on  a  mission  to 
England. 

"  The  qualifications  for  a  bishop  were  a  blind  submission  and  obedience 
to  Brigham  and  the  authorities,  and  a  firm,  unrelenting  government  of  his 
subjects.    Strict  and  invariable  obedience  to  their  file  leaders,  *  asking  no 

*  questions  for  conscience  sake,'  makes  a  good  Saint.  To  pay  tithing  will 
cover  a  multitude  of  sins. 

"I  might  fill  page  after  page  in  illustrating  the  condition  of  affairs, but 

I  presume  you  are  posted  generally  on  the  subject  

As  ever  yours,  .  .  .  ." 

To  note  the  hurried  expressions  of  extempore  speakers  in 
moments  of  excitement,  and  treasure  them  up  as  evidence 
against  their  authors,  would  justly  be  considered  by  every  can- 
did person  a  highly  censurable  action.  In  like  manner,  liad 
the  influence  of  the  Tabernacle  speeches  already  alluded  to, 
from  which  resulted  the  ^'  Reformation,"  ended  with  their  im- 
mediate eflfect  upon  the  audiences  present,  it  would  perhaps  be 
unfair  to  resuscitate  them.  But  the  "discourses"  were  not 
intended  to  be  forgotten,  neither  did  this  occur  upon  one  occa- 
sion only  :  they  extended  over  a  period  of  several  years.  The 
Church  organ,  the  Deseret  News^  carefully  printed  them  after 
they  had  been  trimmed  by  a  cautious  secretary  and  super- 
vised by  the  speakers  themselves.  It  was  the  intention  of  the 
Prophet  and  the  apostles  that  their  words  should  circulate 


HUMAN  SACRIFICE  TAFGHT. 


303 


widely  and  be  engraven  upon  the  hearts  of  the  people.  They 
believed  that  they  were  moved  by  "  divine  inspiration  "  as  the 
favour  of  "the  gods,"  and  could  do  no  less  than  desire  that  all 
the  world  should  benefit  by  it. 

After  these  noteworthy  sermons  had  been  published  in 
Utah,  they  were  republished  in  the  "  Journal  of  Discourses," 
in  Liverpool,  in  order  that  the  European  Saints  might  also 
"learn  the  will  of  God"  through  his  servants.  If  ever  the 
modern  prophets  and  apostles  could  afford  to  challenge  criticism 
upon  their  sincerity  it  was  then.  They  were  in  earnest,  even 
to  the  sacrifice  of  life,  and  a  faithful  historian  has  preserved 
the  record  of  that  time  of  zeal  and  devotion  among  the  Saints. 

Fortunately  there  was  a  government  of  the  United  States 
with  a  name  of  authority  over  Utah — if  even  no  more  than  a 
name — or  what  might  not  have  transpired?  If  men,  standing 
at  the  head  of  the  Church,  could  utter  such  sentiments  as  were 
then  openly  taught  to  the  Saints  and  published  to  the  world, 
while  at  the  same  time  they  were  restrained  by  the  knowledge 
that  their  words  were  noted  by  the  Government  and  people  of 
the  United  States,  what  would  they  not  have  said  and  done 
had  their  kingdom  been  established  and  they  bearing  unques- 
tioned rule  over  the  people  in  the  mountains?  Besides  which, 
these  sentiments  were  not  the  utterances  of  a  day  or  a  year ; 
they  were  the  enunciations  of  a  programme  that  was  sacredly 
believed.  "What  Utah  might  have  been  under  an  unchallenged 
theocratic  rule,  what  she  would  be  with  the  full  sway  of  the 
priesthood  guaranteed  under  the  proposed  State  of  Deseret,  is 
clearly  shewn  in  the  following  edifying  passages. 

Some  time  before  the  "Reformation  "  had  got  fairly  under 
way,  this  Jedediah  M.  Grant,  the  counsellor  of  Brigham,  the 
third  man  in  "the  kingdom,"  addressing  the  Saints — men, 
women,  and  children — in  the  Tabernacle,  March  12,  1854, 
upon  the  proper  penalty  for  breaking  the  covenants  of  the 
Church,  says : 

"  Then  what  ought  this  meek  people  who  keep  the  commandments  of 
God  do  unto  them?  ^Why,'  says  one,  '  they  ought  to  pray  to  the  Lord  to 
Mil  them.'^  I  want  to  know  if  you  would  wish  the  Lord  to  come  dawn  and 
do  all  your  dirty  icorl?  Many  of  the  Latter-Day  Saints  will  pray,  and  pe- 
tition, and  supplicate  the  Lord  to  do  a  thousand  things  they  themselvus 
would  be  ashamed  to  do.  .  .  •  . 
19 


304 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


"  When  a  man  prays  for  a  tiling^  Tie  ought  to  he  willing  to  perform  it  him- 
self But  if  the  Latter-Day  Saints  should  put  to  death  the  covenant- 
breakers,  it  would  try  the  faith  of  the  ^  very  meek,  just,  and  pious '  ones 
among  them,  and  it  would  cause  a  great  deal  of  whining  in  Israel, 

"  Then  there  was  another  odd  commandment.  The  Lord  God  com- 
manded them  not  to  pity  the  person  whom  they  Tcilled^  but  to  execute  the 
law  of  God  upon  persons  worthy  of  death.  This  should  he  done  hy  the  en- 
tire  congregation^  showing  no  pity,  I  have  thought  there  would  have  to  be 
quite  a  revolution  among  the  Mormons  before  such  a  commandment  could 
be  obeyed  completely  by  them.  The  Mormons  have  a  great  deal  of  sym- 
pathy. For  instance,  if  they  can  get  a  man  before  the  tribunal  adminis- 
tering the  law  of  the  land,  and  succeed  in  getting  a  rope  around  his  neck, 
and  having  him  hung  up  like  a  dead  dog,  it  is  all  right.  But  if  the  Church 
and  Tcingdom  of  God  should  step  forth  and  execute  the  law  of  God^  oh,  what 
a  burst  of  Mormon  sympathy  it  would  cause  !  Iicish  we  were  in  a  situation 
fawurahle  to  our  doing  that  which  is  justifahle  defore  God,  without  any  con- 
taminating influence  of  Gentile  amalgamation,  laws,  and  ti^aditions,  that  the 
people  of  God  might  lay  the  axe  to  the  root  of  the  tree,  and  every  tree  that 
hringeth  not  forth  good  fruit  might  be  hewn  down, 

"  What !  do  you  believe  that  people  would  do  right,  and  keep  the  law 
of  God,  by  actually  putting  to  death  the  transgressors  ?  Putting  to  death 
the  transgressors  would  exhibit  the  law  of  God,  no  matter  by  whom  it  was 
done.    That  is  my  opinion. 

"  You  talk  of  the  doings  of  different  governments — the  United  States, 
if  you  please.  What  do  they  do  with  traitors  ?  What  mode  do  they 
adopt  to  punish  traitors  ?  Do  traitors  to  that  government  forfeit  their 
lives  ?  Examine  also  the  doings  of  other  earthly  governments  on  this 
point,  and  you  find  the  same  practice  universal.  I  am  not  aware  that  there 
are  any  exceptions.  But  people  will  look  into  books  of  theology,  and 
argue  that  the  people  of  God  have  a  right  to  try  people  for  feUowship, 
but  they  have  no  right  to  try  them  on  property  or  life.  That  maTces  the 
devil  laugh,  saying :  I  have  got  them  on  a  hook  now ;  they  can  cut  them 
off,  and  I  will  put  eight  or  ten  spirits  worse  than  they  are  into  their  taber- 
nacles, and  send  them  back  to  mob  them." 

In  the  midst  of  the  excitement  of  the  "Reformation,"  Brig- 
ham  assured  the  Saints  that  these  throat-cutting,  blood-spilling 
doctrines  that  had  been  taught  to  them  by  the  elders  were 
meritorious,  glorious,  and  sonl-saving.    Here  are  his  words : 

"  There  are  sins  that  men  commit  for  which  they  cannot  receive  for- 
giveness in  this  world,  or  in  that  which  is  to  come  ;  and  if  they  had  their 
eyes  open  to  their  true  condition,  they  would  be  perfectly  willing  to  ham  their 
blood  spilt  upon  the  ground,  that  the  smoTce  thereof  might  ascend  to  heaven  as 
2n  offering  for  their  sins,  and  the  smoMng  incense  would  atone  for  their  sins; 
■  whereas,  if  such  is  not  the  case,  they  toill  sticJc  to  them  and  remain  upon  them 
in  the  spirit-world. 


DISSENTERS  TO  BE  HEWN  DOWN.  305 

"  I  know,  when  yon  hear  my  brethren  telling  about  cutting  people  off 
from  the  ea/rth,,  that  you  consider  it  is  strong  doctrine ;  but  it  is  to  save 
tJiem^  not  to  destroy  them  

"  It  is  true  the  blood  of  the  Son  of  God  was  shed  for  sins  through  the 
fall,  and  those  committed  by  men,  yet  men  can  commit  sins  which  it  can 
never  remit.  As  it  was  in  ancient  days,  so  it  is  in  our  day  ;  and  though  the 
principles  are  taught  publicly  from  this  stand,  still  the  people  do  not  un- 
derstand them ;  yet  the  law  is  precisely  the  same.  There  are  sins  that  can 
be  atoned  for  by  an  offering  upon  an  altar  as  in  ancient  days ;  and  there 
are  sins  that  the  Mood  of  a  lamb,  of  a  calf  or  of  turtle  doves  cannot  remit, 
but  they  must  le  atoned  for  by  the  blood  of  the  man.  That  is  the  reason  why 
men  talk  to  you  as  they  do  from  this  stand  ;  they  understand  the  doctrine, 
and  throw  out  a  few  words  about  it.  Tou  have  been  taught  that  doctrine, 
but  you  do  not  understand  it,'*'*  * 

Jedediah,  ever  ready  to  bless  the  Saints,  urged  an  immedi- 
ate beginning. .  The  following  is  a  choice  piece  of  counsel : 

"  I  say  there  are  men  and  women  here  that  I  would  advise  to  go  to  the 
president  immediately,  and  ash  him  to  appoint  a  committee  to  attend  to  their 
case ;  and  then  let  a  place  be  selected,  and  let  that  committee  shed  their 
blood:'' \ 

Believing  that  the  reformation  was  to  bring  to  pass  that 
day  of  separation  of  "  wheat  and  tares,"  "  sheep  and  goats," 
the  divine  inspiration  of  Brigham,  on  the  2nd  of  March,  1856, 
was  very  emphatic  and  clear  on  the  manner  in  which  the  work 
should  be  accomplished. 

"  The  time  is  coming  when  justice  will  be  laid  to  the  line,  and  right- 
eousness to  the  plummet ;  when  we  shall  take  the  old  broadsword,  and  ask, 
*  Are  you  for  God  f  '  and  if  you  are  not  heartily  on  the  Lord'^s  side,  you  will 
be  hewn  down,'*'*  X 

"  We  have  been  trying  long  enough  with  this  people,  and  I  go  in  for 
letting  the  sword  of  the  Almighty  to  be  unsheathed,  not  only  in  word, 
but  in  deed.''  §  J.  M.  Grant. 

The  evidence  that  this  admitted  of  no  figurative  interpreta- 
tion, but  meant  truly  all  that  it  expresses,  was  furnished  by 
Brigham  as  early  as  1853.  A  Mormon  elder  of  the  name  of 
Albert  Smith,  who  had  some  leaning  towards  the  revelations 
of  one  Gladden  Bishop  (a  genius  who  figured  in  Nauvoo),  went 
from  St.  Louis  to  Salt  Lake.    This  Smith  and  some  friends  at- 

*  Tabernacle,  September  21,  1856.  f  Ibid. 

X  "Journal  of  Discourses,"  vol.  iii.,  p.  226.    §  Dcseret  News,  October  1,  1856. 


306 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


tempted  to  address  the  Mormons  in  the  public  street  one  Sun- 
day just  as  Brigliam  was  going  home  from  the  Tabernacle.  On 
the  following  Sunday,  March  27,  1853,  Brigham  was  running 
over  with  the  Spirit,"  and  revealed  himself  on  the  subject  of 
apostacy : 

"  When  I  went  from  meeting  last  Sabbath,  my  ears  were  saluted  with 
an  apostate  crying  in  the  streets  here.  I  want  to  know  if  any  one  of  yon 
who  has  got  the  spirit  of  Mormonism  in  you,  the  spirit  that  Joseph  and 
Hyrum  had,  or  that  we  have  here,  would  say,  *  Let  us  hear  both  sides  of 

*  the  question.  Let  us  listen  and  prove  till  things.'  What  do  you  want  to 
prove  ?  Do  you  want  to  prove  that  an  old  apostate,  who  has  been  cut 
off  from  the  Church  thirteen  times  for  lying,  is  anything  worthy  of  no- 
tice ?  I  heard  that  a  certain  picture-maker  in  this  city,  when  the  boys 
would  have  moved  away  the  wagon  in  which  this  apostate  was  standing, 
became  violent  with  them,  saying,  '  Let  this  man  alone ;  these  are  Saints 
^  that  you  are  persecuting.'  [Sneeringly.] 

"  We  want  such  men  to  go  to  California,  or  anywhere  they  choose.  I 
say  to  those  persons,  *  You  must  not  court  persecution  here,  lest  you  get 
so  much  of  it  you  will  not  know  what  to  do  with  it.  Do  not  court  perse- 
cution.' We  have  known  Gladden  Bishop  for  more  than  twenty  years, 
and  know  him  to  be  a  poor  dirty  curse.  Here  is  sister  Vilate  Kimball, 
brother  Heber's  wife,  has  borne  more  from  that  man  than  any  other  woman 
on  earth  could  bear  ;  but  she  won't  bear  it  again.  I  say  again,  you  Glad- 
denites,  do  not  court  persecution,  or  you  will  get  more  than  you  want,  and 
it  will  come  quicker  than  you  want  it. 

"  I  say  to  you,  bishops,  do  not  allow  them  to  preach  in  your  wards. 
Who  broke  the  road  to  these  valleys  ?  Did  this  little  nasty  Smith  and  his 
wife  ?  No.  They  stayed  in  St.  Louis,  while  we  did  it,  peddling  ribbons, 
and  kissing  the  Gentiles.  I  know  what  they  have  done  here — they  have 
asked  exorbitant  prices  for  their  nasty  stinking  ribbons.  [Voices,  *  That's 
true.']    We  broke  the  roads  to  this  country. 

"  Now,  you  Gladdenites,  keep  your  tongues  still,  lest  sudden  destruction 
come  upon  you,  I  say  rather  than  that  the  apostates  should  flourish  here, 
/  will  unsheatTi  my  howie-hiife,  and  conquer  or  die,  [Great  commotion  in 
the  congregation,  and  a  simultaneous  burst  of  feeling,  assenting  to  the 
declaration.]    Now,  you  nasty  apostates,  clear  out,  or  'judgment  will  he 

*  laid  to  the  line,  and  righteousness  to  the  plummet''    [Voices  generally, 

*  Go  it,  go  it ! ']  If  you  say  it  is  all  right,  raise  your  hands.  [All  hands 
up.]  Let  us  call  upon  tha  Lord  to  assist  us  in  this  and  every  other  good 
worlc^ 

The  foregoing  is  a  literal  quotation  from  the  Deseret  News^ 
republished  in  the  "Journal  of  Discourses/'  vol.  i.,  p.  82. 

These  extracts,  repeatedly  published  by  the  Church  author- 


BRIGHAM  AND  THE  FEDERAL  GOVERNMENT. 


307 


ities,  first  in  the  Deseret  News^  in  Salt  Lake  City,  and  after- 
wards in  the  Millennial  Star  office  in  Liverpool,  are  evidences 
of  the  sincerity  of  Brigham  Young.  No  sane  man — fanatic 
though  he  might  be — would  use  this  threatening  and  blood- 
thirsty language,  at  the  same  time  being  fully  aware  of  his 
own  responsibility,  unless  he  were  sincere.  He  assuredly  be- 
lieved that  "  life  and  death  "  were  in  the  hands  of  the  priest- 
hood. He  believes  it  still ;  and  the  exercise  of  such  a  power 
was  "  not  to  destroy,  but  to  save  !  " 

With  Judge  Drummond  on  the  Pacific  coast  publishing 
every  possible  charge  of  villainy  and  despotism  against  the 
leaders  of  the  Church,  asserting  that  law  could  not  be  admin- 
istered in  the  Territory,  and  that  the  records  of  the  Supreme 
Court  had  been  burned  ;  with  Judge  Stiles  at  Washington  rep- 
resenting to  the  Government  that  he  had  been  intimidated  and 
threatened,  and  had  been  forced  to  close  his  court ;  and  with  a 
host  of  correspondents  writing  exciting  statements  to  all  parts 
of  the  Union  about  the  "  reign  of  terror,"  inaugurated  by  the 
"  Eeformation,"  the  nation  was  wrought  up  to  the  highest  pitch 
of  indignation. 

The  administration  of  President  Pierce  was  drawing  to  a 
close  and  did  not  choose  to  inaugurate  any  new  measures,  but 
this  seeming  indiflPerence  on  the  part  of  the  Government  only 
stirred  up  the  opponents  of  Brigham  Young  to  greater  exer- 
tions, and  every  measure  was  adopted  to  secure  some  decided 
action. 

That  busy  class  of  men  who  hang  around  Washington 
"  waiting  for  something  to  turn  up,"  soon  saw  an  appropriate 
occasion  for  a  display  of  force  to  bring  Brigham  to  a  realiza- 
tion of  his  obligations  to  the  national  Government.  Jontrac- 
tors  and  would-be  contractors  became  urgent  for  action,  rep- 
resentatives and  senators  became  fierce  in  their  denimciation 
of  the  outrages  in  Utah,  and  every  violent  word  and  action 
of  the  Mormon  priesthood  henceforth  was  construed  into  "re- 
bellion "  against  the  United  States." 

At  the  organization  of  the  Eepublican  party,  Brigham 
Young  and  the  Mormons  occupied  too  much  attention  to  be 
overlooked,  and  in  the  framing  of  its  first  platform  Utah  was 
raised  to  a  kindred  association  with  the  South,  and  in  every 


308 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


campaign  procession  where  John  0.  Fremont  was  the  standard 
bearer  of  the  party,  there  could  be  read : 

"  The  Abolishment  of  Slavery  and  Polygamy ;  the  Twin  Relics  of 
Barbarism." 

While  the  affairs  of  Utah  were  thus  before  the  nation,  and 
coming  events,  portending  war,  were  casting  forth  their  shad- 
ows, a  sad  page  was  added  to  the  history  of  Mormon  emi- 
gration. 


CHAPTER  XXXVII. 


EMIGKATING  TO  UTAH  WITH  HAND-CARTS.— Mr.  Chislett's  Narrative-- 
The  "  Divine  Plan"  for  emigrating  the  Poor — Outfitting  in  Iowa  City — Organ- 
izing the  Company — Journey  through  Iowa — The  Elders  prophesy  a  Successful 
Journey — ^Brother  Savage  protests — "Inspirational"  Counsel  followed — The 
Carts  break  down — Cattle  are  lost — The  Apostle  Richards  prophesies  in  the 
Name  of  the  God  of  Israel — The  Elders  eat  the  Fatted  Calf— Arrival  at  Fort 
Laramie — Provisions  become  scarce — Great  Privations — The  People  begin  to 
faint  by  the  Way — Captain  Willie's  Bravery — The  Winter  overtakes  them — 
Snow  on  the  Mountains— The  Sweetwater — Great  Distress,  Disease,  and  Death — 
Envoys  from  Salt  Lake  Valley — Provisions  all  gone — Captain  Willie  goes  in 
search  of  Aid — Terrible  Condition  of  the  People — Courage  and  Faithfulness  of 
the  Sufi'erers — Arrival  of  Timely  Aid — A  Thrilling  Scene — Hope  revived — 
"  Too  Late  "—Ravages  of  Death— A  Hard  Road— An  Old  Man's  Death—"  Thir- 
teen Corpses  all  Stiffly  Frozen'''' — Fifteen  buried  in  One  Grave — The  Ending  of 
the  Journey — Great  Kindness  of  the  Elders  and  People  of  Utah — The  Pilgrims 
enter  Zion — Sixty-seven  Emigrants  dead  on  the  Journey — Greater  Losses  in 
'  another  Company — Folly  of  Modern  Prophecies. 

The  story  of  the  Hand  Cart  Emigration  to  Utah  that  fills 
SO  melancholy  a  page  in  the  history  of  the  Mormon  people 
could  only  be  written  properly  by  one  who  had  himself  passed 
through  the  sufferings  which  it  relates.  A  gentleman  now  in 
Salt  Lake  City,  and  formerly  a  fellow-labourer  with  the  Au- 
thor in  the  Mormon  missions,  furnishes  a  graphic  history  equal- 
ling in  interest  the  finest  pages  of  fiction,  yet  strikingly  true, 
and  exhibiting  a  rare  devotion  that  commands  respect.  He  at 
first  declined  to  affix  his  name,  but  the  Author,  persuaded  of 
the  value  of  his  narrative,  succeeded  at  last  in  inducing  him  to 
consent. 

Mr.  Chislett  is  a  gentleman  who  enjoys  the  confidence  and 
respect  of  those  who  know  him,  both  in  Europe  and  in  the 


312 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


United  States ;  and  this  episode  of  his  life,  illustrating  as  it 
does  a  phase  of  Mormon  emigration,  and  exploding  the  pre- 
sumptuous folly  of  the  predictions  of  modern  apostles,  will  be 
read  with  deep  interest. 

ME.  OHISLETT'S  NARRATIVE. 
PART  I. 

THE  PILGRIMS  SET  OUT  FOR  ZION. 

"For  several  years  previous  to  1856,  the  poorer  portion  of  the  Mor- 
mon emigrants  from  Europe  to  Utah  made  the  overland  journey  from 
*  the  Frontiers '  to  Salt  Lake  City  by  ox-teams,  under  the  management  of 
the  Church  agents,  who  were  generally  elders  returning  to  Utah  after  hav- 
ing performed  missions  in  Europe  or  the  Eastern  States.  The  cost  of  the 
journey  from  Liverpool  to  Salt  Lake  by  this  method  was  from  £10  to  £12. 
All  the  emigrants  who  were  obliged  to  travel  in  this  manner  were,  if  able, 
expected  to  walk  all  the  way,  or*  at  least  the  greater  part  of  the  way. 
The  teams  were  used  for  hauling  provisions,  and  100  lbs.  of  luggage  were 
allowed  to  each  emigrant.  Old  people,  feeble"  women  and  children,  gen- 
erally could  ride  when  they  wished.  The  overland  portion  of  the  jour- 
ney occupied  from  ten  to  twelve  weeks. 

"  This  was  a  safe  method  of  emigration,  and  it  added  to  the  wealth  of 
the  new  Territory  by  increasing  its  quota  of  live  stock,  wagons,  and  such 
articles  of  clothing,  tools,  etc.,  as  the  emigrants  brought.  These  were  all 
much  needed  in  Utah  in  early  days,  and  families  going  to  the  Territory 
with  a  surplus  found  good  opportunities  for  exchanging  them  for  land 
and  the  produce  of  the  Valley.  Many  families  came  out  with  their  o,wn 
wagons ;  some  of  the  more  wealthy  having  several  well  laden  with  neces- 
sary articles.  The  growth  and  prosperity  of  the  Territory  were  slow, 
gradual,  and  natural,  and  as  each  successive  company  of  emigrants  ar- 
rived they  found  the  country  prepared  to  receive  them.  Employment 
could  generally  be  obtained  by  the  mechanics  (especially  of  the  building 
trades)  as  soon  as  they  arrived.  The  wealthy  could  find  cultivated  land 
at  fair  prices  without  having  to  endure  the  hardship  of  making  new 
homes  on  unbroken  land,  while  the  agricultural  labourer  could  always 
find  a  welcome  among  the  farmers.  Artisans  and  men  of  no  trade  were 
the  only  class  who  were  really  out  of  place.  They  had  to  begin  life  anew 
and  strike  out  fresh  pursuits,  sufi'ering  frequently  in  the  undertaking. 
But  the  general  condition  was  prosperous. 

''The  growth  of  the  colony  was  not,  however,  sufiiciently  rapid  to  suit 
the  ambitious  mind  of  Brigham  Young.  Thousands  of  faithful  devotees 
of  the  Church  were  waiting  patiently  in  Europe  to  join  the  new  Zion  of 
the  West,  but  all  their  faith  in  Brigham  was  practically  valueless.  To  be 
of  any  real  benefit  to  the  Church  they  must  gather  in  Zion.    The  question 


INTRODUCTION  OF  THE  HAND-CART  SCHEME. 


313 


was,  how  to  transfer  to  Utah  those  who  could  not  raise  the  necessary  £10 
sterling.  The  matter  was  discussed  in  the  winter  of  1855-6,  in  Salt 
Lake  City,  by  Brigham  and  his  chief  men.  After  much  debate  their 
united  wisdom  devised  and  adopted  a  system  of  emigration  across  the 
plains  by  hand-carts,  as  being  cheaper  and  consequently  better  under  the 
circumstances  for  bringing  the  faithful  poor  from  Europe. 

Whether  Brigham  was  influenced  in  his  desire  to  get  the  poor  ol 
Europe  more  rapidly  to  Utah  by  his  sympathy  with  their  condition,  by 
his  well-known  love  of  power,  his  glory  in  numbers,  or  his  love  of  wealth, 
which  an  increased  amount  of  subservient  labour  would  enable  him  to 
acquire,  is  best  known  to  himself.  But  the  sad  results  of  his  Hand-Cart 
scheme  will  call  for  a  day  of  reckoning  in  the  future  which  he  cannot 
evade, 

"  Instructions  were  sent  by  Brigham  and  his  chief  men  to  their  agent, 
Apostle  F.  D.  Richards,  at  Liverpool,  and  were  published  by  him  in  the 
Millennial  Star  with  such  a  flourish  of  trumpets  as  would  have  done  hon- 
our to  any  of  the  most  momentous  events  in  the  world's  history.  That 
apostle  announced  to  the  Saints  that  God,  ever  watchful  for  the  welfare 
of  his  people  and  anxious  to  remove  them  from  the  calamities  impending 
over  the  wicked  in  Babylon,  had  inspired  His  servant  Brigham  with  His 
spirit,  and  by  such  inspiration  the  hand-cart  mode  of  emigration  was 
adopted.  By  going  to  Zion  in  this  way  some  difficulty  would  be  experi- 
enced ;  but  had  not  the  Lord  said  that  He  would  have  a  *  tried  people,' 
and  that  they  should  come  up  through  great  tribulation,'  etc.  Thus 
reasoned  this  grave  apostle — declaring  the  plan  was  God's  own,  and  of 
His  owu  devising  through  His  servant  Brigham.  Thus  the  word  went  , 
forth  to  the  faithful  Mormons  with  the  stamp  of  Divinity  upon  it.  They 
received  it  with  gladness,  believing  in  the  assertion  that  '  He  doeth  all 
things  well,'  and  they  set  about  preparing  for  their  journey — at  least  as 
many  as  could  raise  means  to  reach  the  frontiers.  Those  v*^ho  had  more 
money  than  was  necessary  for  this  were  counselled  to  deposit  all  they 
had  with  F.  D.  Eichards,  that  it  might  be  used  to  help  others  to  that 
point,  as  all  who  reached  there  would  be  surely  sent  through. 

"  Many,  in  their  honest,  simple  whole-heartedness,  and  love  for  their 
brethren  and  sisters,  obeyed  this  counsel,  while  many  others  helped  their 
own  immediate  friends  and  acquaintances  to  emigrate.  The  result  was 
that  a  greater  number  of  the  Saints  left  Liverpool  for  Utah  tliat  year  than 
ever  before  or  since.  Of  this,  Richards  felt  proud,  and  frequently  boasted 
of  it,  as  though  the  success  of  thj  scheme  was  certain  when  the  people 
had  left  Liverpool. 

"  What  his  instructions  from  Brigham  were,  or  whether  he  exceeded 
them,  it  is  immaterial  now  to  enquire  ;  but  certain  it  is  that  the  prepara- 
tions on  the  frontiers  were  altogether  inadequate  to  the  number  of  emi- 
grants, as  indeed  were  the  preparations  throughout  the  entire  journey 
west  of  New  York.  For  instance,  several  hundred  emigrants  would  arrive 
at  Iowa  City,  expecting  to  find  tents  or  some  means  of  shelter,  -as  agents 


314 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


had  been  sent  on  from  Liverpool  to  purchase  tents,  hand-carts,  wagons^ 
and  cattle,  and  to  prepare  generally  for  the  coming  flood  of  emigrants. 
But  they  were  doomed  to  disappointment.  There  were  no  wagons  or  tents, 
and,  for  days  after  their  arrival,  no  shelter  but  the  broad  heavens.  They 
.  were  delayed  at  Iowa  City  for  some  weeks — some  of  them  for  months — 
while  carts  were  being  made,  and  this,  too,  when  they  should  have  been 
well  on  their  way. 

**The  *  Divine  plan  '  being  new  in  this  country,  of  course  hand-carts 
were  not  procurable,  so  they  had  to  be  made  on  the  camp-ground.  They 
were  made  in  a  hurry,  some  of  them  of  very  insuflSciently  seasoned  tim- 
ber, and  strength  was  sacrificed  to  weight  until  the  production  was  a  fra- 
gile structure,  with  nothing  to  recommend  it  but  lightness.  They  were 
generally  made  of  two  parallel  hickory  or  oak  sticks,  about  five  feet 
long,  and  two  by  one  and  a  half  inches  thick.  These  were  connected  by 
one  cross-piece  at  one  end  to  serve  as  a  handle,  and  three  or  four  similar 
pieces  nearly  a  foot  apart,  commencing  at  the  other  end,  to  serve  as  the 
bed  of  the  cart,  under  the  centre  of  which  was  fastened  a  wooden  axle- 
tree,  without  iron  skeins.  A  pair  of  light  wheels,  devoid  of  iron,  except  a 
very  light  iron  tire,  completed  the  "  divine  "  hand-cart.  Its  weight  was 
somewhere  near  sixty  pounds. 

"  When  we  arrived  at  Iowa  City,  the  great  out-fitting  point  for  the  emi- 
gration, we  found  that  three  hand-cart  companies  had  already  gone  for- 
ward, under  the  respective  captaincy  of  Edmund  Ellsworth,  Daniel  Mc- 

Arthur,  and    Bunker,  all  Yalley  elders  returning  from  missions  to 

England.  These  companies  reached  Salt  Lake  City  in  safety  before  cold 
weather  set  in.*  No  carts  being  ready  for  us,  nor  indeed  anything  neces- 
sary for  our  journey,  we  were  detained  three  weeks  at  Iowa  Camp,  where 
we  could  celebrate  the  Fourth  of  July. 

"  A  few  days  after  this  we  started  on  our  journey,  organized  as  follows: 
James  G.  Willie,  captain  of  the  company,  which  numbered  about  five 
hundred.  Each  hundred  had  a  sub-captain,  thus  :  first,  Millen  Atwood  ; 
second,  Levi  Savage  ;  third,  William  Woodward ;  fourth,  John  Chislett ; 

fifth,  Ahmensen.    The  third  hundred  were  principally  Scotch ;  the 

fifth,  Scandinavians.  The  other  hundreds  were  mostly  English.  To  each 
hundred  there  were  five  round  tents,  with  twenty  persons  to  a  tent ;  twenty 

*  One  of  the  hand-cart  emigrants,  writing  of  the  arrival  of  the  first  two  com- 
panies in  Salt  Lake  City,  says  : 

"  On  that  occasion  Brigham  took  one  of  the  brethren  by  the  hand,  and  said  in  a 
tone  that  showed  he  was  begging  the  question :  *  This  experiment  is  a  success.'  The 
brother  thought :  '  So,  after  all  that  we  have  heard  of  divine  plan,  etc.,  you^  the  Prophet 
*■  of  the  Zordj  the  originator  of  the  scheme^  acknowledge  it  only  an  experiment !  An 

*  experiment  in  human  life,  human  misery  !  Can  we  imagine  anything  more  cold- 
-hearted than  that?   Human  nature,. kindness, brotherhood,  all  forgotten,  all  sacri- 

*  ficed  to  feed  ambition !  An  ambition  to  do  what  ?   To  establish  a  despotism  more 

*  complete  than  that  of  the  Vatican ! ' " 


PASSING  THROUGH  IOWA. 


315 


hand-carts,  or  one  to  every  five  persons ;  and  one  Chicago  wagon,  drawn 
by  three  yoke  of  oxen,  to  haul  provisions  and  tents.  Each  person  was 
limited  to  seventeen  pounds  of  clothing  and  tedding^  making  eighty-five 
pounds  of  luggage  to  each  cart.  To  this  were  added  such  cooking  utensils 
as  the  little  mess  of  five  required.  But  their  cuisine  being  scanty,  not 
many  articles  were  needed,  and  I  presume  the  average  would  not  exceed 
fifteen  to  twenty  pounds,  making  in  all  a  little  over  a  hundred  pounds  on 
each  cart.  The  carts  being  so  poorly  made,  could  not  be  laden  heavily, 
even  had  the  people  been  able  to  haul  them. 

"The  strength  of  the  company  was  equalized  as  much  as  possible  by 
distributing  the  young  men  among  the  difierent  families  to  help  them. 
Several  carts  were  drawn  by  young  girls  exclusively  ;  and  two  tents  were 
occupied  by  them  and  such  females  as  had  no  male  companions.  The 
other  tents  were  occupied  by  families  and  some  young  men ;  all  ages  and 
conditions  being  found  in  one  tent.  Having  been  thrown  closely  Ibogether 
on  shipboard,  all  seemed  to  adapt  themselves  to  this  mode  of  tent-life  with- 
out any  marked  repugnance. 


Passing  through  Iowa. 

"  As  we  travelled  along,  we  presented  a  singular,  and  sometimes  an 
aff'ecting  appearance.  The  young  and  strong  went  along  gaily  with  their 
carts,  but  the  old  people  and  little  children  were  to  be  seen  straggling  a 
long  distance  in  the  rear.  Sometimes,  when  the  little  folks  had  walked  as 
far  as  they  could,  their  fathers  would  take  them  on  their  carts,  and  thus 
increase  the  load  that  was  already  becoming  too  heavy  as  the. day  ad- 
vanced. But  what  will  parents  not  do  to  benefit  their  children  in  time  of 
trouble  ?  The  most  affecting  scene,  however,  was  to  see  a  mother  carrying 
her  child  at  the  breast,  mile  after  mile,  until  nearly  exhausted.  The  heat 
was  intense,  and  the  dust  suffocating,  which  rendered  our  daily  journeys 
toilsome  in  the  extreme. 


316 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


"  Our  rations  consisted  of  ten  ounces  of  flour  to  each  adult  per  day, 
and  half  that  amount  to  children  under  eight  years  of  age.  Besides  our 
flour  we  had  occasionally  a  little  rice,  sugar,  coflee,  and  bacon.  But  these 
items  (especially  the  last)  were  so  small  and  infrequent  that  they  scarcely 
deserve  mentioning.  Any  hearty  man  could  eat  his  daily  allowance  for 
breakfast.  In  fact,  some  of  our  men  did  this,  and  then  worked  all  day 
without  dinner,  and  went  to  bed  supperless  or  begged  food  at  the  farm- 
houses as  we  travelled  along. 

The  people  in  Iowa  were  very  good  in  giving  to  those  who  asked 
food,  expressing  their  sympathy  for  us  whenever  they  visited  our  camp — 
which  they  did  in  large  numbers  if  we  stopped  near  a  settlement.  They 
tried  to  dissuade  us  from  going  to  Salt  Lake  in  that  way,  and  ofiered  us 
employment  and  homes  among  them.  A  few  of  our  company  left  us  from 
time  to  time ;  but  the  elders  constantly  warned  us  against  '  the  Gentiles,' 
and  by  close  watching  succeeded  in  keeping  the  company  tolerably  com- 
plete. Meetings  were  held  nearly  every  evening  for  preaching,  counsel, 
and  prayer ;  the  chief  feature  of  the  preaching  being,  '  obey  your  leaders  in 
all  things,'' 

"  I  do  not  know  who  settled  the  amount  of  our  rations,  but  whoever  it 
was,  I  should  like  him,  or  them,  to  drag  a  hand-cart  through  the  State  of 
Iowa  in  the  month  of  July  on  exactly  the  same  amount  and  quality  of  fare 
we  had.  This  would  be  but  simple  justice.  The  Scripture  says :  '  What- 
*  soever  measure  ye  mete  shall  be  measured  to  you  again.' 

"  When  we  travelled  in  this  impoverished  manner  through  Iowa,  flour 
was  selling  at  three  cents  per  pound,  and  bacon  seven  to  eight  cents.  The 
Church  agents  were,  no  doubt,  short  of  money ;  but,  where  was  the  wis- 
dom in  sending  forward  so  many  people  when  the  preparations  were  al- 
together inadequate  for  them  ?  Would  it  not  have  been  better  to  have 
brought  over  fewer  emigrants  with  some  small  degree  of  comfort,  than  to 
have  brought  so  many  and  have  deprived  them  of  the  merest  necessities 
of  life  ? 

"  A  little  less  than  four  weeks'  travelling  brought  us  to  the  Missouri 
river.  We  crossed  it  on  a  steam  ferry-boat,  and 'encamped  at  the  town  of 
Florence,*  Nebraska,  six  miles  above  Omaha,  where  we  remained  about  a 
week,  making  our  final  preparations  for  crossing  the  plains. 

"  The  elders  seemed  to  be  divided  in  their  judgment  as  to  the  prac- 
ticability of  our  reaching  Utah  in  safety  at  so  late  a  season  of  the  year,  and 
the  idea  was  entertained  for  a  day  or  two  of  making  our  winter  quarters 
on  the  Elkhorn,  Wood  river,  or  some  eligible  location  in  Nebraska ;  but 
it  did  not  meet  with  general  approval.  A  monster  meeting  was  called  to 
consult  the  people  about  it. 

The  emigrants  were  entirely  ignorant  of  the  country  and  climate — 
simple,  honest,  eager  to  go  to  'Zion'  at  once,  and  obedient  as  little  chil- 
dren to  the  *  servants  of  God.'    Under  these  circumstances  it  was  natural 


*  Formerly  "  Winter  Quarters." 


PREDICTIONS  AND  PROMISES. 


317 


that  they  should  leave  their  destinies  in  the  hands  of  the  elders.  There 
were  but  four  men  in  our  company  who  had  been  to  the  valley,  viz. :  Wil- 
lie, Atwood,  Savage,  and  Woodward ;  but  there  were  several  at  Florence 
superintending  the  emigration,  among  whom  elders  G.  D.  Grant  and  W. 
H.  Kimball  occupied  the  most  prominent  position.  Th%se  men  all  talked 
at  the  meeting  just  mentioned,  and  all,  with  one  exception,  favoured  going 
on.  They  prophesied  in  the  name  of  God  that  we  should  get  through  in 
safety.  Were  we  not  God's  people,  and  would  he  not  protect  us  ?  Even 
the  elements  he  would  arrange  for  our  good,  etc.  But  Levi  Savage  used 
his  common  sense  and  his  knowledge  of  the  country.  He  declared  posi- 
tively that  to  his  certain  knowledge  we  could  not  cross  the  mountains 
with  a  mixed  company  of  aged  people,  women,  and  little  children,  so  late 
in  the,  season  without  much  suffering,  sickness,  and  death.  He  therefore 
advised  going  into  winter  quarters  without  delay ;  but  he  was  rebuked  by 
the  other  elders  for  want  of  faith,  one  elder  even  declariDg  that  he  would 
guarantee  to  eat  all  the  snow  that  fell  on  us  between  Florence  and  Salt 
Lake  City.  Savage  was  accordingly  defeated,  as  the  majority  were  against 
him.  He  then  added :  *  Brethren  and  sisters,  what  I  have  said  I  know  to 
'  be  true ;  but,  seeing  you  are  to  go  forward,  I  will  go  with  you,  will  help 

*  you  all  I  can,  will  work  with  you,  will  rest  with  you,  will  suffer  with  you, 

*  and,  if  necessary,  I  will  die  with  you.    May  God  in  his  mercy  bless  and 

*  preserve  us.  Amen.' 

"  Brother  Savage  was  true  to  his  word ;  no  man  worked  harder  than  he 
to  alleviate  the  suffering  which  he  had  foreseen,  when  he  had  to  endure  it. 
Oh,  had  the  judgment  of  this  one  clear-headed  man  been  heeded,  what 
scenes  of  suffering,  wretchedness,  and  death  would  have  been  prevented  I 
But  he  was  overwhelmed  with  the  religious  fanaticism  and  blind  faith  of 
others  who  thought  the  very  elements  would  be  changed  or  influenced  to 
suit  us,  and  that  the  seasons  would  be  transposed  for  our  accommodation 
because  we,  forsooth,  were  *  the  people  of  God  1 ' " 

PAKT  n. 

THE  JOUKKEY  ACROSS  THE  PLAINS. 

"  We  started  from  Florence  about  the  18th  of  August,  and  travelled  in 
the  same  way  as  through  lov/a,  except  that  our  carts  were  more  heavily 
laden,  as  our  teams  could  not  haul  sufficient  flour  to  last  us  to  Utah ;  it 
was  therefore  decided  to  put  one  sack  (ninety-eight  pounds)  on  each  cart 
in  addition  to  the  regular  baggage.  Some  of  the  people  grumbled  at  this, 
but  the  majority  bore  it  without  a  murmur.  Our  flour  ration  was  in- 
creased to  a  pound  per  day;  fresh  beef  was  issued  occasionally,  and  each 

*  hundred'  had  three  or  four  milch  cows.  The  flour  on  the  carts  was  used 
first,  the  weakest  parties  being  the  first  relieved  of  their  burdens. 

"  Everything  seemed  to  be  propitious,  and  we  moved  gaily  forward 
full  of  hope  and  faith.  At  our  camp  each  evening  could  be  heard  songs 
of  joy,  merry  peals  of  laughter,  and  Ion  mots  on  our  condition  and  pros- 


818 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


pects.  Brother  Savage's  warning  was  forgotten  in  the  mirthful  ease  of  the 
hour.  The  only  drawbacks  to  this  part  of  our  journey  were  the  constant 
breaking  down  of  carts  and  the  delays  caused  by  repairing  them.  The 
axles  and  boxes  being  of  wood,  and  being  ground  out  by  the  dust  that 
found  its  way  there  in  spite  of  our  efforts  to  keep  it  out,  together  with  the 
extra  weight  put  on  the  carts,  had  the  effect  of  breaking  the  axles  at  the 
Lhoulder.  All  kinds  of  expedients  were  resorted  to  as  remcvlies  for  the 
rowing  evil,  but  with  variable  success.  Some  wrapped  their  axles  with 
leather  obtained  from  boot-legs ;  others  with  tin,  obtained  by  sacrificing 
tin-plates,  kettles,  or  buckets  from  their  mess  outfit.  Besides  these  incon- 
veniences, there  was  felt  a  great  lack  of  a  proper  lubricator.  Of  anything 
suitable  for  this  purpose  we  had  none  at  all.  The  poor  folks  had  to  use 
their  bacon  (already  totally  insufliicient  for  their  wants)  to  grease  their 
axles,  and  some  even  used  their  soap,  of  which  they  had  very  little,  to 
make  their  carts  trundle  somewhat  easier.  In  about  twenty  days,  how- 
ever, the  flour  being  consumed,  breakdowns  became  less  frequent,  and  we 
jogged  along  finely.  We  travelled  from  ten  to  twenty  miles  per  day, 
averaging  about  fifteen  miles.  The  people  felt  well,  so  did  our  cattle,  and 
our  immediate  prospects  of  a  prosperous  journey  were  good.  But  the 
fates  seemed  to  be  against  us. 

"  About  this  time  we  reached  Wood  river.  The  whole  country  was 
alive  with  buffaloes,  and  one  night — or,  rather,  evening — our  cattle  stam- 
peded. Men  went  in  pursuit  and  collected  what  they  supposed  to  be  the 
herd ;  but,  on  corralling  them  for  yoking  next  morning,  thirty  head  were 
missing.  We  hunted  for  them  three  days  in  every  direction,  but  did  not  find 
them.  We  at  last  reluctantly  gave  up  the  search,  and  prepared  to  travel 
without  them  as  best  we  could.  We  had  only  about  enough  oxen  left  to 
put  one  yoke  to  each  wagon ;  but,  as  they  were  each  loaded  with  about 
three  thousand  pounds  of  flour,  the  teams  could  not  of  course  move  them. 
We  then  yoked  up  our  beef  cattle,  milch  cows,  and,  in  fact,  everything 
that  could  bear  a  yoke — even  two-year  old  heifers.  The  stock  was  wild 
and  could  pull  but  little,  and  we  were  unable,  with  all  our  stock,  to  move 
our  loads.    As  a  last  resort  we  again  loaded  a  sack  of  flour  on  each  cart. 

"  The  patience  and  faith  of  the  good  honest  people  were  shaken  some- 
what by  this,  (to  them)  hard  stroke  of  Providence.  Some  complained 
openly  ;  others,  less  demonstrative,  chewed  the  bitter  cud  of  discontent ; 
while  the  greater  part  saw  the  ^hand  of  the  Lord'  in  it.  The  belief  that 
we  were  the  spiritual  favourites  of  the  Almighty,  and  that  he  would  control 
everything  for  our  good,  soon  revived  us  after  our  temporary  despondency, 
and  in  a  day  or  two  faith  was  as  assuring  as  ever  with  the  pilgrims.  But 
our  progress  was  slow,  the  old  breakdowns  were  constantly  repeated,  and 
some  could  not  refrain  from  murmuring  in  spite  of  the  general  trustfulness. 
It  was  really  hard  for  the  folks  to  lose  the  use  of  their  milch  cows,  have 
beef  rations  stopped,  and  haul  one  hundred  pounds  more  on  their  carts. 
Every  man  and  woman,  however,  worked  to  their  utmost  to  put  forward 
towards  the  goal  of  their  hopes. 


"LOOK  ON  THIS  PICTURE,  AND  ON  THAT."  319 


One  evening,  as  we  were  camped  on  the  west  bank  of  the  North  Bluff 
Fork  of  the  Platte,  a  grand  outfit  of  carriages  and  light  wagons  was  driven 
into  our  camp  from  the  East.  Each  vehicle  was  drawn  by  four  horses  or 
mules,  and  all  the  appointments  seemed  to  be  first  rate.  The  occupants  we 
soon  found  to  be  the  apostle  F.  D.  Richards,  elders  W.  H.  Kimball,  G.  D. 
Grant,  Joseph  A.  Young,  C.  G.  Webb,  N.  H.  Felt,  W.  C.  Dunbar,  and 
others  who  were  returning  to  Utah  from  missions  abroad.  They  camped 
with  us  for  the  night,  and  in  the  morning  a  general  meeting  was  called. 
Apostle  Richards'  addressed  us.  He  had  been  advised  of  the  opposition 
brother  Savage  had  made,  and  he  rebuked  him  very  severely  in  open  meet- 
ing for  his  lack  of  faith  in  God.  Richards  gave  us  plenty  of  counsel  to  be 
faithful,  prayerful,  obediett  to  our  leaders,  etc.,  and  wound  up  by  prophe- 
sying in  the  name  of  Israel's  God  that  *  though  it  might  storm  on  our 

*  right  and  on  our  left,  the  Lord  would  keep  open  our  way  before  us  and 

*  we  should  get  to  Zion  in  safety.'  This  assurance  had  a  telling  effect  on 
the  people — to  them  it  was  *  the  voice  of  God.'  They  gave  a  loud  and 
hearty  '  Amen,'  while  tears  of  joy  ran  down  their  sunburnt  cheeks. 

These  brethren  told  Captain  Willie  they  wanted  some  fresh  meat,  and 
he  had  our  fattest  calf  killed  for  them.  I  am  ashamed  for  humanity's  sake 
to  say  they  took  it.  While  we,  four  hundred  in  number,  travelling  so 
slowly  and  so  far  from  home,  with  our  mixed  company  of  men,  women, 
children,  aged,  sick,  and  infirm  people,  had  no  provisions  to  spare,  had  not 
enough  for  ourselves,  in  fact,  these  '  elders  in  Israel,'  these  '  servants  of 
God,'  took  from  us  what  we  ourselves  so  greatly  needed  and  went  on  in 
style  with  their  splendid  outfit,  after  preaching  to  us  faith,  patience,  pray- 
erfulness,  and  obedience  to  the  priesthood.  As  they  rolled  out  of  our 
camp  I  could  not,  as  I  contrasted  our  positions  and  circumstances,  help 
exclaiming  to  myself:  ''Look  on  tJiis  jpicture^  and  on  that!'' 

"  We  broke  camp  at  once  and  turned  towards  the  river,  the  apostle 
having  advised  us  to  go  on  to  the  south  side.  He  and  his  company  pre- 
ceded us  and  waited  on  the  opposite  bank  to  indicate  to  us  the  best  ford- 
ing place.  They  stood  and  watched  us  wade  the  river — here  almost  a  mile 
in  width,  and  in  places  from  two  to  three  feet  deep.  Our  women  and  girls 
waded,  pulling  their  carts  after  them. 

"  The  apostle  promised  to  leave  us  provisions,  bedding,  etc.,  at  Lara- 
mie if  he  could,  and  to  secure  us  help  from  the  valley  as  soon  as  possible. 

"  We  reached  Laramie  about  the  1st  or  2d  of  September,  but  the  pro- 
visions, etc.,  which  we  expected  were  not  there  for  us.  Captain  Willie 
called  a  meeting  to  take  into  consideration  our  circumstances,  condition, 
and  prospects,  and  to  see  what  could  be  done.  It  was  ascertained  that  at 
our  present  rate  of  travel  and  consumption  of  flour,  the  latter  would  be 
exhausted  when  we  were  about  three  hundred  and  fifty  miles  from  our 
destination  !  It  was  resolved  to  reduce  our  allowance  from  one  pound  to 
three-quarters  of  a  pound  per  day,  and  at  the  same  time  to  make  every 
effort  in  our  power  to  travel  faster.  We  continued  this  rate  of  rations  from 
Laramie  to  Independence  Rock. 


320 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


"  About  this  time  Captain  Willie  received  a  letter  from  apostle  Riclb 
ards  informing  him  that  we  might  expect  supplies  to  meet  us  from  the 
valley  by  the  time  we  reached  South  Pass.  An  examination  of  our  stock 
of  flour  showed  us  that  it  would  be  gone  before  we  reached  that  point. 
Our  only  alternative  was  to  still  further  reduce  our  bill  of  fare.  The  issue 
of  flour  w^as  then  to  average  ten  ounces  per  day  to  each  person  over  ton 
years  of  age,  and  to  be  divided  thus :  working-men  to  receive  twelve 
ounces,  women  and  old  men  nine  ounces,  and  children  from  four  to  eight 
ounces,  according  to  age  and  size, 

"  This  arrangement  dissatisfied  some,  especially  men  with  families  ;  for 
so  far  they  had  really  done  better  than  single  men,  the  children's  rations 
being  some  help  to  them.  But,  taken  altogether,  it  was  as  good  a  plan  as 
we  could  have  adopted  under  the  circumstances. 

"  Many  of  our  men  showed  signs  of  failing,  and  to  reduce  their  rations 
below  twelve  ounces  would  have  been  suicidal  to  the  company,  seeing  they 
had  to  stand  guard  at  night,  wade  the  streams  repeatedly  by  day  to  get 
the  women  and  children  across,  erect  tents,  and  do  many  duties  which 
women  could  not  do. 

"  Our  captain  did  his  utmost  to  move  us  forward  and  always  acted 
with  great  impartiality.  The  sub-captains  had  plenty  of  work,  too,  in 
seeing  that  rations  were  fairly  divided,  equally  distributing  the  strength 
of  their  hundreds,  helping  the  sick  and  the  weakly,  etc. 

"  We  had  not  travelled  far  up  the  Sweetwater  before  the  nights,  which 
had  gradually  been  getting  colder  since  we  left  Laramie,  became  very  se- 
vere. The  mountains  before  us,  as  we  approached  nearer  to  them,  revealed 
themselves  to  view  mantled  nearly  to  their  base  in  snow,  and  tokens  of  a 
coming  storm  were  discernible  in  the  clouds  which  each  day  seemed  to 
lower  around  us.  In  our  frequent  crossings  of  the  Sw^eetwater,  we  had 
really  *  a  hard  road  to  travel.'  The  v/ater  was  beautiful  to  the  eye,  as  it 
rolled  over  its  rocky  bed  as  clear  as  crystal ;  but  when  we  waded  it  time 
after  time  at  each  ford  to  get  the  carts,  the  women,  and  the  children  over, 
the  beautiful  stream,  with  its  romantic  surroundings  (which  should  awaken 
holy  and  poetic  feelings  in  the  soul,  and  draw  it  nearer  to  the  Great  Au- 
thor of  life),  lost  to  us  its  beauty,  and  the  chill  which  it  sent  through  our 
systems  drove  out  from  our  minds  all  holy  and  devout  aspirations,  and 
left  a  void,  a  sadness,  and — in  some  cases — doubts  as  to  the  justice  of  an 
overruling  Providence. 

"  Our  seventeen  pounds  of  clothing  and  tedding  was  now  altogether  in- 
suflicient  for  our  comfort.  Nearly  all  suffered  more  or  less  at  night  from 
cold.  Instead  of  getting  up  in  the  morning  strong,  refreshed,  vigorous, 
and  prepared  for  the  hardships  of  another  day  of  toil,  the  poor  '  Saints ' 
were  to  be  seen  crawling  out  from  their  tents  looking  haggard,  benumbed, 
and  showing  an  utter  lack  of  that  vitality  so  necessary  to  our  success. 

"  Cold  weather,  scarcity  of  food,  lassitude  and  fatigue  from  over-exer- 
tion, soon  produced  their  effects.  Our  old  and  infirm  people  began  to 
droop,  and  they  no  sooner  lost  spirit  and  courage  than  death's  stamp  could 


THE  RAVAGES  OF  DEATH. 


321 


be  traced  upon  their  features.  Life  went  out  as  smoothly  as  a  lamp  ceases 
to  burn  when  the  oil  is  gone.  At  first  the  deaths  occurred  slowly  and  ir- 
regularly, but  in  a  few  days  at  more  frequent  intervals,  until  we  soon 
thought  it  unusual  to  leave  a  camp-ground  without  burying  one  or  more 
persons. 

"  Death  was  not  long  confined  in  its  ravages  to  the  old  and  infirm,  but 
the  young  and  naturally  strong  were  among  its  victims.  Men  who  were, 
so  to  speak,  as  strong  as  lions  when  we  started  on  our  journey,  and  who 
had  been  our  best  supports,  were  compelled  to  succumb  to  the  grim  mon- 
ster. These  men  were  worn  down  by  hunger,  scarcity  of  clothing  and 
bedding,  and  too  much  labour  in  helping  their  families.  Weakness  and 
debility  were  accompanied  by  dysentery.  This  we  could  not  stop  or  even 
alleviate,  no  proper  medicines  being  in  the  camp;  and  in  almost  every  in- 
stance it  carried  off  the  parties  attacked.  It  was  surprising  to  an  unmar- 
ried man  to  witness  the  devotion  of  men  to  their  families  and  to  their 
faith,  under  these  trying  circumstances.  Many  a  father  pulled  his  cart, 
with  his  little  children  on  it,  until  the  day  preceding  his  death.  I  have 
seen  some  pull  their  carts  in  the  morning,  give  out  during  the  day,  and 
die  before  next  morning.  These  people  died  with  the  calm  faith  and  for- 
titude of  martyrs.  Their  greatest  regret  seemed  to  be  leaving  their  fam- 
ilies behind  them,  and  their  bodies  on  the  plains  or  mountains  instead  of 
being  laid  in  the  consecrated  ground  of  Zion.  The  sorrow  and  mourning 
of  the  bereaved,  as  they  saw  their  husbands  and  fathers  rudely  interred, 
were  afiecting  in  the  extreme,  and  none  but  a  heart  of  stone  could  repress 
a  tear  of  sympathy  at  the  sad  spectacle.* 

"  Each  death  weakened  our  forces.  In  my  hundred  I  could  not  raise 
enough  men  to  pitch  a  tent  when  we  encamped,  and  now  it  was  that  I 

*  A  letter  from  one  of  the  hand-cart  emigrants  of  a  later  company  found  its  way 
into  the  London  Times.  This  emigrant  relates  his  apprehension  of  the  company 
starting  too  late  from  the  Missouri  river,  and  of  the  resolution  of  himself  and  rela- 
tions to  defer  their  journey  to  Zion ;  but,  being  instructed  and  cheered  up  by  the 
preaching  of  elders  Richards  and  Wheelock,  they  resolved  to  go  forward,  "  let  the 
consequence  be  what  it  would."  After  he  had  travelled  part  of  the  journey,  he  writes : 
"  We  pushed  on ;  my  mother  walking  sixteen,  eighteen,  or  twenty  miles  a  day  for 
weeks,  without  a  ride  or  any  assistance,  until  she  was  exhausted,  with  no  conve- 
nience to  ride.  This  brought  on  disease,  and  I  had  to  haul  her  in  my  hand-cart  for 
two  days ;  and  after  a  month's  journey  from  Florence  she  was  quite  worn  out,  wished 
to  give  up,  and  died  one  morning  before  we  started  out.  We  buried  her  by  the 
roadside,  without  a  coffin.  "We  mourned  her  loss,  knowing  she  was  one  of  our  best 
friends.  The  time  rolled  on  for  eight  or  nine  days,  and  my  sister  Mary  caught  the 
same  complaint.  I  hauled  her  in  my  hand-cart  for  some  days,  and  she  then  died. 
We  went  on  our  journey  for  another  fortnight,  when  my  youngest  child,  Ephraim, 
died  likewise.  My  father  kept  pushing  and  pulling  the  hand-cart,  with  sore  feet, 
until  he  was  worn  out  and  had  to  go  to  the  wagons  to  ride.  My  wife  pushed  at  the 
hand-carts  until  she  fell  sick,  was  worn  out,  and  had  to  go  to  the  wagons  to  ride. 
My  son  William  fell  sick  of  the  fever  and  ague,  and  his  mother  was  ill  of  the  same 

20 


322 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


had  to  exerfc  myself  to  the  utmost.  I  wonder  I  did  not  die,  as  many  did 
who  were  stronger  than  1  was.  When  we  pitched  our  camp  in  the  eve- 
ning of  each  day,  I  had  to  lift  the  sick  jfrom  the  wagon  and  carry  them 
to  the  fire,  and  in  the  morning  carry  them  again  on  my  back  to  the  wagon. 
When  any  in  my  hundred  died  I  had  to  inter  them ;  often  helping  to  dig 
the  grave  myself.  In  performing  these  sad  offices  I  always  ofiered  up 
a  heartfelt  prayer  to  that  God  who  beheld  our  sufferings,  and  begged  him 
to  avert  destruction  from  us  and  send  us  help. 

PART  III. 

FEARFUL  sufferings:  THE  RAVAGES  OF  STARVATION,  DISEASE,  AND 

DEATH. 

"  We  travelled  on  in  misery  and  sorrow  day  after  day.  Sometimes  we 
made  a  pretty  good  distance,  but  at  other  times  we  were  only  able  to 
make  a  few  miles'  progress.  Finally  we  were  overtaken  by  a  snow-storm 
which  the  shrill  wind  blew  furiously  about  us.  The  snow  fell  several 
inches  deep  as  we  travelled  along,  but  we  dared  not  stop,  for  we  had  a 
sixteen- mile  journey  to  make,  and  short  of  it  we  could  not  get  wood  and 
water. 

"As  we  were  resting  for  a  short  time  at  noon  a  light  wagon  was 
driven  into  our  camp  from  the  west.  Its  occupants  were  Joseph  A. 
Young  *  and  Stephen  Taylor.  They  informed  us  that  a  train  of  supplies 
was  on  the  way,  and  we  might  expect  to  meet  it  in  a  day  or  two.  More 
welcome  messengers  never  came  from  the  courts  of  glory  than  these  two 
young  men  were  to  us.  They  lost  no  time  after  encouraging  us  all  they 
could  to  press  forward,  but  sped  on  farther  east  to  convey  their  glad  news 

complaint.  We  pushed  on  to  Fort  Laramie,  where  I  was  completely  exhausted  with 
hunger  and  fatigue,  and  stayed  behind  with  another  young  man  from  Manchester 
(John  Barlow).  If  I  had  gone  on  another  week,  I  should  have  been  a  dead  man. 
I  cannot  say  whether  my  father  is  dead  or  alive." 

*  "  Joseph  A.,"  as  the  Prophet's  eldest  son  is  familiarly  termed,  was  the  last  of 
the  returning  missionaries  to  leave  the  emigrant  camp  on  the  banks  of  the  Platte 
river.  Though  ignorant  of  the  apprehension  that  he  felt  for  their  welfare,  and  the 
presentiments  he  had  of  the  inevitable  suffering  that  awaited  them,  many  of  the 
emigrants  clung  to  him  with  more  than  ordinary  affection,  and  detained  him  till  the 
warning  of  approaching  night  urged  him  to  follow  his  companions.  When  he  bade 
them  good-by,  he  could  scarcely  say  more  than  *  You  shall  see  me  again  soon.*  All 
speed  was  made  by  him  and  his  companions,  and  immediately  on  arrival  in  Salt 
Lake  City  he  reported  to  his  father  how  far  the  emigrants  were  yet  behind. 

Brigham  comprehended  their  situation  in  a  moment.  Though  his  son  had  been 
absent  two  years  from  his  home,  he  ordered  him  instantly  to  make  ready  to  return 
to  the  assistance  of  the  emigrants  and  gave  him  authority  to  take  all  the  provisions, 
clothing,  and  vehicles  that  he  could  find  on  the  way  and  press  them  forward  to  the 
rescue.  Brigham  Young  on  that  occasion  earned  the  good  opinions  of  foes  as  well 
as  friends. 


PERISHING  FOR  WANT  OF  BREAD. 


323 


to  Edward  Martin  and  the  fifth  hand-cart  company  who  left  Florence 
about  two  weeks  after  us,  and  who  it  was  feared  were  even  worse  off  than 
we  were.  As  they  went  from  our  view,  many  a  hearty  *  God  bless  you  ' 
followed  them. 

^'  We  pursued  our  journey  with  renewed  hope  and  after  untold  toil  and 
fatigue,  doubling  teams  frequently,  going  back  to  fetch  up  the  straggling 
carts,  and  encouraging  those  who  had  dropped  by  the  way  to  a  little  more 
exertion  in  view  of  our  soon-to-be  improved  condition,  we  finally,  late  at 
night,  got  all  to  camp — the  wind  howling  frightfully  and  the  snow  eddy- 
ing around  us  in  fitful  gusts.  But  we  had  found  a  good  camp  among  the 
willows,  and  after  warming  and  partially  drying  ourselves  before  good 
fires,  we  ate  our  scanty  fare,  paid  our  usual  devotions  to  the  Deity  and  re- 
tired to  rest  with  hopes  of  coming  aid. 

"  In  the  morning  the  snow  was  over  a  foot  deep.  Our  cattle  strayed 
widely  during  the  storm,  and  some  of  them  died.  But  what  was  worse  to 
us  than  all  this  was  the  fact  that  Jive  persons  of  both  sexes  lay  in  the  cold 
embrace  of  death.  The  pitiless  storm  and  the  extra  march  of  the  pre- 
vious day  had  been  too  much  for  their  wasted  energies,  and  they  had 
passed  through  the  dark  valley  to  the  bright  world  beyond.  We  buried 
these  five  people  in  one  grave,  wrapped  only  in  the  clothing  and  bedding 
in  which  they  died.  We  had  no  materials  with  which  to  make  coffins, 
and  even  if  we  had,  we  could  not  have  spared  time  to  make  them,  for  it 
required  all  the  efforts  of  the  healthy  few  who  remained  to  perform  the 
ordinary  camp  duties  and  to  look  after  the  sick — the  number  of  whom 
increased  daily  on  our  hands,  notwithstanding  so  many  were  dying. 

The  morning  before  the  storm,  or,  rather,  the  morning  of  the  day  on 
which  it  came,  we  issued  the  last  ration  of  flour.  On  this  fatal  morning, 
therefore,  we  had  none  to  issue.  We  had,  however,  a  barrel  or  two  of 
hard  bread  which  Captain  Willie  had  procured  at  Fort  Laramie  in  view 
of  our  destitution.  This  was  equally  and  fairly  divided  among  all  the 
company.  Two  of  our  poor  broken-down  cattle  were  killed  and  their 
carcasses  issued  for  beef.  With  this  we  were  informed  that  we  would 
have  to  subsist  until  the  coming  supplies  reached  us.  All  that  now  re- 
mained in  our  commissary  were  a  few  pounds  each  of  sugar  and  dried 
apples,  about  a  quarter  of  a  sack  of  rice  and  a  small  quantity  (possibly 
20  or  25  lbs.)  of  hard  bread.  The  brother  who  had  been  our  commissary 
all  the  way  from  Liverpool  had  not  latterly  acted  in  a  way  to  merit  the 
confidence  of  the  company ;  but  it  is  hard  to  handle  provisions  and  suffer 
hunger  at  the  same  time,  so  I  will  not  write  a  word  of  condemnation. 
These  few  scanty  supplies  were  on  this  memorable  morning  turned  over  to 
me  by  Captain  Willie,  with  strict  injunctions  to  distribute  them  only  to 
the  sick  and  to  mothers  for  their  hungry  children,  and  even  to  them  in  as 
sparing  a  manner  as  possible.  It  was  an  unenviable  place  to  occupy,  a 
hard  duty  to  perform  ;  but  I  acted  to  the  best  of  my  ability,  using  all  the 
discretion  I  could. 

"  Being  surrounded  by  snow  a  foot  deep,  out  of  provisions,  many  of 


324 


THE  EOCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


our  people  sick,  and  our  cattle  dying,  it  was  decided  that  we  should  re- 
main in  our  present  camp  until  the  supply-train  reached  us.  It  was  also 
resolved  in  council  that  Captain  Willie  with  one  man  should  go  in  search 
of  the  supply-train  and  apprise  its  leader  of  our  condition,  and  hasten 
him  to  our  help.  When  this  was  done  we  settled  down  and  made  our 
camp  as  comfortable  as  we  could.  As  Captain  Willie  and  his  companion 
left  for  the  West,  many  a  heart  was  lifted  in  prayer  for  their  success  and 
speedy  return.  They  were  absent  three  days — three  days  which  I  shall 
never  forget.  The  scanty  allowance  of  hard  bread  and  poor  beef,  distrib- 
uted as  described,  was  mostly  consumed  the  first  day  by  the  hungry,  rav- 
enous, famished  souls. 

"  We  killed  more  cattle  and  issued  the  meat ;  but,  eating  it  without 
bread,  did  not  satisfy  hunger,  and  to  those  who  were  suffering  from  dys- 
entery it  did  more  harm  than  good.  This  terrible  disease  increased  rapid- 
ly amongst  us  during  these  three  days,  and  several  died  from  exhaustion. 
Before  we  renewed  our  journey  the  camp  became  so  offensive  and  filthy 
that  words  would  fail  to  describe  its  condition,  and  even  common  decency 
forbids  the  attempt.  Suffice  it  to  say  that  all  the  disgusting  scenes  which 
the  reader  might  imagine  Avould  certainly  not  equal  the  terrible  reality. 
It  was  enough  to  make  the  heavens  weep.  The  recollection  of  it  unmans 
me  even  now — those  three  days !  During  that  time  I  visited  the  sicl:, 
the  widows  whose  husbands  died  in  serving  them,  and  the  aged  who  could 
not  help  themselves,  to  know  for  myself  where  to  dispense  the  few  arti- 
cles that  had  been  placed  in  my  charge  for  distribution.  Such  craving 
hunger  I  never  saw  before,  and  may  God  in  his  mercy  spare  me  the  sight 
again. 

"  As  I  was  seen  giving  these  things  to  the  most  needy,  crowds  of  fam- 
ished men  and  women  surrounded  me  and  begged  for  bread  !  Men  whom 
I  had  known  all  the  way  from  Liverpool,  who  had  been  true  as  steel  in 
every  stage  of  our  journey,  who  in  their  homes  in  England  and  Scotland 
had  never  known  want ;  men  who  by  honest  labour  had  sustained  them- 
selves and  their  families,  and  saved  enough  to  cross  the  Atlantic  and  trav- 
erse the  United  States,  whose  hearts  were  cast  in  too  great  a  mould  to 
descend  to  a  mean  act  or  brook  dishonour ;  such  men  as  these  came  to  me 
and  begged  bread.  I  felt  humbled  to  the  dust  for  my  race  and  nation, 
and  I  hardly  know  which  feeling  was  strongest  at  that  time,  pity  for  our 
condition,  or  malediction  on  the  fates  that  so  humbled  the  proud  Anglo- 
Saxon  nature.  But  duty  might  not  be  set  aside  by  feeling,  however  nat- 
ural, so  I  positively  refused  these  men  bread  !  But  while  I  did  so,  I  ex- 
plained to  them  the  painful  position  in  which  I  was  placed,  and  most  of 
them  acknowledged  that  I  was  right.  Not  a  few  of  them  afterwards 
spoke  approvingly  of  my  stern  performance  of  duty.  It  is  difficult,  how- 
ever, to  reason  with  a  hungry  man ;  but  these  noble  fellows,  when  they 
comprehended  my  position,  had  faith  in  my  honour.  Some  of  them  are 
in  Utah  to-day,  and  when  we  meet,  the  strong  grip  of  friendship  over- 
comes, for  the  moment  at  least,  all  differences  ot  opinion  which  we  lUay 


BEGGED  BREAD  IN  YAIN. 


325 


entertain  on  any  subject.*  May  the  Heavens  ever  be  kind  to  them,  what- 
ever their  faith,  for  they  are  good  men  and  true.  And  the  sisters  who 
suffered  with  us— may  the  loving  angels  ever  be  near  them  to  guard  them 
from  the  ills  of  life. 


"Came  to  me  and  begged  Bread." 


"  The  storm  which  we  encountered,  our  brethren  from  the  Yalley  also 
met,  and,  not  knowing  that  we  were  so  utterly  destitute,  they  encamped  to 
await  fine  weather.  But  when  Captain  Willie  found  them  and  explained 
our  real  condition,  they  at  once  hitched  up  their  teams  and  made  all  speed 
to  come  to  our  rescue.  On  the  evening  of  the  third  day  after  Captain 
Willie^s  departure,  just  as  the  sun  was  sinking  beautifully  behind  the  dis- 
tant hills,  on  an  eminence  immediately  west  of  our  camp  several  covered 
wagons,  each  drawn  by  four  horses,  were  seen  coming  towards  us.  The 
news  ran  through  the  camp  like  wildfire,  and  all  who  were  able  to  leave 
their  beds  turned  out  en  masse  to  see  them.  A  few  minutes  brought  them 
sufficiently  near  to  reveal  our  faithful  captain  slightly  in  advance  of  the 
train.  Shouts  of  joy  rent  the  air;  strong  men  wept  till  tears  ran  freely 
down  their  furrowed  and  sun-burnt  cheeks,  and  little  children  partook  of 
the  joy  which  some  of  them  hardly  understood,  and  fairly  danced  around 
with  gladness.  Restraint  was  set  aside  in  the  general  rejoicing,  and  as 
the  brethren  entered  our  camp  the  sisters  fell  upon  them  and  deluged 
them  with  kisses.    The  brethren  were  so  overcome  that  they  could  not  for 

*  Without  a  note  this  remark  would  be  misunderstood  by  the  general  reader. 
When  any  one  outgrows  the  Mormon  faith,  the  orthodox  generally  are  averse  to  the 
recognition  of  "  an  apostate."  Mr.  Chislett  wishes  to  express  in  his  remark  that 
the  friendship  created  in  that  trying  hour  has  been  proof  against  even  the  bitterness 
of  Church  discipline. 


326 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


some  time  utter  a  word,  but  in  choking  silenced  repressed  all  demonstra- 
tion of  those  emotions  that  evidently  mastered  them.  Soon,  however, 
feeling  was  somewhat  abated,  and  such  a  shaking  of  hands,  such  words 
of  welcome,  and  such  invocation  of  God's  blessing  have  seldom  been  wit- 
nessed. 

"  I  was  installed  as  regular  commissary  to  the  camp.  The  brethren 
turned  over  to  me  flour,  potatoes,  onions,  and  a  limited  supply  of  warm 
clothing  for  both  sexes,  besides  quilts,  blankets,  buffalo-robes,  woollen 
socks,  etc.  I  first  distributed  the  necessary  provisions,  and  after  supper 
divided  the  clothing,  bedding,  etc.,  where  it  was  most  needed.  That 
evening,  for  the  first  time  in  quite  a  period,  the  songs  of  Zion  were  to  be 
heard  in  the  camp,  and  peals  of  laughter  issued  from  the  little  knots  ox 
people  as  they  chatted  aroimd  the  fires.  The  change  seemed  almost  mi- 
raculous, so  sudden  was  it  from  grave  to  gay,' from  sorrow  to  gladness, 
from  mourning  to  rejoicing.  With  the  cravings  of  hunger  satisfied,  and 
with  hearts  filled  with  gratitude  to  God  and  our  good  brethren,  we  all 
united  in  prayer,  and  then  retired  to  rest. 

"  Among  the  brethren  who  came  to  our  succour  wera  elders  W.  H. 
Kimball  and  G.  D.  Grant.  They  had  remained  but  a  few  days  in  the  Val- 
ley before  starting  back  to  meet  us.  May  God  ever  bless  them  for  their 
generous,  unselfish  kindness  and  their  manly  fortitude !  They  felt  that 
they  had,  in  a  great  measure,  contributed  to  our  sad  position ;  but  how 
nobly,  how  faithfully,  how  bravely  they  worked  to  bring  us  safely  to  the 
Valley — to  the  Zion  of  our  hopes ! 

PAET  IV. 

THE  PILGRIMS  ENTER  THE  CITY  OF  THE  SAINTS. 

"  The  next  morning  the  small  company  which  came  to  our  relief  di- 
vided :  one  half,  under  G.  D.  Grant,  going  east  to  meet  Martin's  company, 
and  the  other  half,  under  W.  H.  Kimball,  remaining  with  us.  From  this 
point  until  we  reached  the  Valley,  W.  H.  Kimball  took  full  charge  of  us. 

We  travelled  but  a  few  miles  the  first  day,  the  roads  being  very  heavy. 
All  who  were  unable  to  pull  their  carts  were  allowed  to  put  their  little 
outfits  into  tlie  wagon  and  walk  along,  and  those  who  were  really  unable 
to  walk  were  allowed  to  ride.  The  second  day  we  travelled  a  little  far- 
ther, and  each  day  Brother  Kimball  got  the  company  along  as  far  as  it 
was  possible  to  move  it,  but  still  our  progress  was  very  slow. 

Timely  and  good  beyond  estimate  as  the  help  which  we  received  from 
the  Valley  was  to  our  company  generally,  it  was  too  late  for  some  of  our 
number.  They  were  already  prostrated  and  beyond  all  human  help.  Some 
seemed  to  have  lost  mental  as  well  as  physical  energy.  We  talked  to  them 
of  our  improved  condition,  appealed  to  their  love  of  life  and  showed  them 
how  easy  it  was  to  retain  that  life  by  arousing  themselves;  but  all  to  iio 
purpose.    We  then  addressed  ourselves  to  their  religious  feelings ,  their 


"HAD  LOST  ALL  LOVE  OF  LIFE." 


327 


wish  to  see  Zion ;  to  know  the  Prophet  Brigham ;  showed  them  the  good 
things  that  he  had  sent  out  to  us,  and  told  them  how  deeply  he  sympa- 
thized with  us  in  our  sufferings,  and  what  a  welcome  he  would  give  us 
when  we  reached  the  city.  But  all  our  efforts  were  unavailing ;  they  had 
lost  all  love  of  life,  all  sense  of  surrounding  things,  and  had  sunk  down 
into  a  state  of  indescribable  apathy. 

"  The  weather  grew  colder  each  day,  and  many  got  their  feet  so  badly 
frozen  that  they  could  not  walk,  and  had  to  be  lifted  from  place  to  place. 
Some  got  their  fingers  frozen ;  others  their  ears ;  and  one  woman  lost  her 
sight  by  the  frost.  These  severities  of  the  weather  also  increased  our 
number  of  deaths,  so  that  we  buried  several  each  day. 

"A  few  days  of  bright  freezing  weather  were  succeeded  by  another 
snow-storm.  The  day  we  crossed  the  Rocky  Ridge  it  was  snowing  a  little 
— the  wind  hard  from  the  north-west — and  blowing  so  keenly  that  it  al- 
most pierced  us  through.  We  had  to  wrap  ourselves  closely  in  blankets, 
quilts,  or  whatever  else  we  could  get,  to  keep  from  freezing.  Captain 
Willie  still  attended  to  the  details  of  the  company's  travelling,  and  this 
day  he  appointed  me  to  bring  up  the  rear.  My  duty  was  to  stay  behind 
everything  and  see  that  nobody  was  left  along  the  road.  I  had  to  bury 
a  man  wlio  had  died  in  my  hundred,  and  I  finished  doing  so  after  the 
company  had  started.  In  about  half  an  hour  I  set  out  on  foot  alone  to 
do  my  duty  as  rear-guard  to  the  camp.  The  ascent  of  the  ridge  com- 
menced soon  after  leaving  camp,  and  I  had  not  gone  far  up  it  before  I 
overtook  a  cart  that  the  folks  could  not  pull  through  the  snow,  here 
about  knee-deep.  I  helped  them  along,  and  we  soon  overtook  another. 
By  all  hands  getting  to  one  cart  we  could  travel ;  so  we  moved  one  of  the 
carts  a  few  rods,  and  then  went  back  and  brought  up  the  other.  After 
moving  in  this  way  for  a  while,  we  overtook  other  carts  at  different  points 
of  the  hill,  until  we  had  six  carts,  not  one  of  which  could  be  moved  by 
the  parties  owning  it.  I  put  our  collective  strength  to  three  carts  at  a 
time,  took  them  a  short  distance,  and  then  brought  up  the  other  three. 
Thus  by  travelling  over  the  hill  three  times — twice  forward  and  once  back 
— I  succeeded  after  hours  of  toil  in  bringing  my  little  company  to  the 
summit.  The  six  carts  were  then  trotted  on  gaily  down  hill,  the  intense 
cold  stirring  us  to  action.  One  or  two  parties  who  were  with  these  carts 
gave  up  entirely,  and  but  for  the  fact  that  we  overtook  one  of  our  ox- 
teams  that  had  been  detained  on  the  road,  they  must  have  perished  on 
that  Rocky  Ridge.  One  old  man,  named  James  (a  farm-labourer  from 
Gloucestershire),  who  had  a  large  family,  and  who  had  worked  very  hard 
all  the  way,  I  found  sitting  by  the  roadside  unable  to  pull  his  cart  any 
farther.  I  could  not  get  him  into  the  wagon,  as  it  was  already  overcrowded. 
He  had  a  shot-gun  which  he  had  brought  from  England,  and  which  had 
been  a  great  blessing  to  him  and  his  family,  for  he  was  a  good  shot,  and 
often  had  a  mess  of  sage  hens  or  rabbits  for  his  family.  I  took  the  gun 
from  the  cart,  put  a  small  bundle  on  the  end  of  it,  placed  it  on  his  shoul- 
der, and  started  him  out  with  his  little  boy,  twelve  years  old.    His  wife 


328 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


and  two  daughters  older  than  the  boy  took  the  cart  along  finely  after 
reaching  the  summit. 

"  We  travelled  along  with  the  ox-team  and  overtook  others,  all  so 
laden  with  the  sick  and  helpless  that  they  moved  very  slowly.  The  oxen 
had  almost  given  out.  Some  of  our  folks  with  carts  went  ahead  of  the 
teams,  for  where  the  roads  were  good  they  could  out-travel  oxen ;  but 
we  constantly  overtook  some  stragglers,  some  with  carts,  some  without, 
who  had  been  unable  to  keep  pace  with  the  body  of  the  company.  We 
struggled  along  in  this  weary  way  until  after  dark,  and  by  this  time  our 
'  rear '  numbered  three  wagons,  eight  hand-carts,  and  nearly  forty  persons. 
With  the  wagons  were  Millen  Atwood,  Levi  Savage,  and  William  Wood- 
ward, captains  of  hundreds,  faithful  men  who  had  worked  hard  all  the  way. 

"  We  finally  came  to  a  stream  of  water  which  was  frozen  over.  We 
could  not  see  where  the  company  had  crossed.  If  at  the  point  where  we 
struck  the  creek,  then  it  had  frozen  over  since  we.  passed  it.  We  started 
one  team  to  cross,  but  the  oxen  broke  through  the  ice  and  would  not  go 
over.  No  amount  of  shouting  and  whipping  could  induce  them  to  stir 
an  inch.  We  were  afraid  to  try  the  other  teams,  for  even  should  they 
cross  we  could  not  leave  the  one  in  the  creek  and  go  on.  There  was  no 
wood  in  the  vicinity,  so  we  could  make  no  fire,  and  were  uncertain  what 
to  do.  We  did  not  know  the  distance  to  the  camp,  but  supposed  it  to  be 
three  or  four  miles.  After  consulting  about  it,  we  resolved  that  some  one 
should  go  on  foot  to  the  camp  to  inform  the  captain  of  our  situation.  I 
was  selected  to  perform  the  duty,  and  I  set  out  with  all  speed.  In  cross- 
ing the  creek  I  slipped  through  the  ice  and  got  my  feet  wet,  my  boots 
being  nearly  worn  out.  I  had  not  gone  far  when  I  saw  some  one  sitting 
by  the  roadside.  I  stopped  to  see  who  it  was,  and  discovered  the  old  man 
James  and  his  little  boy.    The  poor  old  man  was  quite  worn  out. 

I  got  him  to  his  feet  and  had  him  lean  on  me,  and  he  walked  a  little 
distance,  but  not  very  far.  I  partly  dragged,  partly  carried  him  a  short 
distance  farther,  but  he  was  quite  helpless,  and  my  strength  failed  me. 
Being  obliged  to  leave  him  to  go  forward  on  my  own  errand,  I  put  down 
a  quilt  I  had  wrapped  round  me,  rolled  him  in  it,  and  told  the  little  boy 
to  walk  up  and  down  by  his  father,  and  on  no  account  to  sit  down,  or  he 
would  be  frozen  to  death.  I  told  him  to  watch  for  teams  that  would  come 
back,  and  to  hail  them  when  they  came.  This  done  I  again  set  out  for 
the  camp,  running  nearly  all  the  way  and  frequently  falling  down,  for  there 
were  many  obstructions  and  holes  in  the  road.  My  boots  were  frozen  stiff, 
so  that  I  had  not  the  free  use  of  my  feet,  and  it  was  only  by  rapid  motion 
that  I  kept  them  from  being  badly  frozen.    As  it  was,  both  were  nipped. 

"  After  some  time  I  came  in  sight  of  the  camp  fires,  which  encouraged 
me.  As  I  neared  the  camp  I  frequently  overtook  stragglers  on  foot,  all 
pressing  forward  slowly.  I  stopped  to  speak  to  each  one,  cautioning  them 
all  against  resting,  as  they  would  surely  freeze  to  death.  Finally,  about 
11  p.  M.,  I  reached  the  camp  almost  exhausted.  I  had  exerted  myself  very 
much  during  the  day  in  bringing  the  rear  carts  up  the  ridge,  and  had  not 


FIFTEEN  BURIED  IN  ONE  GRAVE. 


329 


eaten  anything  since  breakfast.  I  reported  to  Captains  Willie  and  Kim- 
ball the  situation  of  the  folks  behind.  They  immediately  got  up  some 
horses,  and  the  boys  from  the  Valley  started  back  about  midnight  to  help 
the  ox-teams  in.  The  night  was  very  severe  and  many  of  the  emigrants 
were  frozen.    It  was  5  A.  m.  before  the  last  team  reached  the  camp. 

I  told  my  companions  about  the  old  man  James  and  his  little  boy. 
They  found  the  little  fellow  keeping  faithful  watch  over  his  father,  whC' 
lay  sleeping  in  my  quilt 
just  as  I  left  him.   They  - 


as  to  the  safety  of  his 
shot-gun. 

"There  were  so  many 
dead  and  dying  that  it 
was  decided  to  lie  by  for 
the  day.  In  the  forenoon 


I  was  appointed  to  go  .  ~  "  ~  '  The  Old  Man  James, 
round  the  camp  and  col- 
lect the  dead.  I  took  with  me  two  young  men  to  assist  me  in  the  sad 
task,  and  we  collected  together,  of  all  ages  and  both  sexes,  thirteen  corpses, 
all  stifflij  frozen.  We  had  a  large  square  hole  dug  in  which  we  buried 
these  thirteen  people,  three  or  four  abreast  and  three  deep.  When  they 
did  not  fit  in,  we  pat  one  or  two  crosswise  at  the  head  or  feet  of  the  others. 
We  covered  them  with  willows  and  then  with  the  earth.  When  we  buried 
these  thirteen  people  some  of  their  relatives  refused  to  attend  the  services. 
They  manifested  an  utter  indifference  about  it.  The  numbness  and  cold 
in  their  physical  natures  seem  to  have  reached  the  soul,  and  to  have 
crushed  out  natural  feeling  and  affection.  Had  I  not  myself  witnessed  it, 
I  could  not  have  believed  that  suffering  would  have  produced  such  terri- 
ble results.  But  so  it  was.  Two  others  died  during  the  day,  and  we 
buried  them  in  one  grave,  mdiWng  fifteen  in  all  huried  on  tliat  camp  ground. 
It  was  on  Willow  creek,  a  tributary  of  the  Sweetwater  river.  I  learned 
afterwards  from  men  who  passed  that  way  the  next  summer,  that  the 
wolves  had  exhumed  the  bodies,  and  their  bones  were  scattered  thickly 
around  the  vicinity. 

"  What  a  terrible  fate  for  poor,  honest.  God-fearing  people,  whose 
greatest  sin  was  believing  v/ith  a  faith  too  simple  that  God  would  for 
their  benefit  reverse  the  order  of  nature.  They  believed  this  because  their 
elders  told  them  so  ;  and  had  not  the  apostle  Richards  prophesied  in  the 
name  of  Israel's  God  that  it  would  be  so  ?  But  the  terrible  realities 
proved  that  Levi  Savage,  with  his  plain  common  sense  and  statement 
of  facts,  was  right,  and  that  Richards  and  the  other  elders,  with  the 
'  Spirit  of  the  Lord,'  were  wrong. 


lifted  hlui  into  a  wagon, 
still  alive,  but  in  a  sort 
of  stupor.  He  died  be- 
fore morning.  His  last 
words  were  an  enquiry 


330 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


"  The  day  of  rest  did  the  company  good,  and  we  started  out  next 
morning  with  new  life.  During  the  day  we  crossed  the  Sweetwater  on 
the  ice,  which  did  not  break,  although  our  wagons  were  laden  with  sick 
people.  The  effects  of  our  lack  of  food,  and  the  terrible  ordeal  of  tlie 
Rocky  Ridge,  still  remained  among  us.  Two  or  three  died  every  day. 
At  night  we  camped  a  little  east  by  north  from  the  South  Pass,  and  two 
men  in  my  hundred  died.  It  devolved  on  me  to  bury  them.  This  I  did 
before  breakfast.  The  effluvia  from  these  corpses  were  horrible,  and  it  is 
small  matter  for  wonder  that  after  performing  the  last  sad  offices  for  them 
I  was  taken  sick  and  vomited  fearfully.  Many  said  my  '  time '  had  come, 
and  I  was  myself  afraid  that  such  was  the  case,  but  by  the  blessing  of  God 
I  got  over  it*  and  lived. 

It  had  been  a  practice  among  us  latterly,  when  a  person  died  with 
any  good  clothes  on,  to  take  them  off  and  distribute  them  among  the 
poor  and  needy.  One  of  the  men  I  buried  near  South  Pass  had  on  a  pair 
of  medium-heavy  laced  shoes.  I  looked  at  them  and  at  my  own  worn-out 
boots.  I  wanted  them  badly,  but  could  not  bring  my  mind  to  the  '  stick- 
ing-point '  to  appropriate  them.  I  called  Captain  Kimball  up  and  showed 
him  both,  and  asked  his  advice.  He  told  me  to  take  them  by  all  means,  and 
tersely  remarked :  '  They  will  do  you  more  good  than  they  will  him.'  I  took 
them,  and  but  for  that  would  have  reached  the  city  of  Salt  Lake  barefoot. 

"  Near  South  Pass  we  found  more  brethren  from  the  Valley,  with  sev- 
eral quarters  of  good  fat  beef  hanging  frozen  on  the  limbs  of  the  trees 
where  they  were  encamped.  These  quarters  of  beef  were  to  us  the  hand- 
somest pictures  we  ever  saw.  The  statues  of  Michael  Angelo,  or  the 
paintings  of  the  ancient  masters,  would  have  been  to  us  nothing  in  com- 
parison to  these  life-giving  pictures, 

"  After  getting  over  the  Pass  we  soon  experienced  the  influence  of  a 
warmer  climate,  and  for  a  few  days  we  made  good  progress.    We  con- 


in  their  power  to  allevi- 
ate our  sufferings.  May  they  never  need  similar  relief !  From  Bridger  all 
our  company  rode,  and  this  day  I  also  rode  for  the  first  time  on  our  jour- 


What  of  the  Promises  ? 


stantly  met  teams  from 
the  Valley,  with  all  ne- 
cessary provisions.  Most 
of  these  went  on  to  Mar- 
tin's company,  but 
enough  remained  with 
us  for  our  actual  wants. 
At  Fort  Bridger  we 
found  a  great  many  teams 
that  had  come  to  our 
help.  The  noble  fellows 
who  came  to  our  assist- 
ance invariably  received 
us  joyfully,  and  did  all 


SIXTY-SEVEN  PERISHED  BY  THE  WAY. 


331 


ney.  The  entire  distance  from  Iowa  City  to  Fort  Bridger  I  walked,  and 
waded  every  stream  from  the  Missouri  to  that  point,  except  Elkhorn, 
which  we  ferried,  and  Green  river,  which  I  crossed  in  a  wagon.  During 
the  journey  from  Bridger  to  Salt  Lake  a  few  died  of  dysentery,  and  some 
from  the  effects  of  frost  the  day  we  crossed  the  fatal  Rocky  Ridge.  But 
those  who  weathered  that  fatal  day  and  night,  and  were  free  from  dis- 
ease, gradually  regained  strength  and  reached  Salt  Lake  City  in  good 
health  and  spirits. 

"  When  we  left  Iowa  City  we  numbered  about  five  hundred  persons. 
Some  few  deserted  us  while  passing  through  Iowa,  and  some  remained  at 
Florence.  When  we  left  the  latter  place  we  numbered  four  hundred  and 
twenty,  about  twenty  of  whom  were  independent  emigrants  with  their 
own  wagons,  so  that  our  hand-cart  company  was  actually  four  hundred 
of  this  number.  Sixty-seven  died  on  the  journey,  making  a  mortality  oj 
one-sixth  of  our  number.  Of  those  who  were  sick  on  oi^r  arrival,  two  or 
three  soon  died.  President  Young  had  arranged  with  the  bishops  of  the 
different  wards  and  settlements  to  take  care  of  the  poor  emigrants  who 
had  no  friends  to  receive  them,  and  their  kindness  in  this  respect  cannot 
le  too  highly  praised.  It  was  enough  that  a  poor  family  had  come  with 
the  hand-carts,  to  insure  help  during  the  winter  from  the  good  brethren 
in  the  different  settlements.  My  old  friend  W.  G.  Mills  and  his  wife  re- 
ceived me  and  my  betrothed  most  kindly,  so  I  had  no  need  of  Church  aid. 

"  After  arriving  in  the  Valley,  I  found  that  President  Young,  on  learn^ 
ing,  from  the  brethren  who  passed  us  on  the  road,  of  the  lateness  of  our 
leaving  the  frontier,  set  to  work  at  once  to  send  us  relief.  It  was  the  Oc- 
tober Conference  when  they  arrived  with  the  news.  Brigham  at  once  sus- 
pended all  conference  business,  and  declared  that  nothing  further  should 
be  done  until  every  available  team  was  started  out  to  meet  us.  He  set  the 
example  by  sending  several  of  his  best  mule  teams  laden  with  provisions. 
Heber  Kimball  did  the  same,  and  hundreds  of  others  followed  their  noble 
example.  People  who  had  come  from  distant  parts  of  the  Territory  to 
attend  conference  volunteered  to  go  out  to  meet  us,  and  went  at  once.  The 
people  who  had  no  teams  gave  freely  of  provisions,  bedding,  etc. — all  do- 
ing their  best  to  help  us. 

"  We  arrived  in  Salt  Lake  City  on  the  9th  of  November,  but  Martin's 
company  did  not  arrive  until  about  the  1st  of  December.  They  numbered 
near  six  hundred  on  starting,  and  lost  over  one-fourth  of  their  number  by 
death.  The  storm  which  overtook  us  while  making  the  sixteen-mile  drive 
on  Sweetwater,  reached  them  at  North  Platte.  There  they  settled  down 
to  await  help  or  die,  being  unable  to  go  any  farther.  Their  camp-ground 
became  indeed  a  veritable  grave-yard  before  they  left  it,  and  their  dead  lie 
even  now  scattered  along  from  that  point  to  Salt  Lake.  They  were  longer 
without  food  than  we  were,  and  being  more  exposed  to  the  severe  weather 
their  mortality  was,  of  course,  greater  in  proportion. 

"  Our  tale  is  their  tale  partly  told  ;  the  same  causes  operated  in  both 
cases,  and  the  same  effects  followed. 


332 


THE  EOCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


"  Immediately  that  the  condition  of  the  suffering  emigrants  was  known 
in  Salt  Lake  City,  the  most  fervent  prayers  for  their  deliverance  were  of- 
fered up.  There,  and  throughout  the  Territory,  the  same  was  done  as 
soon  as  the  news  reached  the  people.    Prayers  in  the  Tabernacle,  in  the 

school-house,  in  the  fam- 
ily circle,  and  in  the  pri- 
vate prayer  circles  of  the 
priesthood  were  constant- 
ly offered  up  to  the  Al- 
mighty, begging  Him  to 
avert  the  storm  from  us. 
Such  intercessions  were 
invariably  made  on  be- 
half of  Martin's  company, 
at  all  the  meetings  which 
I  attended  after  my  ar- 
rival. But  these  prayers 
availed  nothing  more 
than  did  the  prophecies 
of  Richards  and  the  el- 
ders. It  was  the  stout 
hearts  and  strong  hands 
of  the  noble  fellows  who 
came  to  our  relief,  the  good  teams,  the  flour,  beef,  potatoes,  the  warm 
clothing  and  bedding,  and  not  jprayers  nor  propliecies^  that  saved  us  from 
death.  It  is  a  fact  patent  to  all  the  old  settlers  in  Utah,  that  the  fall 
storms  of  1856  were  earlier  and  more  severe  than  were  ever  known  be- 
fore or  since.  Instead  of  their  prophecies  being  fulfilled  and  their  prayers 
answered,  it  would  almost  seem  that  the  elements  were  unusually  severe 
that  season,  as  a  rebuke  to  their  presumption." 


Joim  Chislett. 


THE  STORY  OF  MARTIN'S  COMPANY.  —  TERRIBLE  SUFFERING  AND 

PRIVATION 

Mr.  Chislett's  tlirilling  narrative  should  properly  have  been 
supplemented  by  a  relation  of  the  sad  experience  of  the  last 
hand-cart  company,  under  the  guidance  of  elder  Martin.  The 
story  already  told  is  too  deeply  interesting  to  allow  the  listener 
to  leave  the  last  company  struggling  with  the  winter's  fury, 
without  a  feeling  of  sympathy,  and  a  very  natural  desire  to 
know  the  fate  of  the  poor  emigrants.  It  could  not  be  expected 
that  elder  Martin  himself  would  furnish  such  a  history,  as  its 
authorship  would  have  cost  him  his  membership  in  the  Church. 


THE  ''DIVINE  PLAN''  OF  EMIGRATION. 


333 


A  gentleman,  however,  in  the  ox-train  that  followed  the  last 
of  the  hand-carts,  and  closed  that  year's  emigration  to  Zion, 
and  who  was  himself  an  eye-witness  and  sufferer,  has  furnished 
the  Author  with  the  following  picture  of  endurance,  sacrifice, 
and  heroism  that  fitly  closes  the  story  of  the  "  experiment  " 
of  the  divine  plan  for  gathering  the  poor  from  Europe  : 

"  Iowa  City  was  selected  that  year  for  an  outfitting  point  for  Salt  Lakft 
Valley — the  haven  of  rest  for  the  travel-tired  Saints.  The  apostle  John 
Taylor  had  charge  of  the  emigration  in  New  York,  the  apostle  Erastus 
Snow  at  St.  Louis,  the  apostle  Franklin  D.  Kichards  in  Liverpool,  and 
elder  Daniel  Spencer  at  Iowa  City.  There  was  some  trouble  among  them 
as  to  who  was  chief,  which  occasioned  much  delay,  and  was  probably 
never  settled.  To  this  difference  are  attributable  the  suffering  and  death 
of  so  many  persons  which  occurred  later  in  the  season. 

"  Elder  Chauncey  G.  Webb  bouglit  the  wagons — the  first  of  the  Chi- 
cago make  that  subsequently  became  so  popular  in  Utah — and  also  the 
material  for  making  hand-carts,  and  shipped  them  to  Iowa  City,  to  which 
point  the  railroad  had  just  been  completed.    The  artisans  were  selected 

*  The  Author  at  first  thought  that  the  use  of  the  phrase  "  divine  plan  "  was 
only  an  expression  of  the  ironical  feeling  of  the  emigrants  who  had  sufFered  aYii 
had  become  disgusted  with  Mormonism,  but  there  is  abundant  evidence  that  such 
was  the  language  of  the  elders  in  Europe  when  they  were  urging  the  poor  to  emi- 
grate. The  following  is  one  of  the  songs  that  the  unfortunate  Mormons  sung  on. 
their  journey  before  their  hearts  were  benumbed  by  suffering  : 

HAND-CAKT  SONO. 

TiTNE — A  Little  More  Cider. 

Chorus  :  Hurrah  for  the  Camp  of  Israel  I 

Hurrah  for  the  hand-cart  scheme  1 
Hurrah !  hurrah  1  'tis  better  far 
Than  the  wagon  and  ox-team. 

Oh,  our  faith  goes  with  the  hand-carts, 

And  they  have  our  hearts'  best  love ; 
'Tis  a  novel  mode  of  travelling, 

Demised  hy  the  Gods  above. 

Hurrah  I  etc. 

And  Brigham  V  their  execiitive, 

He  told  us  the  design  ; 
And  the  Saints  are  proudly  marching  on, 

Along  the  hand-cart  line. 

Hurrah!  etc. 

Who  cares  to  go  with  the  wagons  ? 

-L.>iut  we  who  are  free  and  strong ; 
Our  faith  and  arms,  with  a  right  good  will, 

Shall  pull  our  carts  along. 

Hurrah!  etc. 


334 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


from  among  the  emigrants,  and  were  required  to  work  without  wages,  and 
this  they  did  faithfully  if  not  cheerfully.  While  thus  working  they  were 
insufficiently  rationed,  which  caused  great  dissatisfaction,  resulting  in  a 
refusal  to  continue  their  labours  unless  they  were  properly  supplied.  Their 
demand  was  complied  with. 

"  The  hand-carts  were  fitted  up  on  the  most  economical  plan,  and  so 
far  was  parsimony  carried  that  the  wheels  had  no  tires,  and  to  preserve 
the  felloes  the  emigrants  wound  them  with  raw-hide  while  en  route.  This 
defect  was  afterwards  partially  remedied  by  putting  on  a  rim  of  hoop-iron 
and  rivetting  where  it  lapped.  Elder  John  Van  Cott  was  deputed  to 
buy  and  bring  up  cattle  and  mules,  which  he  did,  I  believe,  from  Missouri. 
The  trouble  before  named  as  to  who  was  the  "  big  chief"  occasioned  de- 
lays in  branches  of  the  outfitting,  so  that  company  after  company  arrived 
on  the  camping-ground,  and  had  to  stay  there  a  long  time  before  they 
could  commence  their  journey,  but  I  cannot  say  how  long. 

"  When  the  cattle  arrived  they  were  entrusted  to  the  hand-cart  emi- 
grants to  herd,  and  this  part  of  the  business  was  very  badly  managed. 
The  hand-cart  folks  had  no  interest  whatever  in  the  oxen,  besides  which 
they  were  new  to  the  business,  and  were  inefficiently  directed.  The  con- 
sequence was  that  lot  after  lot  of  the  stock  was  lost,  and  a  proportionately 
greater  price  was  put  on  what  was  left  to  cover  the  deficiency,  the  good 
Saints  being  forbidden  to  buy  from  settlers.  The  independent  companies 
wanted  to  purchase  their  own  stock,  with  the  privilege  of  taking  care  of 
it  themselves,  but  this  was  not  allowed.  From  the  above  causes  the  cat- 
tle 'increased  in  value' — I  think,  three  times — and  were  finally  delivered 
to  the  emigrants  at  much  higher  prices  than  they  could  have  been  bought 
for  in  the  neighbourhood.  In  this  way  the  independent  companies  were 
kept  back  in  order  that  they  with  their  teams  might  relieve  the  hand- 
carts, if  needed. 

"  I  will  say  nothing  about  the  percentage  collected  from  the  emigrants 
on  passage,  railroad,  wagons,  hand-carts,  and  provisions — it  is  perhaps 
unnecessary. 

"  Florence,  some  six  miles  above  Omaha,  was  chosen  as  a  final  outfit- 
ting depot  for  the  Great  Plains,  and  pulling  the  hand-carts  from  Iowa 
City  to  the  Missouri  river  demonstrated  the  weak  places  both  in  carts  and 
men.  On  arrival  there  they  were  without  delay  outfitted  for  their  long 
journey,  supplies  having  been  sent  up  in  quantity  from  St.  Louis.  James 
McGaw  was  in  charge  at  Florence ;  he  was  a  capable  and  indefatigable 
man. 

"  The  last  hand-cart  train,  under  Tyler  and  Martin,  arrived  at  Florence 
towards  the  middle  of  August,  and  many  of  the  people  were  discouraged 
at  the  prospect  ahead,  but  they  were  cheered  by  the  elders  preaching  and 
telling  them  that  a  testimony  would  be  given  them  that  they  were  the 
chosen  people  of  God,  for  they  would  go  through  safe  and  unharmed. 
'  The  Indians,  the  seasons,  nay,  the  very  elements,  would  be  controlled  for 
*  their  benefit,  and  after  they  got  through  they  would  hear  of  storms  on  the 


CROSSING  THE  PLATTE  KIVER. 


335 


'right  and  on  the  left,  of  which  they  in  their  travelling  would  know  noth- 
'  ing.'  Notwithstanding  this  encouragement,  some  remained  behind  for 
that  season — and  for  many  seasons,  for  aught  I  know ;  others  begged 
hard  for  permission  to  do  so,  but  this  was  refused ;  others  offered  their 
personal  effects  and  promises  to  pay  after  arrival  in  Utah  to  any  one  who 
would  take  them  in  wagons.  One  lady  offered  all  her  jewellery,  worth  a 
considerable  sum,  for  that  purpose. 

"The  last  ox-team— of  which  John  A.  Huut  had  charge— was  de- 
spatched soon  after.  It  was  a  sort  of  Church  train ;  that  is,  it  consisted 
of  wagons  belonging  to  the  returning  missionaries,  viz,^  Daniel  Spencer,  C. 
H.  Wheelock,  C.  G.  Webb,  Captain  Dan.  Jones,  F.  D.  Eichards,  James 
Linforth,  and  others.  The  wool  or  cotton  machinery  brought  by  George 
Halliday  was  in  this  train,  and  also  the  harp  belonging  to  the  poor  old 
blind  man  Giles,  which,  as  he  was  unable  to  pay  freight  upon  it,  he  had 
'  donated '  to  Brigham  Young.  He  was  afterwards  accorded  the  privilege 
of  going  to  Brigham  Young's  mansion  and  playing  upon  his  own  instru- 
ment sometimes,  of  which  privilege  he  gladly  availed  himself.  It  is  said 
that  the  poor,  afflicted  old  man  would  play  there  for  hours  at  a  time,  while 
the  hot  tears  streamed  down  his  face  as  thoughts  that  would  not  be  con- 
trolled rose  unbidden  in  his  mind.  He  afterwards  got  possession  of  his 
much  loved  instrument :  he  may  have  bought  it  or  Brigham  Young  may 
have  given  it  to  him,  as  no  one  of  his  household  could  play  on  it  then. 


Crossing  the  Platte  Eiver. 


In  this  last  train  there  were  also  several  young  girls ;  some  of  whom 
had  a  wagon  fitted  up  for  their  comfort,  and  others  had  still  better  ac- 
commodation in  the  way  of  ambulance  or  carriage.  The  wagons  belonging 
to  Mr.  Tenant — whose  property  soon  melted  away  in  Zion — were  also  in 
this  train.    Mr.  Tenant  died  on  the  plains  at  0 'Fallon's  Bluffs.    Mr.  Hunt 


836 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


had  instructions  on  no  account  to  pass  Tyler's  hand-cart  train — a  pretty 
conclusive  proof  that  what  the  elders  had  told  the  Saints  with  so  much 
earnestness  about  the  Heavens  protecting  them  against  the  storms  was  an 
assurance  they  did  not  themselves  believe.  . 

The  wagons  overtook  the  hand-carts  at  the  Platte  crossing,  west,  I 
think,  of  Laramie,  and  the  poor  hand-cart  folks  were  thoroughly  worn 
out  and  weak  alike  in  body  and  mind.  Under  all  circumstances  they 
were  regularly  called  up  to  prayers,  and  it  was  remarked  that  the  shorter 
the  rations  the  longer  were  the  prayers.  At  this  time  great  numbers  of 
the  emigrants  died.  I  do  not  know  how  many,  and  will  not  attempt  to 
conjecture,  for  a  general  account  is  sufficiently  painful  without  particular- 
izing. The  wagon  and  hand-cart  train  camped  together  at  the  crossing 
of  the  river — and  such  a  crossing  !  The  men  from  the  ox-train  made  each 
several  trips  across  the  Platte,  sometimes  pulling  a  hand-cart,  and  some- 
times carrying  on  their  backs  a  sick  or  weak  man,  woman,  or  child.  Then, 
after  all  were  over,  there  followed  more  long  prayers  and  lengthened  ex- 
hortations, to  which  the  poor  emigrants  listened  in  their  wet  clothes 
and  shivering  with  the  cold.  These  prayers  were  succeeded  by  the  distri- 
bution of  their  scanty  rations.  • 

"  Next  morning  one  of  the  men  was  found  close  to  camp,  dead  and 
partly  eaten  by  the  wolves.  He  had  gone  out  and  was  perhaps  too  tired 
or  too  careless  of  life,  or  possibly  was  unable  to  return.  It  was  at  this 
place  that  Tyler,  when  asked  to  lend  his  riding  mule  for  the  purpose  of 
helping  to  take  the  sick  and  the  aged  men  and  women  across,  refused,  as- 
signing as  a  reason  that  he  did  not  want  his  mules  worn  out.  The  mor- 
tality at  this  camp  was  greater  than  usual. 

"  The  first  snow  which  overtook  the  emigrants  was  on  the  east  side  of 
the  river  at  the  last  Platte  crossing,  about  sixty  or  seventy  miles  below 
Devil's  Gate,  near  Red  Buttes.  Several  trappers  and  traders  lived  there, 
among  whom  were  Reichau,  Seminole,  Baptiste,  Pappau,  and  others.  The 
river  was  forded  and  camp  made  some  two  or  three  miles  up  on  the  other 
side.  Here  there  was  a  very  heavy  snow-storm,  and  the  train  was  unable 
to  move  at  all.  It  wafe  at  this  camp  that  Joseph  A.  Young  and  Steve 
Taylor  met  the  disheartened  emigrants  and  infused  into  them  new  energy. 
The  grass  was  covered  with  snow,  and  cottonwood  trees  were  cut  down  so 
that  the  cattle  might  feed  upon  the  bark  and  small  branches. 

"  The  toilsome  march  was  again  renewed  under  increased  difficulties, 
and  when  we  had  advanced  as  far  as  Sage  creek  we  met  some  more  of  the 
returned  missionaries  sent  out  by  Brigham  Young  at  the  October  confer- 
ence to  help  the  people  through  the  difficulties  caused  by  the  foolish  and 
fatal  delay  at  the  starting-point.  C.  H.  Wheelock  and  John  Van  Cott 
were  among  this  relief  party.  Too  much  praise  cannot  be  given  to  those 
who  thus  came  out  from  Salt  Lake  to  help  us:  they  worked  like  he- 
roes, and  their  moral  influence  accomplished  perhaps  as  much  as  their 
bodily  efforts,  for  they  were  full  of  stamina,  while  the  emigrants  were  ut- 
terly worn  out. 


GREAT  PRIVATION  AND  SUFFERING. 


ool 


*'  The  toilsome  march  was  immediately  resumed,  and  to  give  you  an 
idea  of  how  low  the  oxen  were,  I  may  mention  the  fact  that  the  pulling  of 
the  wagons  up  Prospect  Hill  killed  several  of  them — perhaps  fifteen. 

"  On  arrival  at  Devil's  Gate  on  the  Sweetwater,  where  we  found  five  or 
six  log-houses  in  a  dilapidated  condition,  it  was  concluded  that  the  hand- 
carts should  go  no  farther.  A  temporary  halt  was  therefore  made,  and  a 
remodelling  of  both  trains  was  made.  The  wagons  were  unloaded  and 
the  contents  stored  in  two  of  the  log-houses ;  the  hand-carts  were  un- 
loaded and  the  people  were  put  into  the  wagons,  as  many  being  placed  in 
each  wagon  as  the  teams  could  move,  and  the  remainder  were  left.  As- 
sistance was  constantly  arriving  from  Salt  Lake,  and  those  fresh  teams 
helped  wonderfully. 

The  weather  now  set  in  so  cold  that  in  two  days  the  Sweetwater 
river  was  frozen  thick  enough  to  bear  the  wagons  and  teams,  and  they 
crossed  on  the  ice.  Several  more  people  died  and  were  buried  at  Devil's 
Gate.  Twenty  men  were  detailed  to  remain  there  all  winter  to  take  care 
of  the  property  left,  and  also  a  lot  of  young  stock  that  was  too  poor  to 
drive  through  at  that  time.  D.  W.  Jones,  Ben.  Hampton,  and  F.  M.  Alex- 
ander— three  men  from  Salt  Lake — were  appointed  to  this  charge ;  the 
other  seventeen  were  emigrants.  A  small  quantity  of  flour  was  left  with 
them-  some  five  or  six  sacks,  I  should  think — and  the  rest  of  the  people 
moved  on. 

"  The  track  of  the  emigrants  was  marked  by  graves,  and  many  of  the 
living  suflered  almost  worse  than  death.  One  sick  man  there,  who  was 
holding  by  the  wagon-bars  to  save  himself  from  the  jolting,  had  all  his 
fingers  frozen  ofi*.  Men  may  be  seen  to-day  in  Salt  Lake  City,  who  were 
boys  then,  hobbling  round  on  their  club-feet,  all  their  toes  having  been 
frozen  off  in  that  fearful  march. 

"  It  is  a  noticeable  fact  that,  as  a  rule,  the  men  failed  first :  the  poor 
fellows  toiled  on  until  they  could  do  so  no  longer.  They  have  been  ac- 
cused of  a  lack  of  consideration,  and  of  being  devoid  of  all  manhood,  to 
let  women  and  girls  slave  as  they  did.  It  is  true  that  a  fearful  amount 
of  selfishness,  not  to  say  brutality,  was  brought  to  the  surface  ;  but  per- 
haps the  above  few  words  of  explanation  may  serve  to  temper  the  opinion 
which  might  otherwise  have  been  formed  respecting  the  conduct  of  some 
of  them.  It  may  possibly  be  said  that  the  men  should  have  worked  until 
they  died  on  tlieir  tracks,  rather  than  see  wives  and  mothers  engage  in 
that  terrible  toil.  Some  certainly  did  so,  and  for  those  who  did  not,  it 
may  be  urged  that  humanity  is  frail  at  best,  and  that  hunger  and  hard 
work,  endured  hundreds  of  miles  from  any  hope  of  relief  in  the  full  bit- 
terness of  a  most  inclement  season,  not  only  destroy  all  romance  but  deaden 
the  natural  feelings  of  the  most  manly  and  affectionate. 

"  What  remained  of  the  last  hand-cart  and  ox-train  companies  for  that; 
season  were  got  into  Salt  Lake  by  the  exercise  of  almost  superhuman  ex- 
ertions, and  numbers  died  after  their  arrival. 

"  The  twenty  left  at  the  Devil's  Gate  were  at  once  put  on  rations  of 
21 

i 


338 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


flour,  but  of  meat  they  had  enough,  such  as  it  was.  The  weather  was  in- 
tensely cold  ;  the  snow  fell  deep,  and  the  wolves  soon  began  to  make  sad 
havoc  among  the  poor  stock,  and  what  the  wolves  spared  the  season 
threatened  to  kill.  The  remainder  was  therefore  driven  up,  killed,  and 
the  meat  frozen.  A  United  States  mail  came  up  from  the  East,  but  could 
take  their  mud  wagons  no  further,  so  the  men  left  them  and  started  again 
with  packed  mules,  but  they  could  not  travel,  and  returned  to  the  Platte 
Bridge.  This  I  mention  to  show  that  no  provisions  could  reach  the 
Devil's  Gate. 

"  The  flour  was  soon  consumed,  and  meat  without  salt  was  the  only 
article  of  food,  and  even  that  began  to  run  short.  About  this  time  Jones 
and  another  man  took  the  only  two  horses  that  were  left — all  the  rest  had 
died — and  started  for  Platte  Bridge  to  try  and  obtain  some  supplies.  The 
first  night  out  the  wolves  killed  one  horse,  and  the  other  was  not  seen 
until  spring ;  so  they  returned  empty-handed  and  on  foot.  There  was  very 
little  game,  and  only  a  bulfalo,  a  deer,  and  a  few  rabbits  were  shot.  Fi- 
nally the  meat  was  consumed ;  then  the  hides  were  eaten,  as  also  all  the 
hide  wrapped  round  the  wheels  of  the  hand-carts,  and  every  scrap  about 
the  wagons  and  the  neck-piece  of  the  bufialo-skin,  which  had  already 
done  service  as  a  doormat  for  two  months.  In  the  spring  they  subsisted 
on  thistle  roots,  segoes,  and  a  species  of  wild  garlic,  until  flour  came  down 
from  Salt  Lake.  But,  to  cut  a  long  story  short,  the  twenty  men  eventually 
got  safely  through ;  terribly  emaciated  it  is  true,  but  still  safely. 

"  Such  was  the  ending  of  the  *  divine  plan '  for  emigrating  the  poor 
in  the  year  1856." 

The  story  of  tlie  hand-cart  expedition  has  now  been  par- 
tially told,  and  that  for  the  first  time,  to  the  public,  for  no  pen 
can  ever  fully  trace  nor  pencil  j)ictnre  the  sufferings  of  that 
poor,  devoted  people.  It  would  melt  the  hardest  heart  to  lis- 
ten to  the  personal  recitals  of  that  horrible  journey  w^hich  in 
moments  of  confidence  the  sufiferers  relate  to  their  friends. 
One  of  the  elders,  whose  pen  was  the  most  potent  in  England 
in  urging  the  poor  to  emigrate  by  hand-carts,  and  who  in  the 
honest  sincerity  of  his  faith  confided  implicitly  in  the  inspira- 
tion of  apostles  and  prophets,  was  destined  to  witness  and 
share  in  the  deepest  of  that  suffering.  Of  the  intensity  of  the 
cold  which  the  last  company  endured,  his  story  is  almost  in- 
credible. Men  and  women  sitting  on  a  wagon-tongue,  on  the 
ground,  or  leaning  against  their  fragile  carts  while  eating  their 
scanty  fare  would  in  an  instant  die  without  an  evidence  of 
coming  change.  With  a  morsel  of  bread  or  biscuit  in  their 
hands,  nearing  it  to  their  mouths,  could  be  seen  men,  hale- 


4 


APOSTLES  DISAGREE. 


339 


looking  and  apparently  strong,  stiff  in  death.  Such  scenes  can 
hardly  be  imagined  by  those  who  did  not  witness  tliem,  but  to 
the  hundreds  of  men  and  women  who  had  fled  from  "merry 
"  England  "  to  escape  the  destruction  which  they  were  taught 
was  coming  upon  the  Gentile  nations,  what  a  commentary 
was  there  upon  the  predictions  of  men  w^ho  claimed  to  be  the 
inspired  servants  of  the  most  high  God,  in  that  bitter  struggle 
for  life. 

But  the  reader  will  justly  inquire — ^What  was  the  sequel  to 
the  hand-cart  story,  and  how  was  it  understood  in  Utah  ? 

When  the  news  reached  Brigham  Young,  as  already  stated, 
he  did  all  that  man  could  do  to  save  the  remnant  and  relieve 
the  sufferers.  Never  in  his  whole  career  did  he  shine  so  glori- 
ously in  the  eyes  of  the  people.  There  w^as  nothing  spared 
that  he  could  contribute  or  command.  In  the  Tabernacle  he 
was  "  the  Lion  of  the  Lord,"  and  his  fierce  anger  was  kin- 
"  died  "  against  those  whom  he  supposed  were  the  cause  of 
the  calamity. 

The  apostle  Eichards  was  at  once  chosen  as  the  victim  of 
his  wrath,  and  upon  him  and  his  counsellor,  elder  Daniel  Spen- 
cer, he  spent  the  fury  of  his  soul.  When  Brigham  is  aroused 
he  thinks  of  nothing  but  the  annihilation  of  his  enemy.  A 
more  humble,  devoted  worshipper  of  Brigham  never  breathed 
than  the  apostle  Eichards  had  been  ;  at  Brigham's  word  he 
would  have  licked  the  dust  of  his  feet,  and  to  carry  out  the 
purposes  of  his  prophet  he  would  have  travelled  to  the  ends 
of  the  earth,  or  would  have  joyfully  given  his  life  to  shield 
him  from  harm.  By  nature  F.  D.  Eichards  is  a  kind,  good 
man,  with  more  love  and  devotion  than  are  good  for  him,  and 
it  was  in  his  pride  to  make  Brigham  great  in  carrying  out  the 
"  divine  plan  "  that  he  had  aroused  the  poor  Mormons  in 
Europe  to  emigrate  in  greater  numbers  than  he  had  at  last  the 
capacity  to  control  and  direct.  He  counted  upon  the  aid  of 
a  brother  apostle — John  Taylor — then  at  New  York,  which  he 
appears  not  to  have  received  in  the  way  that  he  expected,  and, 
that  tailing  him,  the  doom  of  the  hand-cart  scheme  became 
a  certainty. 

Blinded,  it  is  charged,  by  pride  and  selfishness,  neither  of 


340 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


these  apostles  foresaw  the  distant  results  of  this  misunderstand' 
ing,  or  neither  of  them  would  have  risked  the  consequences  ; 
but  there  was  a  valuable  lesson  in  store  for  both,  and  still  more 
important  instruction  for  the  Mormons. 

The  agefncy  of  the  Mormon  emigration  at  that  time  was  a 
very  profitable  appointment.  With  this  department  attached 
to  the  Liverpool  publishing  office,  the  presidency  of  the  Brit- 
ish mission  was  always  coveted  by  the  apostles.  It  afforded 
many  "  opportunities  "  ^  of  replenishing  the  family  purse. 

By  arrangement  with  ship-brokers  at  Liverpool,  a  commis- 
sion of  half  a  guinea  per  head  was  allowed  the  agent  for  every 
adult  emigrant  that  he  sent  across  the  Atlantic,  and  the  rail- 
road companies  in  New  York  allowed  a  percentage  on  every 
emigrant  ticket,  and  some  abatement  was  also  made  on  the 
freight  of  extra  baggage  in  favour  of  the  agent.  But  a  still 
larger  revenue^was  derived  from  the  outfitting  on  the  frontiers. 
The  agents  purchased  all  the  cattle,  wagons,  tents,  wagon-cov- 
'ers,  flour,  cooking  utensils,  stoves,  and  the  staple  articles  for  a 
three  months'  journey  across  the  plains,  and  from  them  the 
Saints  supplied  themselves.  Many  a  good  editorial  was  writ- 
ten and  sermon  preached  upon  the  blessings  of  unity  and  ac- 
cumulative purchases,  and  "  no  one  could  be  regarded  as  in 
good  standing  in  the  Church "  who  would  sail  by  other 
ships,  or  travel  by  other  direction  than  that  prescribed  by  the 
Church. 

At  the  date  of  the  hand-cart  expedition,  the  apostle  Eich- 
ards  was  president  of  the  Church  throughout  all  Europe.  He 
was  also  a  director  of  the  Perpetual  Emigration  Fund  Organi- 
zation, and  to  him  was  entrusted  the  financial  management  of 
the  entire  European  emigration  of  that  year  from  Liverpool  to 
Salt  Lake.  The  apostle  Taylor  was  at  that  time  presiding  over 
the  Mormons  in  the  Eastern  and  New  England  States,  with 
New  York  for  his  head-quarters.  By  ordination,  the  apostle  at 
New  York  took  precedence  of  the  apostle  at  Liverpool,  and  it 
is  presumed  entertained  the  idea  that  the  arrangements  for  the 

*  One  of  the  sons  of  an  apostle  facetiously  replying  to  an  enquiry  respecting  hia 
father's  ability  to  provide  for  so  many  wives  and  children,  when  he  was  without 
salary  or  compensation  for  services  rendered  to  the  Church,  answered :     He  has  a 
good  many  opportunilies.^'* 


• 


AN  APOSTLE     UNDER  A  CLOUD."  341 

passage  of  the  emigrants  through  the  States  on  to  the  frontiers 
should  be  under  his  direction.  The  apostle  at  Liverpool  could 
not  see  things  in  that  light — he  only  wanted  the  influence  and 
assistance  of  the  apostle  at  New  York,  but  nothing  more,  and 
thus  each  misunderstood  the  other's  position.  Even  inspired 
apostles  may  fail  in  attaining  unity  of  purpose  when  the  sub- 
ject under  consideration  is  the  "  almighty  dollar." 

The  early  months  of  1856  passed  away  while  the  two  apos- 
tles stood  upon  their  dignity  and  arrived  at  no  understanding, 
though  each  doubtless  thought  that  he  was  right.  New  York 
waited  for  some  request  from  Liverpool,  and  Liverpool  waited 
with  great  anxiety  for  items  of  information  from  New  York; 
"  brother  Franklin  "  was  nearly  crazy  because  he  could  not 
hear  from  "  brother  John,"  and  brother  John  "  was  perfectly 
innocent  of  thinking  that  "brother  Franklin  "  wanted  to  hear 
from  him  at  all. 

After  so  many  promises  being  made  "  in  the  name  of  the 
"Lord"  for  the  success  of  the  "divine  plan,"  it  seems  strange 
that  it  did  not  occur  to  Franklin  to  get  "  the  Lord  "  to  touch 
the  intellect  of  John  and  bring  them  to  an  understanding. 
How  contemptible  appear  ail  the  promises  that  "  the  Lord  " 
would  still  the  winds  and  the  waves,  w^ould  change  the  seasons 
and  cause  the  snow  to  fall  on  the  right  hand  and  on  the  left 
for  the  safety  of  the  emigrants  going  to  Zion,  w^hile  the  same 
"Lord,"  whose  words  had  been  pledged  thousands  of  times  to 
the  poor  Saints,  was  powerless  to  touch  either  of  his  own  apos- 
tles and  bring  them  to  comprehend  that  the  precious  lives  of 
thousands  of  persons  were  placed  in  jeopardy  by  their  selfish- 
ness or  pride ! 

The  apostle  Taylor  got  back  first  to  Zion  and  explained  his 
action  in  the  matter,  which  then  appeared  satisfactory.  On 
the  arrival  of  the  apostle  Richards,  Brigham  attacked  him  in 
the  Tabernacle,  held  him  up  to  ridicule  and  contempt,  and 
cursed  him  in  the  name  of  Israel's  God.  Elder  Daniel  Spencer, 
who  had  been  the  counsellor  of  Richards,  came  in  for  his  share 
of  the  contempt  and  anathemas.  For  years  after,  the  apostle 
could  scarcely  lift  up  his  head ;  he  absented  himself  from  the 
public  meetings  and  was  rarely  seen  in  times  of  rejoicing.  His 
"heart  was  crushed.    He  could  not  defend  himself,  for  w^hen 


g42  THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 

once  Brigham  has  spoken  no  man  who  values  his  favour  dares 
to  contradict  him.  For  ten  years  Eichards  and  Spencer  were 
under  a  cloud,  and  silently  bore  their  heavy  grief.  At  length 
it  told  upon  the  riper  years  of  elder  Spencer,  and  he  went  to 
his  grave  a  broken-hearted  man,  the  object  of  much  sympathy 
in  the  community.  Elder  Edward  W.  Tullidge,  then  one  of 
the  editors  of  the  TJtaJi  Magazine^  resolved  in  that  periodical 
to  tell  the  facts  of  the  hand-cart  story,  and  exonerate  the  apos- 
tle Eichards  and  elder  Spencer.  Mr.  Tullidge  was  in  the  Liv- 
erpool office  editing  the  Millennial  Star^  under  Eichards,  at 
the  time  of  outfitting  the  emigrants,  and  knew  that  it  was  hu- 
manly impossible  for  the  apostle  Eichards  to  have  done  more 
than  he  did,  and  that  the  whole  calamity  which  befell  tlie  emi- 
grants was  due  to  the  misunderstanding  between  the  Liverpool 
and  New  York  offices,  as  here  narrated. 

Brigham,  by  the  merest  accident,  heard  of  the  intended 
revelation  in  the  Magazine.  He  sent  for  Mr.  Godbe,  the  prin- 
cipal owner  of  that  periodical,  and,  though  one  side  of  the 
whole  edition  had  been  worked  off,  the  order  was  given  to  de- 
stroy it,  and  it  was  destroyed :  not  a  copy  saw  daylight.  It 
would  not  then  do  to  show  that  Brigham  had  ruined  an  inno- 
cent man ;  besides,  it  would  have  been  dangerous  to  have  at- 
tacked the  other. 

To  the  apostle  Eichards,  favours  have  since  been  shown,  and 
he  is  working  up  again  to  his  former  prominence  among  the 
apostles ;  but  Brigham  retracts  nothing,  and  the  anathemas  are 
left  in  the  minds  of  the  people.  What  a  commentary  upon 
Brigham's  claim  to  the  possession  of  "  a  priesthood  that  is  in- 
" fallible  I" 


CHAPTER  XXXVIII. 


THE  MORMON  WAK.— How  it  was  inaugurated— Isolation  of  Utah— Carrying  the 
Mails — Mormon  Enterprise — Senator  Douglas  and  the  Saints — Anniversary  Fes- 
tivities at  Big  Cottonwood  Lake — New  Official  Appointments  for  Utah— Warlike 
Preparations  of  the  Saints — Believers  concentrated  at  Zion — Ludicrous  Fears  of 
Bome  Elders — Major  Van  Vleit  sent  by  the  United  States  Government — Brigham 
receives  him — Major  Van  Vleit's  Story — Brigham's  Proclamation — Defiance  from 
the  Tabernacle— Brigham's  Wrath— Heber's  Enthusiasm— Expedition  of  the  United 
States  Army — Dogberryism  of  Brigham — D.  H.  Wells  instructs  the  Brethren  to 
harass  the  Army — The  Mormons  burn  the  United  States  Trains — Great  Suffering 
of  the  Troops— Mules  and  Cattle  freeze  on  the  Eoad — Thirty-five  miles  in  fif- 
teen Days  I 

While  the  Mormons  were  locked  out  by  deep  snows  on  the 
mountains  from  nearly  all  intercourse  with  the  Eastern  States, 
and  were  almost  as  destitute  of  news  from  the  Pacific,  they  had 
little  idea  of  the  stir  which  Utah  had  created  everywhere 
throughout  the  Union. 

Perfectl}^  unconscious  of  having  disturbed  the  tranquillity 
of  any  one,  and  never  suspecting  that  the  great  sermons  of  the 
Tabernacle  would  be  taken  for  more  than  buncombe,  the  Mor- 
mon leader  began  in  early  spring  to  carry  out  his  projects  at 
home  and  his  missions  abroad. 

One  of  the  citizens  of  Utah  had  obtained  the  contract  from 
the  Post-Offlce  Department  for  the  transportation  of  the  United 
States  mails  across  the  plains  between  Leavenworth,  Kansas, 
and  Salt  Lake  City.  In  this  Brigham  saw  the  foundation  for  a 
grand  carrying  company,  and  bent  all  his  energies  to  organize 
a  "  B.  Y.  Express."  He  gathered  around  him  the  most  in- 
trepid men  of  the  mountains,  pressed  the  brethren  who  had 
"  stock"  to  join  in  the  enterprise,  and  succeeded  in  controlling 
all  that  was  necessary  to  make  the  company  successful. 


346 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


The  winter  snows  of  1856-7  had  tarried  long  on  the  moun- 
tains and  the  plains,  and  this  rendered  the  stocking  of  the 
road  and  the  building  of  stations  over  the  long  distance  of  1,200 
miles  a  very  severe  task.  But  there  was  every  incentive  to 
more  than  ordinary  diligence.  The  Government  had  never 
exhibited  much  favour  to  any  Mormon  citizen,  and  delay  in 
commencing  the  new  mail  contract  might  be  seized  as  a  pre- 
text for  repudiating  the  new  contractor.  With  this  fully  im- 
pressed upon  their  minds,  the  most  daring  and  hardy  of  the 
mountaineers  were  called  to  assist,  and  in  an  incredibly  short 
space  of  time,  and  in  the  midst  of  very  severe  weather,  sta- 
tions were  built  and  relays  of  horses  and  mules  were  strung  all 
the  way  along  the  travelled  route  from  the  mountains  to  the 
river.  There  was  a  fair  prospect  then  that  the  "  B.  Y.  Ex- 
press  Carrying  Company  "  would  have  grown  into  a  gigantic 
enterprise,  conveying  all  the  merchandise  and  mails  from  the 
East,  and  have  placed  Utah,  by  means  of  express  messengers, 
in  daily  intercourse  with  the  rest  of  the  world,  a  decade  be- 
fore that  desired  end  was  accomplished  by  the  railroad.  This 
was  to  all  appearance  the  most  sensible  enterprise  that  Brig- 
ham  ever  attempted  ;  but,  alas ! 

"  The  best  laid  schemes  o'  mice  an'  men 
"  Gang  aft  a-gley." 

The  correspondence  from  Utah,  tlie  serious  charges  of  the 
judges,  the  wire-pulling  of  contractors,  and  the  deep-laid 
schemes  of  politicians,*^  were  too  much  for  any  government  to 
resist ;  but  the  unkindest  cut  of  all  was  the  desertion  of  the 
Mormon  interest  by  their  long-tried  friend.  Senator  Stephen 
A.  Douglas. 

As  circuit  judge  in  Illinois,  that  honourable  gentleman 
had  befriended  the  founder  of  Mormonism,  when  he  was  the 
victim  of  an  erring  interpretation  of  the  law,  or  the  subject  of 

*  It  is  difficult  to  resist  the  conclusion  that  the  opportunity  afforded  by  the  U. 
S.  military  expedition  to  Utah  in  1857  was  not  eagerly  seized  by  Mr.  Floyd  as  fa- 
vourable to  the  long-cherished  scheme  for  the  rebellion  of  1861.  At  all  events,  as 
will  be  seen  in  the  succeeding  chapter,  placing  the  flower  of  the  American  array  " 
so  far  away  from  rail  and  water,  with  such  a  huge  mass  of  munitions  of  war — 
which  were  wholly  lost  to  the  nation — was  not  inharmonious  with  the  general  plan 
of  Mr.  Buchanans  Secretary  of  War  preparatory  to  the  declaration  of  secession. 


BRIGHAM  BREAKS  WITH  SENATOR  DOUGLAS. 


347 


unwarrantable  interference.  The  Mormons  looked  upon  the 
judge  very  kindly,  and  in  after-years,  when  he  became  senator, 
every  delegation  from  Utah  to  Congress  was  certain  to  consult 
and  listen  to  his  suggestions  and  counsels. 

His  "  squatter-sovereignty  "  was  their  political  creed,  and 
while  they  sought  his  influence  at  the  seat  of  government,  he 
found  in  them  the  living  exponents  of  the  sovereignty  doctrine 
to  which  he  devoted  his  life.  But  the  time  had  come  when 
this  harmony  was  to  be  disturbed. 

In  the  spring  of  1856  Senator  Douglas  delivered  a  great 
speech  at  Springfield,  Illinois.  It  was  the  announcement  of 
his  platform  before  the  assembling  of  the  conventions  that  were 
to  nominate  the  successor  of  President  Pierce.  In  that  speech 
the  senator  characterized  Mormonism  as  "  the  loathsome  ulcer 
"  of  the  body  politic  "  and  recommended  the  free  use  of  the 
scalpel  as  the  only  remedy  in  the  hands  of  the  nation.  The 
Author  well  remembers  that  speech  and  its  effect  upon  the  Mor- 
mons. He  was  then  engaged  as  assistant  editor  of  I'he  Jfor- 
mon^  a  weekly  paper  published  in  New  York  city.  His  first  im- 
pulse was  to  notice  the  speech,  but  a  careful  examination  of  it 
rendered  the  expediency  of  such  a  course  very  doubtful.  There 
were  so  many  ifs  "  and  so  often  "  should  it  be,"  that  it  was 
at  last  concluded  to  leave  it  alone,  for  the  senator  might  after 
all  have  only  said  what  he  did  from  the  necessity  of  sailing 
with  the  popular  tide  against  the  Mormons,  while  at  the  same 
time  he  might  in  the  Senate  demand  evidence  of  the  crimi- 
nality of  the  Mormons  before  any  action  was  taken  against 
them.  Brigham  alone  could  determine  what  course,  if  any, 
should  be  adopted  in  respect  to  the  Springfield  speech. 

Before  long  the  Deseret  News^  Brigham's  official  organ, 
presented  to  the  world  a  reply  to  Senator  Douglas.  The  priest- 
hood's phials  of  wrath  were  poured  out  without  stint  or  mercy 
upon  the  head  of  their  quondam  friend  and  defender.  All  the 
good  that  he  had  ever  done  was  in  a  moment  forgotten,  and 
all  their  obligations  were  in  an  instant  cancelled  for  ever.  An 
irreconcilable  breach  was  made,  and  the  spirit  of  prophecy  was 
rampant.  The  predictions  of  Joseph  that  had  been  embalmed 
in  the  catacombs  of  history  were  dragged  forth  from  their  long 
and  silent  slumbers,  and  the  Illinois  statesman  was  reminded 


348 


THE  KOCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


of  the  time  when  he  was  "  but  a  county  judge  "  and  when 
the  Prophet  Joseph  patronizingly  told  him  tliat  he  would  yet 
be  an  aspirant  for  the  chair  of  Washington,  that,  if  he  continued 
the  friend  of  the  Mormons,  he  should  live  to  be  President  of 
the  United  States,  but  if  he  ever  lifted  his  finger  or  his  voice 
against  them  his  plans  should  be  frustrated  and  his  ambitious 
hopes  utterly  disappointed.  All  this  Brigham  circumstantially 
related  to  the  senator  in  reply  to  his  Sprino;field  speech,  and 
closed  with  the  anathemas  of  the  priesthood  and  the  prediction 
that  the  senator  should  fail  in  his  attempt  and  never  attain  to 
the  goal  of  his  ambition.  The  Democratic  Convention  met 
in  Cincinnati  soon  after,  and  Senator  Douglas  was  a  candidate 
for  the  Presidency  of  the  United  States.  The  Hon.  James 
Buchanan  was  nominated,  the  Illinois  senator  was  defeated, 
Brigham  was  a  prophet,  and  the  faithful  rejoiced. 

During  that  campaign,  in  the  fall  of  1856,  Eepublicans 
carried  the  banner  hostile  to  polygamy,  and  Democrats  made 
speeches  against  the  same  institution :  the  Mormons  had  no 
friends  anywhere. 

On  the  4tli  of  March,  1857,  Mr.  Buchanan  was  inaugurated 
chief  magistrate  of  the  republic,  with  a  cabinet  that  soon 
proved  itself  hostile  to  Utah  and  ready  to  obey  the  behests  of 
the  nation  in  bringing  Brigham  Young  and  the  Mormons 
"into  subjection  to  the  laws." 

The  Mormons  had  hardly  got  to  the  Missouri  river  with 
the  first  mail  from  the  mountains  before  the  noisy  prepara- 
tions of  war  were  heard.  The  new  mail  contractor  received 
at  Leavenworth  but  one  monthly  mail  to  carry  across  the 

*  Senator  Douglas  was  again  a  candidate  for  the  Presidency  in  1860,  and  received 
the  nomination  of  the  convention.  His  chances  of  success  were  not  unfavourable, 
and  the  Utah  Mormons  had  some  anxiety  about  the  prediction.  Fortunately  the 
split  in  the  DamDcratic  party  and  the  can:lidature  of  Senator  John  C.  Breckinridge 
helped  "the  Lord"  and  his  people.  Mr.  Lincoln  received  of  the  popular  vote 
1,857,610;  Mr.  Douglas  was  next  in  order,  and  received  1,365,973.  There  was  even 
then  another  chance  for  the  prophecy  to  be  defeated,  but  "  the  Lord  had  the  elec- 
toral college  fairly  in  his  hands,  and  Mr.  Douglas  only  received  twelve  votes,  while 
Mr.  Lincoln  received  180  !  That  was  a  Red  Sea  defeat ;  and,  to  add  to  the  dismay 
and  humiliation  of  the  enemies  of  "  the  kingdom,"  Mr.  Douglas  was  more  than 
three  times  distanced  by  Mr.  Bell,  and  Mr.  Breckinridge  was  six  times  ahead  of  the 
Illinois  senator.  Nothing  could  have  been  more  satisfactory  to  the  Saints.  **  The 
Lord,"  Joseph,  and  Brigham  had  triumphed. 


FESTIVITIES  AT  BIG  COTTONWOOD. 


349 


plains,  and,  when  he  presented  himself  for  the  second,  it  was 
denied  him.  The  Government  had  concluded  on  a  change ; 
an  act  of  bad  faith  which  "  military  necessity  "  alone  might 
perhaps  justify;  but  the  ground  upon  which  the  contract  was 
said  to  be  annulled  was  discreditable  to  the  Government  and 
tended  to  impress  the  Mormons  more  and  more  with  dislike  to 
the  representatives  of  the  nation. 

Brigham's  representative  in  the  East,  A.  O.  Smoot,  then 
mayor  of  Salt  Lake  City,  a  discreet  and  honourable  man,  has- 
tened back  to  the  mountains  bearing  with  him  evidence  of 
the  appointment  of  a  new  governor  and  new  Federal  officers 
for  Utah,  who  were  to  be  escorted  thither  by  "  the  flower  of 
^'the  American  army." 

Utah  had  passed  through  severe  trials  in  1856.  There  had 
been  Indian  troubles,  the  destruction  of  the  crops  by  crickets, 
the  Eeformation,  the  unfortunate  hand-cart  experiment,  and 
the  troubles  with  the  judges.  The  summer  of  1857  was  prom- 
ising a  rich  harvest,  the  judges  had  left  the  Territory,  there 
was  no  one  to  disturb  or  annoy,  and  nothing  could  be  more 
appropriate  than  a  grand  celebration  on  the  return  of  "  the 
"anniversary  of  their  ^deliverance" — the  24th  of  July,  the  day 
when  the  pioneers  entered  Salt  Lake  Yalley.  It  was  a  great 
anniversary  and  a  day  to  be  celebrated  with  great  rejoicing. 

To  avoid  the  enervating  effects  of  processional  display  in 
the  city,  Brigham  invited  those  who  had  the  means  of  trans- 
portation to  join  him  in  an  excursion  to  Big  Cottonwood  Lake, 
distant  about  twenty-four  miles  from  Salt  Lake  City,  and 
nearly  ten  thousand  feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea.  It  was  a 
kind  of  three  days'  jubilee.  One  day  was  given  to  getting  up 
a  steep,  narrow,  and  rugged  canon,  fixing  tents,  and  preparing 
for  enjoyment ;  the  second  was  a  day  of  festivity,  and  the  last 
was  devoted  to  a  quiet  return  home,  under  the  pleasant  influ- 
ences of  the  rejoicings  of  the  previous  day. 

On  the  24th  of  July,  1857,  there  were  probably  gathered 
at  the  lake  about  two  thousand  persons — men,  women,  and 
children — in  the  fullest  enjoyment  of  social  freedom.  Some 
were  fishing  in  the  lake,  others  strolling  among  the  trees, 
climbing  the  high  peaks,  pitching  quoits,  playing  cricket,  en- 
gaging in  gymnastic  exercises,  pic-nicking,  and  gliding  through 


350 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


the  boweries  that  were  prepared  for  the  mazy  dance.  It  was  a 
day  of  feasting,  joy,  and  amusement  for  the  silver-haired  vet- 
eran and  the  toddling  child.  The  welkin  rang  with  the  tri- 
umphant songs  of  Zion,  and  these,  accompanied  by  the  sweet 
melody  of  many-toned  instruments  of  music,  thrilled  every 
bosom  with  enthusiastic  joy.  Their  exuberance  was  the  pure 
outgushing  of  their  souls'  emotion,  and  owned  no  earthly  in- 
spiration, for  their  only  beverage  was  the  sparkling  nectar  of 
Eden,  while  their  sympathies  were  united  by  a  sacred  and  fra- 
ternal bond  of  affectionate  love,  which  for  the  time  rendered 
them  oblivious  of  the  artificial  distinctions  of  social  life.  The 
highest  and  the  lowest  rejoiced  together,  rank  and  authority 
were  set  aside ;  it  was  a  day  in  which  the  dreary  past  could  be 
favourably  contrasted  with  the  joyous  present,  and  hearts  were 
made  glad  in  the  simple  faith  that  the  God  of  their  fathers 
was  their  protector,  and  that  they  were  his  peculiar  people. 

When  Brigham,  ten  years  before,  had  addressed  the  pio- 
neers at  their  first  halting-place  in  the  Yalley,  he  spoke  to 
them  of  the  mobs  that  had  driven  them  from  their  homes  in 
Missouri  and  in  Illinois,  and  of  the  Government  that  deserved 
its  share  of  condemnation  for  affording  them  no  redress.  In 
winding  up  that  speech,  he  expressed  the  confidence  that  he 
felt  in  the  future,  and  the  assurance  that,  if  the  Saints  had 
ten  years  of  peace  from  that  time,  "  he  would  ask  no  odds  of 
^'  Uncle  Sam  or  the  devil !  " 

With  a  full  realization  of  the  weight  and  importance  of  the 
news  of  which  he  was  the  bearer,  elder  Smoot  lost  no  time  on 
the  plains,  and,  knowing  well  that  the  tenth  anniversary  would 
be  celebrated,  he  strained  every  nerve  to  be  present — not  to 
mar  the  happiness  of  the  occasion,  but  to  afford  his  chief  the 
best  opportunity  for  instructing  the  people  before  they  separa- 
ted to  all  parts  of  the  Territory. 

The  weary  journey  from  the  States  was  at  length  accom- 
plished, and,  before  the  sun  had  crimsoned  the  snowy  peaks 
that  surrounded  the  Worshipping,  rejoicing  Saints,  Brigham 
was  in  possession  of  the  news,  and  the  people  were  listening 
with  breathless  attention  to  the  most  stiring,  important  ad- 
dress that  ever  their  leader  had  uttered,  for  upon  his  decision 
depended  peace  or  war. 


BRIGHAM'S  DECLARATION  OF  INDEPENDENCE. 


351 


Brigham  was  undaunted.  With  the  inspiration  of  sucli 
surroundings — the  grandeur  of  the  Wahsatch  range  of  the 
Rocky  Mountains  everywhere  encircling  him,  tlie  stately  trees 
whose  foliage  of  a  century's  growth  towered  proudly  to  the 
heavens,  the  multitude  of  people  before  him  who  had  listened 
to  his  counsels  as  if  hearkening  to  the  voice  of  the  Most  High 


Brigham's  Declaratibii  of  Independence. 


— men  and  women  who  had  followed  him  from  the  abodes  of 
civilization  to  seek  shelter  in  the  wilderness  from  mobs,  prat- 
tling innocents  and  youths  who  knew  nothing  of  the  world 
but  Utah,  and  who  looked  to  him  as  a  father  for  protection — 
what  could  he  not  say  ? 

"  God  was  with  them,  and  the  devil  had  taken  him  at  his 
"  word.  He  had  said  ten  years  before,  and  lie  could  but  repeat 
"it,  he  would  ask  no  odds  of  Uncle  Sam  or  the  devil."  He 
preached  to  them ;  and  he  prophesied  that  in  twelve  years  from 
that  time  he  himself  should  be  President  of  the  United  States, 
or  would  dictate  who  should  be.^ 

*  It  is  extremely  difficult  to  persuade  men  who  claim  to  be  j]joverncd  by  "  a 
priesthood  that  is  infallible  "  that  their  utterances  have  any  other  origin  than  the 
natural  inspiration  of  antagonistic  convictions.    Parley  P.  Pratt's  prediction  about 
La  Roy  Sunderland,  already  alluded  to  (page  5),  is  an  example  in  point.  He  says  : 

'*And  furthermore,  as  Mr.  La  Roy  Sunderland  has  lied  concerning  the  truth  of 
heaven — the  fulness  of  the  Gospel,  and  has  blasphemed  against  the  Word  of  God, 
except  ho  speedily  repent  and  acknowledge  his  lying  and  wickedness  and  obey  the 


352 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


"With  such  glory  before  their  wondering  eyes,  the  simple- 
hearted  people  sang  again  their  songs  of  joy,  and  he  blessed 
them  over  and  over  again.  They  renewed  their  dancing  in  the 
boweries,  and  when  the  day  was  fully  spent  they  returned 
happily  to  their  tents,  more  than  ever  satisfied  that  the  angels 
had  charge  concerning  them.    Sublime  spectacle  of  faith  ! 

Before  the  news  reached  elder  Smoot's  ears  that  the  newly 
installed  administration  had  resolved  upon  a  thorough  change 
in  Utah,  President  Buchanan  and  his  Secretary  of  War,  John 
B.  Floyd,  had  already  made  an  entirely  new  list  of  Federal  ap- 
pointments, and  issued  orders  for  the  march  of  the  army.  Al- 
fred Camming,  of  Georgia,  was  the  new  Governor;  D.  E. 
Eckles,  Chief-Justice ;  John  Cradlebaugh  and  Charles  E.  Sin- 
clair, Associate  Justices ;  John  Ilartnett,  Secretary;  and  Peter  - 
K.  Dotson,  Marshal. 

It  is  an  understood  thing  among  the  Saints  that  nothing  of 
this  kind  should  take  place  without  the  Lord  "  previously 
notifying  the  Prophet  of  what  was  about  to  transpire ;  but  it 
is  very  evident  that  the  evil  one,  who  is  always  "  seeking  to 
destroy  the  kingdom,"  did  get  a  little  the  start  of  the  Proph- 
et on  this  occasion.  Long  before  elder  Smoot  reached  the 
scene  of  rejoicing  at  Big  Cottonwood  Lake,  the  United  States 
army  was  on  the  march.  Brigadier-General  W.  S.  Harney 
was  appointed  commander  of  the  expedition,  and  Major  Stew- 
message  of  eternal  truth  which  God  has  sent  for  the  salvation  of  his  people,  God 
will  smite  him  dumb  that  he  can  no  longer  speak  great  swelling  words  against  the 
Lord ;  and  trembling  shall  seize  his  nerves,  that  he  shall  not  be  able  to  write,  and 
Zion's  Watchm  m  shall  cease  to  be  published  abroad  ;  and  its  lies  shall  no  longer 
deceive  the  public ;  and  he  will  wander  a  vagabond  on  the  earth,  until  sudden  de- 
struction shall  overtake  him;  and,  if  Mr.  La  Roy  Sunderland  inquires  when  shall 
these  things  be  ?  I  reply,  It  is  nigh  thee — even  at  thy  doors  ;  and  I  stiy  this  in  the 
name  of  Jesus  Christ.  Amen." — P.  1\  FraWs  "  ZioiCs  Watchman  Uimiasked^'*  New 
York,  1838. 

Parley's  expression,  "  Nigh  thee,  even  at  thy  doors,"  is  very  slow  of  fulfilment. 
Thirty-four  years  have  passed  away,  and  Mr.  Sunderland  still  persists  in  speaking 
and  writing,  and  awkwardly  refuses  to  "  wander  about  a  vagabond  on  the  earth  un- 
"til  sudden  destruction  shall  overtake  him,"  and  to  this  day  his  opinion  of  Parley's 
fanaticism  is  unchanged,  and  he  still  regards  Mormonism  as  a  gross  delusion.  He 
won't  repent ! 

The  "  twelve  years,"  and  a  few  more,  have  passed  away  since  Brigham  uttered 
the  prediction  that  he  should  be  President  of  the  United  States,  and  he  is  to-day 
further  away  from  its  fulfilment  than  he  was  when  he  announced  to  the  believing 
Saints  in  Cottonwood  canon  this  ambition  of  his  soul. 


WARLIKE  PREPARATIONS. 


353 


art  Yan  Vleit  had  been  selected  as  Captain  Assistant  Quarter- 
Master,  to  repair  immediately  to  Utah  in  advance  of  the  army 
to  make  the  necessary  purchases  of  lumber  for  their  quarters, 
forage  for  the  animals,  and  such  provisions  as  might  be  required 
for  the  subsistence  of  tlie  troops. 

The  Saints  had  no  time  now  to  lose ;  the  enemy  was  ap- 
proaching their  homes.  "War  was  then  everything  in  Utah. 
The  leaders  preached  war,  prayed  war,  taught  war;  while 
saintly  poets  scribbled  war,  and  the  people  sang  their  ditties. 

The  God  of  Battles  "  was  the  deity  of  the  hour,  and  his  in- 
fluence was  everywhere  seen  and  felt.  Public  works  and  pri- 
vate enterprise  were  alike  suspended,  while  every  artist  who 
had  sufficient  genius  for  the  manufacture  of  revolvers,  repair- 
ing old  guns,  or  burnishing  and  sharpening  rusty  sabres  and 
bayonets,  was  pressed  into  service  for  the  defence  of  Zion.  The 
sisters,  too,  were  seized  with  the  war-fever,  and  their  weaving 
and  knitting  talents  were  fully  exercised  in  preparation  for  the 
coming  campaign.  It  was  a  great  time  for  rejoicing  in  the 
Lord,  cursing  Uncle  Sam,  and  keeping  powder  dry. 

Two  apostles,  Amasa  M.  Lyman  and  Charles  C.  Eich,  had 
successfully  established  a  colony  of  Mormons  at  San  Bernardino, 
in  Southern  California.  Orders  were  immediately  dispatched 
to  them,  and  to  Orson  Hyde's  colony  in  Carson  Yalley,  to 
"break  up"  and  come  home  for  the  defence  of  Zion.^  A 
special  messenger  was  sent  to  Europe  to  direct  the  apostles 
Orson  Pratt  and  Ezra  T.  Benson  to  send  home  immediately  all 
the  Utah  elders,  and  to  return  themselves  the  best  way  they 
could.  The  elders  who  were  on  missions  in  the  Atlantic  and 
Pacific  States  were  all  "called  in  "  to  protect  their  families  in 
the  coming  struggle. 

When  "  the  Lord "  called  upon  Joseph  to  go  up  and  re- 

*  The  property  then  abandoned  by  the  Mormons  in  Southern  California  is  now 
worth  millions,  and  the  claims  of  the  others  in  Carson,  Washoe,  and  Jack's  valleys 
in  one  year  after  their  evacuation  of  the  country  became  immensely  valuable  through 
the  discovery  of  the  celebrated  mines  of  Nevada.  The  Mormons  had  taken  up  the 
whole  of  the  land  on  both  sides  of  the  Carson  river  in  Eagle  valley.  Carson  City 
the  capital  of  Nevada,  was  the  property  of  a  Mormon,  and  the  site  of  what  is  now 
Dayton  was  sold  by  one  of  the  brethren  for  "  a  plug  of  a  pony  "  to  help  him  back 
to  Zion.  For  ail  their  property  the  six  hundred  persons  did  not  receive,  probably, 
more  than  $50,000.    Urighara's  decision  for  a  fruitless  war  cost  something. 


354 


THE  RCCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


deem  Zion  in  Missouri,  the  Prophet  could  only  muster  two 
hundred  and  five  "  warriors,"  but  the  times  were  changed. 
Israel  had  grown  and  multiplied,  and  in  numbers  was  not  now 
to  be  despised.  The  republic  was  a  great  nation,  but  Zion  was 
greater.  The  prophecies  were  about  to  be  fulfilled,  and  what 
the  Saints  wanted  in  cannon  and  munitions  of  war  they  could 
make  up  in  faith.  Not  only  were  the  missionary  elders  eager 
to  return  to  the  mountains  for  the  protection  of  their  families, 
but,  could  it  have  been  accomplished,  thousands  of  the  Saints 
in  Europe  and  the  States  would  have  rallied  round  the  standard 
of  the  Prophet.  There  was  no  fear,  no  hesitation  anywhere  ; 
every  one  believed  that  "  the  Lord  "  would  come  out  of  his 
hiding  place  and  vex  the  nation. 

The  Western  Standard^  the  Mormon  organ  then  published 
in  San  Francisco,  and  T/ie  Mormon^  published  in  New  York, 
were  ordered  to  be  discontinued — the  world  was  to  be  left  with- 
out light.  The  missionary  elders  returning  from  Europe  landed 
at  New  York  as  secretly  as  possible,  and  made  their  way  west- 
ward to  the  frontiei's  by  various  routes,  so  that  they  should  not 
be  recognized  or  hindered  by  any  action  of  the  Government  as 
they  journeyed  home,  or  be  delayed  by  any  annoyances  on  the 
part  of  the  citizens  as  they  passed  by. 

The  Utah  elders  are  by  no  means  cowards,  but  many  of 
them  when  returning  had  formed  the  idea  that  Uncle  Sam  was 
ready  to  devour  them,  and  that  the  devil  was  always  at  their  el- 
bow ready  to  denounce  them  as  they  passed  along.  If  a  person 
chanced  to  look  twice  at  any  of  them,  or  ask  a  question  about  their 
destination  or  object  in  travelling,  he  was  instantly  regarded  as  a 
spy  or  some  Government  officer  in  disguise,  who  meant  mis- 
chief and  peril  to  them.  A  number  of  elders  returning  from 
their  missions  to  Europe,  while  passing  through  Chicago,  met 
with  a  little  difficulty  which  did  serious  damage  to  the  cause 
of  human  enlightenment.  An  officer  in  blue,  with  eagle  but- 
tons, chanced  to  put  up  at  the  same  hotel,  and  one  of  the  chief 
brethren  at  sight  of  him  was  instantly  demoralized.  Visions 
of  a  terrible  fate  troubled  his  mind  ;  he  and  his  brethren  were 
certainly  going  to  be  thoroughly  overhauled,  and,  if  any  papers 
were  found  upon  them  that  would  establish  their  identity  as 
Mormons,  detection  was  a  certainty.    He  communicated  his 


PANIC  AMONG  THE  MISSIONARIES. 


355 


apprehensions  to  the  others,  and  counselled  the  immediate  de- 
struction of  all  the  books  and  papers  that  any  of  the  brethren 
chanced  to  carry  about  their  persons  or  in  their  satchels.  One 
of  the  elders  had  been  for  years  the  "private  secretary  of 
"Brigham  Young,"  and  had  kept  a  pocket-journal  in  which  he 
had  jotted  down  the  inspired  droppings  of  the  sanctuary.  It 
was  to  liim  then  a  priceless  treasure,  and  undoubtedly  would 
one  day  have  become  a  valuable  contribution  to  the  historian's 
office.  It  was  brimful  of  choice  sayings,  bits  of  some  rare  reve- 
lations and  interpretations  of  others,  dates,  memoranda,  "  bless- 
"  ings,"  and  receipts  for  monej^  paid.  In  it,  too,  were  tracings 
of  the  names  of  his  forefathers  and  foremothers,  for  whom  he 
was  yet  to  be  baptized  in  the  Temple,  in  order  to  aid  their  sal- 
vation and  deliverance  from  the  hands  of  the  devil.  It  was  one 
of  those  priceless  bijous  that  no  one  can  ever  part  with,  and 
"  brother  Thomas  "  held  on  to  it  as  a  fond  mother  to  her  only 
child.  But  obedience  to  "  counsel "  was  insisted  on,  and  this 
rich  treasure,  this  priceless  journal,  was  tearfully  consigned  to 
the  dark  caverns  of  a  Chicago  third-class  hotel  sewerage !  Poor 
Thomas !  Years  later,  with  tears  in  his  eyes,  he  narrated  to 
the  Author  his  grief  and  the  annoyance  which  he  suffered  from 
the  loss  of  his  treasured  volume.  Thomas  probably  may  not 
have  quite  so  much  faith  to-day,  and  may  fret  less. 

The  apostles  from  Europe,  and  a  few  elders  who  attended 
them  as  a  body-guard,  crossed  the  Atlantic  incognito^  preserved 
themselves  secretly  in  New  York  till  the  Pacific  steamer  sailed 
for  San  Francisco,  preferring  the  long  sea  journey  and  the 
western  route,  via  Southern  California,  rather  than  the  risk  of 
following  the  usual  route  of  the  Saints  to  Zion  through  the 
Atlantic  States,  and  across  the  plains  where  the  troops  were 
journeying. 

A  high  priest,  who  was  presiding  over  the  Saints  in  the 
Atlantic  States  at  the  outbreak  of  the  Mormon  war,  was  so 
terror  stricken  that,  if  he  saw  a  sergeant  or  captain  of  police  in 
a  street  car  in  which  he  chanced  to  be  riding,  he  would  become 
perfectly  nervous.  He  it  was  who  had  first  in  New  York  given 
the  Utah  elders  counsel  to  store  away  their  books  and  papers 
where  they  would  be  safe  till  they  could  send  for  them,  and  it 
was  the  private  secretary's  attachment  to  his  journal  and  dis- 
22 


356 


THE  KOOKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


obedience  to  this  counsel  that  terrified  the  chief  elder  in  Chi- 
cago, till  he  could  see  nothing  in  the  memoranda  but  a  veri- 
table Jonah  that  would  sink  the  whole  ship. 

The  high  priest  while  in  New  York  would  have  died  from 
sheer  fright,  had  he  not  been  stimulated  to  live  by  the  kindly 
glances  of  a  sweet  Connecticut  maiden,  who  in  time  became 
his  second  wife.  Before  the  war,  while  he  was  a  brave  preacher 
and  defiant  of  all  earthly  powers,  he  had  worn  what  was  called 
a  Kossuth  overcoat,  but  that  was  now  too  conspicuous,  and  all 
the  braid  and  filligree-work  had  to  come  off  lest  it  should  lead 
to  his  identity.  A  coloured  barber,  who  had  long  dyed  the 
high  priest's  locks,  in  a  moment  of  gushing  kindness  and  with 
his  blandest  smile  exclaimed  to  him :  "  Massa,  I  knows  who 
"you  was  !  Yah,  yah  !"  That  ebony  acquaintance  was  cut  for 
ever.  The  Author  well  remembers  the  last  time  that  he  was 
chatting  with  "  the  judge "  on  the  affairs  in  Utah,  at  a  new 
boarding-house  where  he  had  hoped  that  no  one  would  recog- 
nize him  as  a  Mormon.  JEe  could  scarcely  speak  above  a 
whisper,  and  feared  that  some  one  might  hear  through  the 
keyhole.  Very  different  was  the  Author's  own  experience.  He 
was  knowm  and  seen  daily  in  the  oflaces  of  the  JSTew  York  press, 
and  treated  w^ith  more  respect  and  attention  by  those  who  knew 
that  he  was  a  Mormon  than  he  would  probably  have  been  had 
he  been  a  Gentile;  he  saw  no  signs  of  the  nation's  vindictive- 
ness,  and  w^itnessed  and  heard  nothing  that  could  possibly  be 
construed  into  "  persecution  of  the  Saints  "  on  the  part  of  the 
republic. 

Major  Yan  Vleit  arrived  in  Salt  Lake  City  in  the  begin- 
ning of  September.  He  was  politely  received  by  Governor 
Young,  but  was  informed  with  great  frankness  that  they  had 
abundance  of  all  he  required,  but  they  would  sell  nothing  to  the 
Government,  and  were  determined  that  the  United  States 
troops  should  not  enter  Salt  Lake  Yalley.  Through  the  polite- 
ness of  Major-General  Yan  Yleit,  the  Author  is  able  to  give 
portions  of  that  ofiicer's  report  to  the  commanding  general  of 
the  armj^,  which  throw  great  light  upon  this  period  of  Mor- 
mon history  : 

"  He  [Brigham]  stated  that  the  Mormons  had  been  persecuted,  mur- 


PREPARATIONS  FOR  A  SECOND  MOSCOW. 


357 


dered,  and  robbed  in  Missouri  and  Illinois,  both  by  tbe  mob  and  State 
authorities,  and  that  now  the  United  States  were  about  to  pursue  the 
same  course,  and  that,  therefore,  he  and  the  people  of  Utah  had  deter- 
mined to  resist  all  persecution  at  the  commencement,  and  that  the  troops 
now  on  the  march  for  Utah  should  not  enter  the  Great  Salt  Lake  Valley,  As 
he  uttered  tliese  words,  all  there  present  concurred  most  heartily  in  what 
he  said.  .  .  .  In  the  course  of  my  conversation  with  the  Governor 
and  the  influential  men  in  the  Territory,  I  told"them  plainly  and  frankly 
what  I  conceived  would  be  the  result  of  their  present  course.  I  told  them 
that  tbey  might  prevent  the  small  military  force  now  approaching  Utah 
from  getting  through  the  narrow  defiles  and  rugged  passes  of  the  moun- 
tains this  year,  but  that  next  season  the  United  States  Government  would 
send  troops  sufliicient  to  overcome  all  opposition.  The  answer  to  this  was 
invariably  the  same  :  '  We  are  aware  that  such  will  be  the  case ;  but  when 
those  troops  arrive,  they  will  find  Utah  a  desert,  every  house  will  be 
burned  to  the  ground,  every  tree  cut  down,  and  every  field  laid  waste. 
We  have  three  years'  provisions  on  hand,  which  we  will  cache,  and  then 
take  to  the  mountains,  and  bid  defiance  to  all  the  powers  of  the  Govern- 
ment,' 

"  I  attended  their  service  on  Sunday,  and  in  course  of  a  sermon  de- 
livered by  elder  Taylor  he  referred  to  the  approach  of  the  troops,  and  de- 
clared they  should  not  enter  the  Territory.  He  then  referred  to  the  proba- 
bility of  an  overpowering  force  being  sent  against  them,  and  desired  all 
present,  who  would  apply  the  torch  to  their  own  buildings,  cut  down  their 
trees,  and  lay  waste  their  fields,  to  hold  up  their  hands  ;  every  hand  in  an 
audience  numbering  over  four  thousand  persons  was  raised  at  the  same 
moment." 

The  Major  further  reported  that  he  anticipated  that  the 
Mormons  would  burn  the  grass  on  the  plains,  stampede  the 
cattle,  and  hinder  the  advance  of  the  expedition  till  the  snow 
rendered  it  impossible  for  the  army  to  force  a  passage  through 
the  canons,  and  suggested  that  Fort  Bridger  should  be  se- 
lected for  winter-quarters. 

At  the  very  moment  when  this  representative  of  the  Gov- 
ernment was  listening  to  the  harangues  of  Brigliam  Young 
and  the  Mormon  leaders  against  the  advance  of  the  army,  and 
protesting  their  innocence  of  the  charges  preferred  against 
them,  there  was  perpetrated,  two  hundred  and  fifty  miles  south 
of  Salt  Lake  City,  the  darkest  crime  on  record  in  American 
history — the  Mountain  Meadows  massacre,  in  which  over  one 
hundred  and  twenty  men,  women,  and  children  were  butchered 
by  Indians  and  Mormons!    A  fouler  deed  of  treachery  was 


358 


THE  ROOKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


never  known  in  any  nation  professing  tlie  Christian  faith. 
Had  Mormonism  up  to  that  hour  been  stainless,  had  its  princi- 
ples been  as  pure  as  the  breathings  around  the  throne  of  Je- 
hovah, that  one  cursed  deed  unatoned  for  was  alone  sufficient 
to  shut  against  it  for  ever  the  portals  of  heaven.  The  histo- 
rian's pen  will  yet  record  that  the  hand  of  an  avenging  angel 
has  been  uplifted  in  retributive  justice  ever  since  against  the 
sliedders  of  that  innocent  blood,  and  the  withering  curse  of  the 
Almighty  has  followed  that  priesthood  who  had  not  the  man- 
hood to  rise  up  and  demand  that  the  cause  of  which  they  were 
the  exponents  should  not  be  blighted  by  the  bloody  w^ork  of 
savages  who  claimed  to  be  their  brethren  in  Christ  and  the 
anointed  of  the  Lord.  The  people  were  horrified  at  the  deed, 
and  it  has  been  the  canker-worm  of  their  souls  ever  since. 

On  the  14th  of  September  Major  Yan  Yleit  left  the  city 
and  returned  to  the  East.  The  next  day  Brigham  issued  the 
following  document : 

"  PROCLAMATIOIS-  BY  THE  GOVEKJS^OR. 

"  Citizens  of  Utah :  We  are  invaded  by  a  hostile  force,  who  are  evi- 
dently assailing  us  to  accomplish  our  overthrow  and  destruction. 

"  For  the  last  twenty-five  years  we  have  trusted  officials  of  the  Govern- 
ment, from  constables  and  justices  to  judges,  governors,  and  presidents, 
only  to  be  scorned,  held  in  derision,  insulted,  and  betrayed.  Our  houses 
have  been  plundered  and  then  burned,  our  fields  laid  waste,  our  principal 
men  butchered  while  under  the  pledged  faith  of  the  Government  for  their 
safety,  and  our  families  driven  from  their  homes  to  find  that  shelter  in 
the  barren  wilderness,  and  that  protection  among  hostile  savages  which 
were  denied  them  in  the  boasted  abodes  of  Christianity  and  civilization. 

"  The  Constitution  of  our  common  country  guarantees  to  us  all  that  we 
do  now,  or  have  ever,  claimed. 

"  If  the  Constitutional  rights  which  pertain  unto  us  as  American  citi- 
zens were  extended  to  Utah  according  to  the  spirit  and  meaning  thereof, 
and  fairly  and  impartially  administered,  it  is  all  that  we  could  ask — all 
that  we  ever  asked. 

"  Our  opponents  have  availed  themselves  of  prejudice  existing  against 
us  because  of  our  religious  faith,  to  send  out  a  formidable  host  to  accom- 
plish our  destruction.  We  have  had  no  privilege,  no  opportunity  of  de- 
fending ourselves  from  the  false,  foul,  and  unjust  aspersions  against  us  be- 
fore the  nation. 

"  The  Government  has  not  condescended  to  cause  an  investigating 
committee  or  other  person  to  be  sent  to  enquire  into  and  ascertain  the 
truth,  as  is  customary  in  such  cases. 


MARTIAL  LAW  PROCLAIMED. 


359 


"  "We  know  those  aspersions  to  be  false,  but  tbat  avails  ns  notbing. 
We  are  condemned  unheard,  and  forced  to  an  issue  with  an  armed  merce- 
nary mob,  which  has  been  sent  against  us  at  the  instigation  of  anonymous 
letter-writers,  ashamed  to  father  the  base,  slanderous  falsehoods  which 
they  have  given  to  the  public  ;  of  corrupt  officials  who  have  brought  false 
accusations  against  us  to  screen  themselves  in  their  own  infamy  ;  of  hire- 
ling priests  and  howling  editors,  who  prostitute  the  truth  for  filthy  lucre's 
sake. 

The  issue  which  has  been  thus  forced  upon  us  compels  us  to  resort  to 
the  great  first  law  of  self-preservation,  and  stand  in  our  own  defence,  a 
right  guaranteed  to  us  by  the  genius  of  the  institutions  of  our  country, 
and  upon  which  the  Government  is  based. 

"  Our  duty  to  ourselves,  to  our  families,  requires  us  not  tamely  to  be 
driven  and  slain  without  an  attempt  to  preserve  ourselves.  Our  duty  to 
our  country,  our  holy  religion,  our  God,  to  freedom  and  liberty,  requires 
that  we  should  not  quietly  stand  still  and  see  those  fetters  forging  around 
which  are  calculated  to  enslave,  and  bring  us  in  subjection  to  an  unlawful 
military  despotism,  such  as  can  only  emanate  (in  a  country  of  constitu- 
tional law)  from  usurpation,  tyranny,  and  oppression. 

"  Therefore  I,  Brigham  Young,  Governor,  ai^^  Superintendent  of  Indi- 
an Affairs  for  the  Territory  of  Utah,  in  the  name  of  the  people  of  the 
United  States  in  the  Territory  of  Utah  : 

"  1st.  Forbid  all  armed  forces  of  every  description  from  coming  into 
this  Territory,  under  any  pretence  whatever. 

"  2d.  That  all  the  forces  in  said  Territory  hold  themselves  in  readiness 
to  march  at  a  moment's  notice  to  repel  any  and  all  such  invasion. 

"  3rd.  Martial  law  is  hereby  declared  to  exist  in  this  Territory  from 
and  after  the  publication  of  this  proclamation,  and  no  person  shall  be  al- 
lowed to  pass  or  repass  into  or  through,  or  from  the  Territory  without  a 
permit  from  the  proper  officers. 

"  Given  under  my  hand  and  seal  at  Great  Salt  Lake  City,  Territory  of 
Utah,  this  15th  day  of  September,  A.  D.  1857,  and  of  the  Independence 
of  the  United  States  of  America  the  82nd. 

(Signed)      "Brigham  Young." 

On  the  following  day  (Sunday)  the  Tabernacle  discourses 
were  overflowing  with  inspiration.  For  years  the  Saints  had 
been  listening  to  predictions  which  promised  them  national  in- 
dependence. They  had  been  looking  forward  to  the  time  when 
the  Government  by  some  act  of  folly  should  rise  up  against 
the  Lord's  anointed  and  force  an  issue  that  would  justify  the 
Saints  in  throwing  off  their  allegiance  and  verify  the  inspira- 
tion of  the  apostle  Taylor : 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


"  We'll  burst  off  all  our  fetters,  and  break  the  Gentile  yoke, 
"For  long  it  has  beset  us,  but  now  it  shall  be  broke  : 

"  No  more  shall  Jacob  bow  his  neck ; 

"  Henceforth  he  shall  be  free 
"In  Upper  California — oh,  that's  the  land  for  me !  "  * 

When  the  congregation  in  the  morning  had  got  well  seated, 
and  prayer  had  been  offered,  in  an  unctuous  tone  Brigham 
spoke  of  his  confidence  in  the  future,  and  then  bursting  out 
revealed  himself  in  this  fashion  : 

"  This  people  are  free ;  they  are  not  in  bondage  to  any  government  on 
God's  footstool.  We  have  transgressed  no  law,  and  we  have  no  occasion 
to  do  so,  neither  do  we  intend ;  but  as  for  any  nation's  coming  to  destroy 
this  people,  God  Almighty  being  my  helper,  they  cannot  come  here.  [The 
congregation  responded  a  loud  '  Amen.']  ... 

"  We  have  borne  enough  of  their  oppression  and  hellish  abuse,  and  we 
will  not  bear  any  more  of  it,  for  there  is  no  just  law  requiring  further  for- 
bearance on  our  part.  And  I  am  not  going  to  have  troops  here  to  protect 
the  priests  and  hellish  rabj)le  in  efforts  to  drive  us  from  the  land  we  pos- 
sess ;  for  the  Lord  does  not  want  us  to  be  driven,  and  has  said,  *  If  you 
will  assert  your  rights,  and  keep  my  commandments,  you  shall  never  again 
be  brought  into  bondage  by  your  enemies.'  .  .  .  They  say  that  their 
army  is  legal ;  and  I  say  that  such  a  statement  is  as  false  as  hell,  and  that 
they  are  as  rotten  as  an  old  pumpkin  that  has  been  frozen  seven  times,  and 
tben  melted  in  a  harvest  sun.  Come  on  with  your  thousands  of  illegally- 
ordered  troops,  and  I  will  promise  you,  in  the  name  of  Israel's  God,  that 
you  shall  melt  away  as  the  snow  before  a  July  sun.  .  ,  , 

"  You  might  as  well  tell  me  that  you  can  m'ake  hell  into  a  powder- 
house,  as  to  tell  me  that  you  could  let  an  army  in  here,  and  have  peace ; 
and  I  intend  to  tell  them  and  show  them  this,  if  they  do  not  stay  away. 
.  .  .  And  I  say  our  enemies  shall  not  slip  *  the  bow  on  old  Bright's  neck ' 
again.    God  bless  you.  Amen." 

"  Brother  Heber,"  Brigham's  first  connsellor,  an  eccentric, 
good-natured,  jocular  Saint,  wanted  to  have  a  hand  in  the  fight, 
and  gushing  over  with  "  the  Spirit  "  he  set  forth  liis  views  of 
the  situation : 

"  Is  there  a  collision  between  us  and  the  United  States  ?  No  ;  we  have 
not  collashed  ;  that  is  the  word  that  sounds  nearest  to  what  I  mean.  But 
now  the  thread  is  cut  between  them  and  us,  and  we  will  never  gybe  again 
— ^no  never,  worlds  without  end.    [Voices,  '  Amen.']  ,  .  . 

"  Do  as  you  are  told,  and  Brigham  Young  will  never  leave  the  gover- 
norship of  this  Territory,  from  this  time  henceforth  and  for  ever.  No; 

*  Hymn  Book,  p.  353. 


EXTRAORDINARY  SERMONS. 


361 


never.  And  there  shall  no  wicked  judge  with  his  whore  ever  sit  in  our 
courts  again ;  for  all  who  are  against  Israel  are  an  abomination  to  me  and 
to  our  God.  The  spirit  that  is  upon  me  this  morning  is  the  spirit  of  the 
Lord,  that  is,  the  Holy  Ghost — though  some  of  you  may  think  the  Holy 
Ghost  is  never  cheerful.  Well,  let  me  tell  you,  tlie  Holy  Ghost  is  a  man ; 
he  is  one  of  the  sons  of  our  Father  and  our  God,  and  he  is  that  man  that 
stood  next  to  Jesus  Christ— just  as  I  stand  by  Brother  Brigham.  .  .  ,  You 
think  our  Father  and  our  God  is  not  a  lively,  sociable,  and  cheerful  man ; 
he  is  one  of  the  most  lively  men  that  ever  lived.  .  .  .  Brother  Brigham 
is  my  leader,  he  is  my  Prophet  and  my  Seer,  my  Eevelator ;  and  Avhatever 
he  says,  that  is  for  me  to  do,  and  it  is  not  for  me  to  question  him  one 
word,  nor  to  question  God  a  minute."  * 

Between  sermons,  Brigham  had  leisure  for  farther  reflec- 
tion, and  as,  doubtless,  many  of  the  brethren  had  cordially 
shaken  hands  with  him  on  his  way  to  and  from  home,  and 
blessed  "the  Lord"  for  his  favour  to  his  servant,  he  felt 
that  all  had  not  yet  been  said.  With  such  encouragement,  in 
the  afternoon  assemblage,  after  partaking  of  the  sacrament,  he 
again  addressed  the  Saints : 

"  There  cannot  be  a  more  damnable,  dastardly  order  issued  than  was 
issued  by  the  administration  to  this  people  while  they  were  in  an  Indian 
country  in  1846.  Before  we  left  iTauvoo,  not  less  than  two  United  States 
senators  came  to  receive  a  pledge  from  us  that  we  would  leave  the  United 
States  ;  and  then,  while  we  were  doing  our  best  to  leave  their  borders,  the 
poor,  low,  degraded  curses  sent  a  requisition  for  five  hundred  men  to  go 
and  fight  their  battles  !  That  was  President  Polk ;  and  he  is  now  welter- 
ing in  hell,  with  old  Zachary  Taylor,  where  the  present  administration 
will  soon  be,  if  they  do  not  repent.t 

"Liars  have  reported  that  this  people  have  committed  treason,  and 
upon  their  lies  the  President  has  ordered  out  troops  to  aid  inofl3cering  this 
Territory ;  and  if  those  ofiicers  are  like  many  who  have  previously  been 
sent  here — and  we  have  reason  to  believe  that  they  are,  or  they  would  not 
come  where  they  know  they  are  not  wanted — they  are  poor,  miserable 
blacklegs,  broken-down  political  hacks,  robbers,  and  whoremongers ;  men 

*  This  is  an  excellent  specimen  of  the  compound  of  blasphemy  and  ridiculous 
twaddle  to  which  the  audiences  in  Utah  have  had  to  listen.  Opposition  to  such 
tirades  was  designated  "  the  Spirit  of  Apostacy."  Were  the  subject  not  sacred, 
what  fund  of  amusement  could  be  found  in  the  apostolic  sermons  of  the  Taber- 
nacle. Fancy  the  Holy  Ghost  as  "  a  man  performing  the  same  offices  to  Jesus 
"  Christ  as  Heber  did  to  Brigham ! "  God  himself  "  is  one  of  the  most  lively  men  that 
"  ever  lived,"  and  naughty  things  "  are  an  abomination  to  me  and  to  our  God." 

f  This  language  ill  comports  with  Brigham's  denial,  seen  on  page  280,  of  having 
used  this  language  only  as    an  endorsement "  of  some  one  else's  statement. 


362 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


that  are  not  fit  for  civilized  society ;  so  tbey  must  dragoon  tliem  upon  us 
for  officers.  I  feel  that  I  won't  bear  such  cursed  treatment,  and  that  is 
enough  to  say — for  we  are  just  as  free  as  the  mountain  air.  .  .  . 

"  I  have  told  you  that  if  this  people  will  live  their  religion,  all  will  be 
well ;  and  I  have  told  you  that  if  there  is  any  man  or  woman  who  is  not 
willing  to  destroy  anything  or  everything  of  their  property  that  would 
be  of  use  to  an  enemy  if  left,  I  wanted  them  to  go  out  of  the  Territory. 
And  I  again  say  so  to-day ;  for  when  the  time  comes  to  burn  and  lay  waste 
our  improvements,  if  a  man  undertakes  to  shield  his,  he  will  be  sheared 
down;  for  ^judgment  will  be  laid  to  the  line,  and  righteousness  to  the 
plummet.' 

"  Now  the  faint-hearted  can  go  in  peace ;  but  should  that  time  come, 
they  must  not  interfere.  Before  I  will  suffer  what  I  have  in  times  gone 
by,  there  shall  not  be  one  building,  nor  one  foot  of  lumber,  nor  a  stick, 
nor  a  tree,  nor  a  particle  of  grass  or  hay  that  will  burn,  left  in  reach  of  our 
enemies.  I  am  sworn,  if  driven  to  extremity,  to  utterly  lay  waste,  in  the 
name  of  Israel's  God."  * 

With  such  sermons  and  with  such  threats  of  death  to  the 
lukewarm  and  rebellious,  what  could  the  dissenting  among  the 
people  do  but  bend  before  the  storm?  The  masses  were,  in 
the  language  of  the  Tabernacle,  but  "  clay  in  the  hands  of  the 
"  potter,"  to  be  shaped  and  fashioned  according  to  the  dictates 
of  a  ruler's  mind.  Brigham's  declaration  to  Major  Yan  Vleit, 
that  "  lie  and  the  people  of  Utah  had  determined  to  resist,"  is 
interpreted  by  his  Sunday  sermon,  wherein  he  informs  the 
faint-hearted  who  would  not  destroy  their  property  that  if  the 
troops  advanced  into  the  city  they  should  "  be  sheared  down." 
The  reader  has  but  to  imagine  himself  in  a  sparsely  settled 
desert  country,  "a  thousand  miles  from  everywhere,"  from 
which  there  was  no  possibility  of  escape  without  the  loss  of 
everything,  and  the  risk  of  life  itself,  and  his  indignation 
against  the  Mormon  people  for  their  rebellion  will  soon  change 
to  sympathy. 

The  brethren  made  but  rough  soldiers,  although  they  had 
been  drilled  as  well  as  their  situation,  arms,  and  the  ability  of 
their  instructors  permitted.  They  were  immediately  sent  out 
into  Echo  Canon,  a  narrow  defile  between  the  mountains  about 
twenty-five  miles  in  length,  through  which  the  troops  were  ex- 
pected to  pass.  There,  on  the  east  side,  the  high  rocks  were 
swarming  with  men  engaged  in  building  dry  stone  walls  as  a 
*  Deseret  N'ews^  November  18,  1857. 


THE  BULWARKS  OF  ZION. 


363 


protection  for  the  riflemen,  and  on  the  sloping  sides  *of  the 
western  mountains  trenches  were  dug  for  the  same  purpose. 
On  the  east  side,  at  the  base  of  the  overhanging  mountains, 
was  the  ordinary  road  through  the  canon.  The  Mormon 
engineers  had  constructed  dams  for  the  purpose  of  throwing  a 
great  body  of  water  on  to  the  west  of  the  road,  among  the  wil- 
lows and  scrub-trees,  so  that  the  army  would  be  forced  to  take 
the  east  side  of  the  canon,  where  the  Saints  were  prepared  for 
them. 

On  the  overhanging  rocks  large  quantities  of  boulders  and 
masses  of  rocks  were  placed,  so  that,  as  the  army  passed  by,  a 
small  leverage  would  be  amply  sufficient  to  hail  them  down 
upon  the  soldiers.  It  may  be  hardly  fair  to  smile  at  this  prim- 
itive arrangement,  but  in  these  days  of  rifles  and  long-range 


Echo  Gallon— The  Mormon  Defences. 

shells  the  critical  unbeliever  can  hardly  refrain  from  compar- 
ing such  defensive  operations  to  the  process  of  "  catching  "birds 
"  by  putting  salt  on  their  tails  !  "  As  the  traveller  in  the  luxu- 
rious Pullman  cars  of  the  Union  Pacific  Eailroad  passes  through 
that  canon  to-day,  it  is  edifying  to  raise  the  eyes  and  see  still 
standing  the  dry  stone  walls— the  "  bulwarks  of  Zion." 

The  officers  of  the  "  invading  army  "  had  little  conception 
of  the  importance  of  their  mission,  and  were  taken  by  surprise 
when,  for  the  first  time,  they  learned  what  kind  of  a  reception 


364 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


awaited  tliem.  Instead  of  lead  and  bullets  they  anticipated  a 
repetition  of  the  hospitable  reception  extended  to  Col.  Steptoe 
and  his  command  three  years  before,  and  had  supplied  them- 
selves with  lavender  and  "  cream  kids  "  for  the  parties  in  the 
Social  Hall.  The  little  trinkets  that  speak  of  thoughtfulness 
for  the  fair  sex,  and  the  kindly  interchange  of  social  courtesies, 
were  not  forgotten  by  the  younger  aspirants  to  fame  and  ladies' 
graces.  In  brief,  they  started  West  on  the  best  of  terms  with 
themselves  and  the  acquaintances  they  expected  to  make. 

Major  Van  Vleit  reached  Washington  in  the  middle  of  No- 
vember, and  made  the  following  report  to  the  Secretary  of  War: 

"  In  explaining  to  Governor  Young  the  object  which  the  Government 
had  in  view  in  sending  troops  to  Utah,  I  told  him  that  the  Territory  of 
Utah  had  been  organized  into  a  separate  military  department  the  same  as 
Florida,  Texas,  Kansas  and  other  portions  of  the  United  States  had  been, 
and  the  troops  crossing  the  plains  had  been  simply  ordered  to  take  post 
in  it.  I  told  him  further  that  I  had  seen  the  orders  which  were  to  govern 
the  commanding  officers  of  the  troops,  and  that  they  contained  no  intima- 
tion whatever  that  the  troops  would  or  could  be  used  to  molest  or  inter- 
fere with  the  people  of  Utah.  I  explained  that  the  troops  could  only  be 
called  upon  to  interfere  when  the  authority  of  the  Government  was  set  at 
defiance,  and  only  then  as  a  posse  comitatus  on  the  requisition  of  the  Gov- 
ernor of  the  Territory,  the  same  as  then  obtained  in  the  Territory  of  Kansas. 

"  I  also  told  them  that  I  was  convinced  that  the  intentions  of  the  Gov- 
ernment towards  the  people  of  Utah  were  of  the  most  pacific  nature,  and 
that  the  past  was  forgotten,  and  that  as  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States  guaranteed  to  each  one  entire  freedom  in  religious  matters,  I  was 
certain  that  Governor  Gumming  would  have  no  instructions  that  could 
in  any  way  interfere  with  the  Mormons  as  a  religious  people.  I  stated 
that  I  had  seen  Governor  Gumming  just  before  I  left  the  frontiers,  and 
had  he  had  any  such  instructions  I  would  have  been  made  acquainted 
with  them. 

"  In  making  these  statements  to  Governor  Young  and  other  citizens  of 
Utah,  I  was  governed  by  a  desire  to  allay  if  possible  the  hostile  feeling 
which  I  plainly  saw  existed  towards  the  United  States,  and  to  place  be- 
fore them  the  action  of  the  Government  in  its  true  light.  I  was  soon  con- 
vinced, however,  that  Governor  Young  had  decided  upon  the  course  he 
mtended  to  pursue,  and  could  I  have  laid  before  him  the  most  pacific  in- 
tentions of  the  Government,  over  the  signature  of  the  President  himself, 
it  would  not  have  turned  him  from  it. 

"  At  present  Governor  Young  exercises  absolute  power,  both  temporal 
and  spiritual,  over  the  people  of  Utah,  both  of  which  powers  he  and  the 
people  profess  to  believe  emanate  directly  from  the  Almighty.    Hence  the 


THE  NEW  GOVERNOR  TO  BE  SENT  BACK.  365 

opposition  of  the  people  to  a  new  Governor,  and  the  remark  of  Goyemor 
Young  that,  should  Governor  Gumming  enter  the  Territory,  he  would 
place  him  in  his  carriage  and  send  him  back. 

"  I  heard  elder  John  Taylor,  in  a  discourse  to  a  congregation  of  over 
four  thousand  Mormons,  say  that  none  of  the  rulers  of  the  earth  were  en- 
titled to  their  positions  unless  appointed  to  them  by  the  Lord,  and  that 
the  Almighty  had  appointed  a  man  to  rule  over  and  govern  his  Saints, 
and  that  man  was  Brigham  Young,  and  that  they  Avould  hdve  no  one  else 
to  rule  over  them." 

When  tlie  order  was  given  for  the  march  of  the  troops  to 
Utah,  no  one  could  have  divined  that  such  terrible  misfortunes 
were  in  store  for  them  as  those  which  they  experienced  before 
the  close  of  the  year.  The  force  consisted  of  two  regiments  of 
infantry — the  Fifth  and  Tenth;  one  regiment  of  cavalry — the 
old  Second  Dragoons ;  and  two  batteries  of  artillery — ^Reno's 
and  Phelps's.  There  was  nothing  forgotten  in  the  equipment 
of  the  expedition,  and  the  chief  officers  were  gentlemen  of 
thorough  military  education  and  eminently  qualified  for  the 
position  which  they  held.  The  probabilities  then  were  all 
against  Brigham,  should  he  conclude  to  oppose  the  advance  of 
the  army ;  but,  before  the  end  of  1857,  a  more  untortunate  ex- 
pedition conld  not  well  be  conceived.  The  troubles  originated 
at  the  beginning  of  the  march.  Kansas  at  that  moment  was 
supposed  to  require  the  presence  of  General  Harney  and  the 
Second  Dragoons.  The  General,  therefore,  never  took  com- 
mand of  the  Utah  expedition,  and  the  dragoons  were  absent 
from  the  Plains  at  the  time  when  they  were  most  required. 

General  Persifier  F.  Smith  was  assigned  to  the  command 
in  place  of  General  Harney,  but  he  fell  ill  and  died  at  Fort 
Leavenworth.  The  infantry  and  artillery,  with  all  the  quar- 
ter-master and  commissary  stores,  were  then  on  the  plains,  and 
the  command  of  the  expedition,  by  seniority  of  rank,  devolved 
upon  Colonel  Alexander,  of  the  Tenth  Infantry.  The  expedi- 
tion was,  therefore,  without  any  instructions  from  the  Govern- 
ment ;  all  that  its  commander  knew  was  its  destination. 

As  the  army  passed  the  boundary  line  of  Utah,  Brigham's 
declaration  of  September  15th  was  forwarded,  together  with 
another  missive,  dated  September  29th,  for  the  perusal  of  "  the 
"  officer  commanding  the  forces  now  invading  Utah  Territory," 
the  gist  of  which  was  that  Brigham  was  still  Governor,  as  the 


866 


THE  ROOKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


Act  of  Congress  organizing  the  Territory  provided  tliat  the 
chief  executive  should  hold  his  ofl&ce  for  four  years,  or  "  until 
Ms  successor  should  he  appointed  and  qualified^  unless  sooner 
"removed  by  the  President  of  the  United  States."  Brigham 
asserted  that  no  one  had  been  legally  appointed  and  qualified 
to  succeed  him,  that  he  himself  had  not  been  removed  by  the 
President,  and  hence  he  was  still  Governor  and  Superintendent 
of  Indian  Affairs,  and  Commander-in-chief  of  the  militia  of 
the  Territory.  The  remainder  of  the  document,  as  a  gem  of 
Dogberryism,  is  worthy  of  notice  : 

"  By  virtue  of  the  authority  thus  vested  in  me,  I  have  issued  and  for- 
warded you  a  copy  of  my  proclamation  forbidding  the  entrance  of  armed 
forces  into  this  Territory.  This  you  have  disregarded.  I  now  further  direct 
that  you  retire  forthwith  from  the  Territory  by  the  same  route  you  entered.  ^ 
Should  you  deem  this  impracticable,  and  prefer  to  remain  until  spring  in 
the  vicinity  of  your  present  position  at  Black's  Fork  or  Green  Kiver,  you 
can  do  so  in  peace  and  unmolested,  on  condition  that  you  deposit  your 
arms  and  ammunition  with  Lewis  Robinson,  Quarter-Master-General  of  the 
Territory,  and  leave  in  the  spring  as  soon  as  the  condition  of  the  roads 
will  permit  you  to  march.  And  should  you  fall  short  of  provisions,  they 
can  be  furnished  you  upon  making  the  proper  applications  therefor." 

The  Mormon  "warriors"  now  set  to  work  vigorously  to 
fulfil  the  instructions  of  their  leaders,  to  hamper  and  impede 
the  advance  of  the  army,  and  the  detention  of  the  Second  Dra- 
goons in  Kansas  was  now  felt  to  be  not  only  a  serious  blunder, 
but  an  irreparable  loss,  for  there  w^as  no  proper  force  to  prevent 
the  Mormon  cavalry  from  plundering  the  supply-trains,  or  do- 
ing whatever  else  they  pleased. 

Meanwhile,  a  new  commander  had  been  appointed  at  Wash- 
ington in  the  person  of  Col.  Albert  Sidney  Johnston.  He  was 
a  brilliant  soldier,  but  at  the  date  of  Brigham's  proclamation 
was  still  at  Leavenworth,  twelve  hundred  miles  from  the  army 
to  which  he  was  appointed.  His  command  had  as  yet  heard 
nothing  from  him,  and,  without  instructions  and  fearing  every- 
thing. Col.  Alexander  concentrated  his  forces  at  Ham's  Fork, 
until  some  course  could  be  resolved  upon  by  a  council  of  the 
ofllcers.  It  was  then  the  latter  part  of  September ;  winter  was 
approaching,  the  stock  of  forage  was  rapidly  decreasing,  and 
the  country  was  altogether  unfitted  for  winter-quarters.  Every 
day's  delay  was  disastrous,  and  threatened  the  very  existence 


THE  MORMON  STYLE  OF  WARFARE. 


367 


of  the  expedition,  for  tlife  mountains  were  already  draped  with 
snow,  and  the  Mormons  were  constantly  harassing  the  supply- 
trains.    The  troops  began  to  show  signs  of  demoralization ; 


Lieut.-General  D.  H.  Wells. 


they  were  in  a  bleak  and  barren  desert,  with  an  enemy  sur- 
rounding them  that  knew  every  inch  of  the  ground,  and  who 
to  all  appearances  could  easily  destroy  them  without  shedding 
a  drop  of  their  own  blood. 

On  the  4th  of  October,  Brigham's  counsellor,  D.  H.  Wells, 
issued  the  following  order : 

"  On  ascertaining  the  locality  or  route  of  the  troops,  proceed  at  once 
to  annoy  them  in  every  possible  way.  Use  every  exertion  to  stampede 
their  animals,  and  set  fire  to  their  trains.  Burn  the  whole  country  before 
them  and  on  their  flanks.  Keep  them  from  sleeping  by  night  surprises. 
Blockade  the  road  by  felling  trees,  or  destroying  the  fords  when  you  can. 
Watch  for  opportunities  to  set  fire  to  the  grass  on  their  windward,  so  as, 
if  possible,  to  envelop  their  trains.  Leave  no  grass  before  them  that  can 
be  burned.  Keep  your  men  concealed  as  much  as  possible,  and  guard 
against  surprise.  Keep  scouts  out  at  all  times,  and  communication  open 
with  Colonel  Burton,  Major  McAllister,  and  O.  P.  Rockwell,  who  are  op- 
erating in  the  same  way.  Keep  me  advised  daily  of  your  movements,  and 
every  step  the  troops  take,  and  in  which  direction. 

"  God  bless  you  and  give  you  success. 

"  Your  brother  in  Christ, 
(Signed)       "Daniel  H.  Wells. 


368 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


"  P.  S. — If  the  troops  have  not  passed,  or  have  turned  in  this  directioiL 
follow  in  their  rear,  and  continue  to  annoy  them,  and  stampede  or  drive 
off  their  animals  at  every  opportunity.  D.  H.  Wells." 

These  instructions  were  carried  out  to  the  letter.  One  of 
the  Government  supply-trains  was  burned  at  Simpson's  Hol- 
low, ten  miles  east  of  Green  river,  and  two  trains  were  burned 
on  the  Sweetwater  ;  in  all  seventy-five  wagons  containing  pro- 
visions, tents,  tools,  and  clothing.  At  the  same  time  those 
who  burned  them  ran  off  a  large  number  of  cattle. 


Burning  Government  Trains. 


The  Prophet  had  given  orders  that  no  blood  was  to  be  sbed 
under  any  temptation  or  provocation,  save  only  in  the  extrem- 
ity of  self-defence,  but  the  army  was  to  be  wasted  away." 
The  teamsters,  wagon-masters,  and  attaches  of  the  trains  were 
corralled,  furnished  with  an  outfit  of  provisions,  and  their  faces 
turned  eastward.  Of  that  entire  host  of  civilians  it  is  stated 
that  not  a  dozen  of  them  reached  the  frontiers.  They  perished 
by  the  way,  from  exhaustion,  cold,  and  the  attacks  of  Indians. 

On  the  10th  of  October  the  officers  of  the  expedition  held 
a  council  of  war  and  determined  that  the  army  should  advance 
from  Ham's  Fork,  but  to  change  the  route  of  travel  and  make 
Salt  Lake  Yalley,  if  they  could,  via  Soda  Springs,  a  distance 
of  nearly  three  hundred  miles,  and  at  least  a  hundred  and  fifty 


THE  FEDERAL  TROOPS  IN  GREAT  TROUBLE.  369 

miles  farther  than  tlie  route  through  Echo  Canon.  The  order 
was  issued,  and  next  day  the  troops  commenced  a  dreary  march. 

Early  in  the  morning  the  sky  was  surcharged  with  dark, 
threatening  clouds,  and  as  they  started  the  snow  fell  heavily. 
A  few  supply-trains  were  kept  together  and  guarded  by  the 
infantry,  but  the  travel  was  slow,  vexatious,  and  discouraging. 
The  beasts  of  burthen  were  suffering  from  want  of  forage,  as, 
in  anticipation  of  this  movement,  the  grass  had  been  burned 
all  along  that  route.  The  animals  were  completely  exhausted, 
and,  before  they  were  a  week  on  the  new  route,  three  miles  a 
day  was  all  the  distance  that  could  be  made. 

Another  council  of  war  was  held,  but  the  only  topics  of 
discussion  were  the  suffering,  disaster,  and  heavy  losses  of  the 
company.  The  soldiers  were  murmuring,  and  dissatisfaction 
reigned  everywhere.  Some  gallant  officers  were  desirous  of 
forcing  an  issue  with  the  Mormons,  cutting  their  way  through 
the  canons,  and  taking  their  chances  of  what  might  come. 
This  course  might  have  afforded  some  gratification  to  individ- 
uals, but  to  the  company  at  large  it  was  impracticable :  every 
effort  was  necessary  to  save  the  expedition  from  total  ruin. 

In  this  forlorn  condition  the  new  commander  was  heard 
from,  and  the  troops  were  instantly  inspired  with  new  life. 
Colonel  Johnston  comprehended  the  situation  and  ordered  the 
expedition  to  retrace  its  steps.  The  snow  was  six  inches 
deep,  the  grass  all  covered,  the  animals  starving.  The  advance 
had  been  slow,  the  retreat  was  simply  crawling.  On  the  3rd 
of  November  they  reached  the  point  of  rendezvous,  and  next 
day  Colonel  Johnston  joined  them  with  a  small  reinforcement 
and  the  remainder  of  the  supply-trains. 

The  morale  of  the  army  was  restored  by  the  presence  of 
an  efficient  commander  with  instructions  in  his  pocket,  but 
the  difficulties  of  the  expedition  were  increasing  every  hour. 
The  supply-trains  were  strung  out  about  six  miles  in  length, 
the  animals  worrying  along  till,  thoroughly  exhausted,  they 
would  fall  in  their  tracks  and  die. 

All  this  long  line  of  wagons  and  beef  cattle  had  to  be 
guarded  to  prevent  surprise  and  the  stampede  of  the  animals."^ 

*  About  the  middle  of  October,  the  Mormon  "  boys  "  drove  800  oxen  from  the 
rear  of  the  army  into  Salt  Lake  Valley.   On  the  5th  of  November  they  made  another 


370 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


The  snow  was  deep  on  tlie  ground  and  the  weather  was  bit- 
terly cold.  Many  of  the  men  were  fatally  frost-bitten  and  the 
cattle  and  mules  perished  by  the  score.  In  Colonel  Philip  St. 
George  Cooke's  command  fifty-seven  head  of  horses  and  mules 
froze  to  death  in  one  night  on  the  Sweetwater,  and  from  there 
to  Fort  Bridger,  where  the  expedition  finally  wintered,  the  road 
was  literally  strewn  with  dead  animals.  The  camp  on  Black's 
Fork,  thirty  miles  from  Bridger,  was  named  "  The  Camp  of 
"Death."  Five  hundred  animals  perished  around  the  camp  on 
the  night  of  the  6th  of  November.  Fifteen  oxen  were  found 
huddled  together  in  one  heap,  frozen  stiff*. 


The  Camp  of  Death 


In  this  perilous  situation  the  expeditionary  army  to  Utah 
made  the  distance  to  Bridger — thirty-five  miles — in  fifteen 
days!  Often  the  advance  had  arrived  at  camp  before  the  end 
of  the  train  had  left.  On  the  16th  of  November,  the  army 
reached  their  winter-quarters.  Camp  Scott,  two  miles  from  the 
site  of  Fort  Bridger  and  one  hundred  and  fifteen  from  Salt 
Lake  City. 

successful  drive  of  500  oxen,  and  literally  fulfilled  the  words  of  the  popular  song, 
"  Du  dah,"  which  the  Mormons  had  adapted  to  their  own  views,  and  which  had  re- 
ceived the  approval  of  ''the  Prophet  of  the  Lord/' 

"  There^s  seven  hundred  wag-on  s  on  the  way, 
Du  dah ! 

And  their  cattle  are  numerous,  so  they  say, 

Du  dah !  Du  dah  day  I 

Now,  to  let  them  perish  would  be  a  sin, 
Du  dah ! 

So  we'll  take  all  they''ve  got  for  bringing  them  in^ 
Du  dah !  Du  dah  day ! 

Chorus. — Then  let  us  be  on  hand, 

By  Brigham  Young  to  stand. 
And  if  our  enemies  do  appear, 
We'll  sweep  them  off  the  land." 


CHAPTER  XXXIX. 


THE  TWO  AEMIES.— The  Saints  rejoice,  and  sing  their  Warlike  Songs— The 
Federal  Troops  in  Camp  Scott — Brigham  sends  them  a  Present  of  Salt — "  The 
Lord"  is  to  destroy  the  Enemies  of  Zion — Col.  Kane  arrives  among  the  Mor- 
mons and  converts  Brigham — The  Prophet  concludes  that  he  cannot  "whip" 
the  United  States — He  proposes  Flight — Means  to  take  Care  of  Himself— Col. 
Kane  visits  Gov.  Cumming  and  arranges  a  Basis  of  Prospective  Peace — He  of- 
fends Gen.  Johnston — A  Duel  imminent — The  Mormons  flee  from  their  Homes. 

While  these  misfortunes  beset  the  Government  troops,  the 
Mormons  were  the  happiest  of  mortals.  The  calamities  that 
had  befallen  their  own  hand-cart  emigrants  only  the  year  be- 
fore were  instantly  forgotten,  and  the  sufferings  and  privations 
of  the  soldiers  were  regarded  as  the  immediate  and  direct 
judgments  of  the  Almighty  against  those  who  would  "  fight 
"  against  Zion." 

As  the  snow  had  closed  the  passage  through  the  mountain 
canons,  there  was  no  longer  any  necessity  for  "  defence,"  and 
the  brethren  returned  to  the  settlements  to  be  greeted  with 
songs  of  victory.  One  of  the  paeans  of  the  time  was  a  "  Wel- 
"  come  to  the  returned  warriors  of  Zion  :  dedicated  to  Lieuten- 
"  ant-General  Wells  and  his  co-champions  in  arms,"  which  ex-- 
presses  the  view  that  the  enthusiastic  took  of  their  situation : 

"  Strong  in  the  power  of  Brigham's  God, 
Your  name 's  a  terror  to  our  foes  ; 
Ye  were  a  barrier  strong  and  broad 
As  our  high  mountains  crowned  with  snows. 

"  Fear  filled  the  myrmidons  of  war, 
Their  courage  fell  in  wordy  boast ; 
The  faith  and  prayers  of  Israel's  host 
Repelled  the  tyrant's  gory  car. 

Then  welcome  !  sons  of  light  and  truths 
Heroes  alike  in  age  and  youth." 

23 


372 


THE  KOCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


That  was  tlie  gayest  winter  ever  known  in  Utah,  and  danc- 
ing and  theatrical  representations  were  everywhere  encouraged, 
while  the  songs  of  the  Mormon  camps,  adapted  to  the  popular 
negro  melodies  of  the  day,  were  brought  into  the  city  and  were 
heard  in  all  the  assemblies.  The  Sunday  worship  was  enliv- 
ened with  the  jovial  chorus  of  "  Du  dah,"  ^  and  the  "  sweet 
"  singers  of  Israel''  discoursed  Mormon  patriotic  sentiments  to 
the  air  of  "  The  Eed,  White,  and  Blue."  To  fire  the  souls  of 
the  Saints,  one  of  the  brethren,  who  is  now  an  "  apostate,"  made 
a  most  excellent  translation  of  the  "  Marseillaise  Hymn,"  while 
another  of  the  elders  sang  the  praises  of  the  "  warriors  "  in 
verse  that  has  immortalized  him  among  the  poets  of  the  Tab- 
ernacle.   Nor  were  the  sisters  wanting  in  enthusiam.  Sister 

 M  " — a  delicate,  petite  English  lady,  whose  heart 

would  have  been  moved  at  the  violent  death  of  a  spider, 
aroused  with  her  eloquence  "  the  defenders  of  Zion  "  to  gird 
"on  for  the  fight."    She  was  "inspired." 

*  This  Mormon  "Du  dah  "  is  a  remarkable  composition,  but  it  is  too  lengthy  to  be 
given  entire.  Two  verses,  however,  will  suflSce  to  show  the  breathings  of  the  Taber- 
nacle, and  the  extent  of  the  enthusiasm  which  then  prevailed.  After  partaking  of 
the  Sacrament  of  the  Lord's  Supper,  such  a  song  as  the  following  seems  hardly  in 
harmony  with  the  place  and  occasion : 

•         .         •  • 
"  Old  Sam  has  sent,  I  understand, 
Du  dah  I 
A  Missouri  ass  to  rule  our  land, 

Du  dah  I  Du  dah  day  I 
But  if  he  comes,  we'll  have  some  fun, 
Du  dah  1 

To  see  him  and  his  juries  run, 

Du  dah  1  Du  dah  day ! 

Choeus — Then  let  us  be  on  hand. 

By  Brigham  Young  to  stand. 
And  if  our  enemies  do  appear, 
We'll  sweep  them  from  the  land. 

"  Old  Squaw-killer  Harney  is  on  the  way, 

Du  dah  I 
The  Mormon  people  for  to  slay, 

Du  dah  I  Da  dah  day  I 
Now  if  he  comes,  the  truth  I'll  tell, 

Du  dahl 

Our  boys  will  drive  him  down  to  hell, 

Dudahl  Dudahdayl" 

CnoRUS. 

From  such  lyrical  effusions  as  these,  sung  during  "divine  worship'*  in  the  Taber- 
nacle, the  elevated  tone  of  the  sermons  can  be  imagined.  It  is  due  to  the  better 
taught  of  the  people  to  add  that  they  had  no  alternative  but  to  submit  to  the 
infliction. 


WARLIKE  POETRY. 


373 


The  following  verses  are  illustrative  of  the  warlike  enthu- 
siasm to  which  the  preaching  of  the  leading  elders  had  brought 
the  people : 

"  Up,  awake,  ye  defenders  of  Zion  I 

The  foe 's  at  the  door  of  your  homes ; 
Let  each  heart  be  the  heart  of  a  lion. 

Unyielding  and  proud  as  he  roams. 
Remember  the  wrongs  of  Missouri, 

Remember  the  fate  of  Nauvoo  : 
When  the  God-hating  foe  is  before  ye, 

Stand  firm,  and  be  faithful  and  true. 

"  By  the  mountains  our  Zion 's  surrounded. 

Her  warriors  are  noble  and  brave ; 
And  their  faith  on  Jehovah  is  founded, 

Whose  power  is  mighty  to  save. 
Opposed  by  a  proud,  boasting  nation, 

Their  numbers,  compared,  may  be  few ; 
But  their  union  is  known  through  creation, 

And  they've  always  been  faithful  and  true. 

"  Shall  we  bear  with  oppression  for  ever  ? 

Shall  we  tamely  submit  to  the  foe  ? 
While  the  ties  of  our  kindred  they  sever, 

Shall  the  blood  of  the  Prophets  still  flow  ? 
Ko !    The  thought  sets  the  heart  wildly  beating ; 

Our  vows  at  each  pulse  we  renew, 
Ne'er  to  rest  till  our  foes  are  retreating, 

While  we  remain  faithful  and  true  1 

"  Though  assisted  by  legions  infernal. 

The  plundering  wretches  advance. 
With  a  host  from  the  regions  eternal. 

We'll  scatter  their  hosts  at  a  glance  I 
Soon  *  the  Kingdom  '  will  be  independent ; 

In  wonder  the  nations  will  view 
The  despised  ones  in  glory  resplendent ; 

Then  let  us  be  faithful  and  true  1 

Brother  C.  W.  Penrose,  the  author  of  this  effusion ,  at  this 
date  had  nothing  of  the  mountain  bluster  and  boasting  in  his 
disposition.  He  was  a  young  man  of  very  pleasant  manners,  a 
missionary,  with  a  more  than  average  mental  cultivation.  His 
poetry  only  exjpressed  the  heart-felt  convictions  to  which  the 


374 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


teachings  of  the  priesthood  had  led  him.  He  fully  and  ungues- 
tioningly  believed,  as  indeed  did  all  the  Mormons,  what  Brig- 
ham  Young  taught.  "With  "  the  Lord  "  to  fight  their  battles, 
the  few  Saints  were  a  match  for  the  whole  world.  They  knew 
no  fear  ;  they  only  awaited  the  word  to  arise  and  conquer,  and 
every  mile  that  the  United  States  troops  advanced  towards 
their  homes,  only  brought  the  hoped-for  consummation  more 
pleasantly  near  to  their  longing  souls.  Many,  doubtless,  shared 
the  sentiments  of  Brigham,  and  his  hatred  of  all  authority  out- 
side of  himself ;  but  the  masses  have  nothing  of  blood-thirsti- 
ness in  their  character.  As  the  United  States  army  ap- 
proached, they  saw  only  the  fulfilment  of  predictions,  and 
naturally  longed  to  be  the  witnesses  of  the  Lord's  power. 

From  the  pen  of  that  same  "  C.  W.  P."  flowed  the  sweetest 
song  that  the  Mormons  ever  sang.  At  all  great  gatherings  a 
little  Scotchman  with  a  warbling  voice  is  certain  to  be  invited 
to  sing  "  O  Zion,"  in  which  the  whole  audience,  contrary  to 
the  usages  of  the  Tabernacle  services,  burst  forth  in  the  chorus. 
This  effusion  is  sung  to  the  sweet  air  of  "  Lily  Dale  " : 

"  In  thy  mountain  retreat,  God  will  strengthen  thy  feet ; 

On  the  necks  of  thy  foes  thou  shalt  tread ; 
And  their  silver  and  gold,  as  the  prophets  have  told, 

Shall  be  brought  to  adorn  thy  fair  head. 
O  Zion  !  dear  Zion  !  home  of  the  free. 

Soon  thy  towers  will  shine  with  a  splendour  divine, 
And  eternal  thy  glory  shall  be. 

"  Here  our  voices  we'll  raise,  and  we'll  sing  to  thy  praise, 

Sacred  home  of  the  prophets  of  God ; 
Thy  deliverance  is  nigh^  thy  oppressors  shall  die. 

And  the  Gentiles  shall  loio  ''neath  thy  rod, 
O  Zion !  dear  Zion !  home  of  the  free. 

In  thy  temples  we'll  bend,  all  thy  rights  we'll  defend, 
And  our  home  shall  be  ever  with  thee." 

No  words  can  express  the  electrifying  influence  of  this  song 
upon  a  Mornion  audience.  As  the  sound  of  the  last  words  dies 
away,  an  outburst  of  enthusiasm  is  certain  to  follow.  If  the 
occasion  is  a  religious  ceremony,  a  loud  and  long-continued 
"  Amen  "  is  heard  like  "  the  voice  of  many  waters."  If  the  oc  • 
casion  is  political,  the  hand-and-heel  applause  is  given  with  a 


FOR  EVER  SEPARATED  FROM  THE  GENTILES.  375 

vim  that  tells  how  well  the  poet  has  touched  the  soul  of  his 
auditory. 

The  orators  of  the  Tabernacle  waxed  bold  and  spoke  of  the 
Government  and  the  army  in  terms  of  supreme  contempt. 
With  such  an  inevitable  issue  before  their  eyes,  the  leaders 
must  either  have  been  sincere  in  their  faith  that  the  end  of 
national  rule  had  been  reached,  or  they  were  most  unaccount- 
ably foolish  in  speech.  A  questioning  voice  was  never  heard  :  ^ 
there  was  one  current  of  unvarying  boast  of  independence  and 
victory  for  Israel,  and  of  defeat  aud  disgrace  for  the  nation.  - 

For  years  previous,  the  people  had  been  taught  to  look  for- 
ward to  the  time  when  "  the  kingdom  "  should  throw  off  its 
allegiance  to  all  earthly  power,  and  now  they  naturally  con- 
cluded that  "  the  long-expected  blessed  day  "  had  arrived,  when 
they  beheld  on  the  one  side  of  the  mountains  the  national  army 
advancing  to  their  homes,  and  on  the  other  side  the  Prophet 
with  the  armies  of  Israel  determined  to  dispute  their  entrance 
into  the  valleys. 

It  had  been  a  favourite  pulpit  expression  that  "  the  gates 
"  would  be  let  down  between  the  Saints  and  the  rest  of  the 
"  world,"  and  now  it  was  that  Brigham  announced  that  he  would 
regard  the  present  as  "  the  set  time  to  favour  Zion,"  and  that 
the  will  of  the  Almighty  was  "  that  the  thread  should  be  cut " 
between  them  and  the  Gentiles  when  he  saw  armed  men  coming 
to  shed  his  blood  and  that  of  his  brethren.  Heber,  who  was 
Brigham's  favourite  prophet,  did  not  require  to  wait  for  the 
shedding  of  blood  to  be  assured  of  the  will  of  the  Almighty. 
He  was  already  fully  advised  and  knew  that  the  Saints  and 
the  Gentiles  were  separated  for  ever  and  "  never  would  gybe 
"  again." 

Men  clothed  with  the  inspiration  of  an  "  infallible  priest- 
"  hood  "  must  needs  be  positive  in  their  assertions,  and  it  is 
only  with  such  a  faith  that  the  leaders  could  demand  unques- 
tioning allegiance,  and  the  people  render  the  service  of  blind 
"  obedience."  Yet  running  all  through  the  defiant  speeches 
of  those  times,  and  the  wordy  assertion  of  "  the  Lord's  com- 
"  mands,"  it  is  easy  to  discern  the  expression  of  stray  thoughts 
which  would  have  told  any  free-thinking  people  that  the  very 
men  who  claimed  to  be  the  inspired  of  "  the  Lord  "  and  His 


376 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


mouth-piece  to  tliem,  were  themselves  in  grave  doubt  about 
the  truthfulness  of  what  they  uttered,  although  they  exacted 
unswerving  faith  and  obedience  from  others.  Those  who  dared 
to  think  saw  this  position  clear  enough,  but  to  divulge  such  a 
discovery  was  impossible. 

Nothing  could  better  illustrate  the  incompatibility  of  the- 
ocracy with  republicanism  than  the  stormy  days  of  "  the  Utah 
"  Rebellion ;  "  and  argument  is  unnecessary  to  demonstrate  that 
abject  slavery  is  the  inevitable  condition  of  a  people  who  ac- 
cept the  despotism  of  "  the  one-man-power."  Brigliam  Young, 
in  Utah,  in  the  year  of  grace  1857,  rendered  unintentionally  by 
his  own  example,  this  service  to  his  generation. 

But  Heber  could  see  nothing  to  hurt  his  faith  or  to  discour- 
age him  in  the  slightest  degree.  To  him  everj^thing  was  per- 
fectly delightful  to  contemplate.  Brigham  was  to  become 
President  of  the  United  States,  he  was  himself  to  be  Vice- 
President,  and  Brother  "Wells  the  Secretary  of  the  Interior."^ 
In  the  mean  time  the  Saints  were  "just  as  sure  to  go  to  hell  as 
"  they  live,  and  I  know  it,  if  they  consent  to  dispossess  Brother 
Brigham  as  our  Governor."  f  To  avoid  such  a  destination, 
the  Saints  very  properly,  with  uplifted  hands,  voted  that  the 
troops  should  never  come  through  the  canons,  and  that  Brig- 
ham should  for  ever  be  their  Governor !  The  thoughtful  Legis- 
lature, too,  resolved  that  the  oflficers  appointed  for  Utah  by  the 
National  Government  should  "  neither  qualify  for,  or  assume 
"  an<i  discharge  within  the  limits  of  this  Territory  the  func- 
"  tions  of  the  offices  to  which  they  have  been  appointed,  so 
"  long  as  our  Territory  is  menaced  by  an  invading  army."  :J: 
Such  was  the  spirit  and  such  the  letter  of  the  teaching  of  the 
apostles  during  the  first  six  months  of  the  Utah  war. 

With  the  genial  breath  of  spring  and  the  melting  of  the 
snows,  one  of  two  things  was  certain:  the  Mormons  would 
have  to  conquer  the  United  States  army,  or  they  would  have 
to  retreat  from  their  defiant  position  of  resistance. 

At  Camp  Scott,  near  Fort  Bridger,  where  Colonel  Albert 
Sidney  Johnston  wintered  his  troops,  the  Governor  and  Federal 
officers  had  pitched  their  tents  and  entered  upon  the  discharge 

*  Tabernacle,  September  6,  1857.  f  ^^'^^-^  August  30th,  IBS'?. 

X  "  Resolutions  adopted  and  signed,"  December  21st,  1857. 


A  LITTLE  SALT  FROM  BRIGHAM. 


3Y7 


of  tlieir  official  duties.  On  the  21st  of  November,  Governor 
Gumming  issued  a  very  temperate  proclamation  to  "  the  peo- 
"  pie  of  Utah  Territory,"  informing  them  that  they  were  in  a 
state  of  rebellion,  and  commanding  them  to  disband.  Ghief- 
Justice  Eckles  opened  court,  empanelled  a  grand  jury,  took 
the  burned  trains  into  consideration,  and  found  indictments 
against  Brigham  and  the  leading  Mormons  for  treason,  at  the 
same  time  assessing  the  damages  to  the  Government  for  goods 
burned  and  cattle  stolen  at  a  round  million  of  dollars. 

The  winter  of  1857-8  at  Camp  Scott  was  not  quite  so  gay 
as  that  enjoyed  by  the  Saints  on  the  western  side  of  the  Wah- 
satch  range  of  mountains.  The  burning  of  the  three  trains  by 
the  Mormons  had  greatly  reduced  the  commissariat  of  the 
troops.  Rations  were  short,  and  many  articles  of  daily  neces- 
sity were  altogether  unattainable. 

Enterprising  suttlers,  who  had  ventured  out  with  the  ex- 
pedition, taking  the  usual  stock  of  extras,  found  the  necessities 
of  the  civil  and  military  officers  and  the  wants  of  the  camp  fol- 
lowers a  mine  of  wealth.  The  miserable  whiskey  that  was  pois- 
onous enough  at  less  than  a  dollar  a  gallon  was  eagerly  pur- 
chased at  twelve  times  that  price,  while  tobacco  was  sold  at  $3 
a  pound,  and  coffee  and  sugar  at  about  the  same  rate. 

The  greatest  privation,  however,  was  caused  by  the  absence 
of  salt,  and  Brigham  in  his  "  magnanimity  "  sent  a  present  of 
that  needful  article  to  Colonel  Johnston  ;  but  the  gallant  soldier 
ordered  the  messengers  from  his  camp  with  every  expression 
of  contempt  for  the  "rebel  "  prophet.*^  The  Indians,  however, 
soon  settled  the  question  of  patriotism  and  necessity,  and  hur- 
ried through  the  snow  into  Camp  Scott  with  all  the  salt  they 
could  pack,  and  sold  it  readily  at  five  dollars  per  pound.  The 
commercial  principle  of  supply  and  demand,  however,  soon 
reduced  by  one-half  the  price  of  that  indispensable  condiment 
during  the  remainder  of  the  winter.  Flour  for  a  time  was  a 
luxury  at  a  very  high  figure,  and  the  possession  of  a  good  sup- 
ply with  no  other  protection  than  the  covering  of  a  tent  was 

*  How  mutable  are  human  afifairs  !  Five  years  later,  that  same  Colonel  John- 
ston was  himself  designated  *'  a  rebel,"  and  became  one  of  the  most  distinguished 
generals  in  the  Confederate  army.  The  Colonel  Johnston  of  Utah  became  the  Gen- 
eral Albert  Sidney  Johnston  of  Shiloh  I 


878 


THE  KOCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


as  dangerous  to  its  owner  as  a  well-filled  purse  is  to  a  pedes- 
trian in  a  first-class  city  after  sunset. 

The  beef-cattle  had  been  run  ofi*  by  the  hundred,  and  the 
poor,  thin,  worn-out,  emaciated  work-cattle  were  consigned 
to  the  butcher,  partly  as  a  substitute  for  the  better-conditioned 
which  had  been  stolen,  but  quite  as  often  "  to  save  the  critturs 
"  the  trouble  of  dying,"  and  to  furnish  the  soldiers  with  some- 
thing like  mocassins,  which  the  needy  but  industrious  men 
manufactured  from  their  hides.  From  these  necessities  result- 
ed the  most  galling  phase  of  the  expedition  to  Utah.  Every 
day,  all  through  that  winter,  bands  of  fifteen  or  twenty  men 
might  be  seen  hitched  to  wagons,  trailing  for  five  or  six  miles 
to  the  mountain-sides  to  get  loads  of  fuel  for  the  use  of  the 
camp.  It  will  readily  be  credited  that  under  these  circum- 
stances there  was  little  kind  feeling  for  the  Mormons  enter- 
tained at  Camp  Scott. 


Winter  Scene.— United  States  Troops  hauling  Wood. 


The  unpleasant  situation  of  the  troops  and  any  incidents  of 
interest  were  duly  reported  by  scouts  at  the  Mormon  head- 
quarters, and  added  greatly  to  the  faith  of  the  disciples  that 
"the  Lord"  was  with  them.  The  following  letter  from  a  lady 
in  Salt  Lake  City  to  her  children  in  Providence,  Rhode  Island, 
breathed  the  true  Mormon  spirit  that  chal*acterized  those  war- 
like times : 


HOW  THE  SAINTS  WERE  DELUDED. 


B19 


"  I  expect  you  have  heard  the  loud  talk  of  Uncle  Sam's  great  big  army 
coming  to  kill  the  Saints.  Now,  if  you  did  but  know  how  the  Saints  re- 
joice at  the  folly  of  the  poor  Gentiles.  There  are  about  four  thousand  on 
the  border  of  our  territory,  and  six  hundred  wagons — one  naked  mule  to 
draw  them— all  the  rest  having  died.  The  men  are  sitting  in  the  snow, 
about  a  hundred  and  fifteen  miles  from  us,  living  on  three  crackers  a  day, 
and  three-quarters  of  a  pound  of  beef  a  week.  Thus  you  see  the  old 
Prophet's  words  are  fulfilled — whoever  shall  fight  against  Zion  shall  per- 
ish. The  time  is  very  near  when  one  man  shall  chase  a  thousand,  and  ten 
shall  put  ten  thousand  to  flight !  Zion  is  free ;  she  is  hid  in  one  of  the 
chambers  of  the  Lord.  We  are  a  free  people.  We  do  not  fear  '  Uncle 
Sam's  '  soldiers.  We  only  fear  our  Father  in  heaven.  We  are  learning 
His  commandments  every  day  from  His  prophet,  and  I  am  determined  to 
keep  them.  If  you  were  here,  and  could  hear  the  Prophet's  voice  as  I  do, 
and  could  hear  the  Lion  of  the  Lord  roar  from  the  mountains,  as  I  do, 
and  know  how  near  the  scourge  of  the  Lord  is  upon  the  Gentiles,  you 
would  flee  to  the  mountains  with  haste.  The  time  has  come  when  the 
Lord  has  called  all  the  elders  home,  and  commanded  them  to  bind  up  the 
law  and  seal  the  testimony.  They  are  now  coming  home  as  fast  as  possi- 
ble. What  comes  next  ?  The  judgment,  hail-storm,  thunder,  lightning, 
pestilence,  war ;  and  they  that  will  not  take  up  the  sword  against  their 
neighbour  must  flee  to  Zion  for  safety.  Will  you  come,  oh !  my  dear 
children?" 

That  letter  was  a  truthful  reflex  of  the  Mormon  mind  in 
1857,  and  exhibits  how  grossly  ignorant  that  people  were  of 
the  progress  of  the  world  and  the  might  of  the  Government 
against  which  they  were  arrayed.  The  people  did  honestly 
believe  that  the  time  had  fully  come  when  the  Government  of 
the  United  States  would  be  broken  to  pieces,  and  that  the  lit- 
tle handful  of  Mormons  in  the  valleys  of  the  Eocky  Moun- 
tains was  "  the  kingdom,"  and  was  indeed  that  stone  which 
should  grind  into  powder  all  upon  whom  it  fell. 

"  The  whole  United  States  and  the  whole  world  could  not 
"  prevail  against  the  Saints."  As  for  the  army  at  Camp  Scott, 
"  a  swarm  of  long-billed  mosquitoes  could  eat  them  up  at  a 

supper  spell."  ^  Heber,  full  of  rollicking  fun,  fire,  and 
fagots,  announced  that  he  had  himself  alone  "  wives  enough 
"  to  whip  the  United  States,"  "  but  he  did  not  want  to  shed 
"  the  blood  of  his  brothers  and  sisters,  neither  did  the  Saints 

want  to  see  these  things  " — "  unless  the  Holy  Ghost  dictates 

*  Bishop  L.  D.  Young,  Tabernacle,  December  13,  1857. 


880 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


"  for  us  to  shed  the  blood  of  oar  enemies,  and  then  it  is  as  just 
"  and  right  as  it  is  for  us  to  partake  of  the  sacrament."  For 
himself,  however,  he  would  prefer  that  the  army  would  go 
some  other  way,  and  not  try  to  come  into  the  city,  for  "  we  do 
"  not  want  to  hurt  them  ;  but  if  they  come  down  upon  us  and 
"  we  have  to  repel  them  by  the  force  of  arms,  God  Almighty 
"  will  give  us  the  power  to  do  it,  now  mark  it.''  * 

The  Mormons  had  another  lesson  to  learn. 

Notwithstanding  the  difficulty  experienced  at  that  time  of 
travelling  across  the  plains  in  winter,  an  express  occasionally 
carried  to  the  Government  the  unwelcome  news  of  the  disaster 
that  had  befallen  the  expedition  and  the  sufferings  and  priva- 
tions that  ensued.  At  one  time  there  were  grave  fears  of  its 
ultimate  success,  but  brave  men  and  the  unlimited  resources 
of  the  Government  were  destined  to  overcome  every  obstacle. 
Captain  Marcy  with  a  company  of  picked  men  undertook  a 
perilous  journey  from  Fort  Bridger  to  Taos,  New  Mexico,  to 
obtain  provisions,  cattle,  and  mules  for  the  relief  of  the  expedi- 
tion, and  after  most  terrible  suffering  and  heavy  loss  of  ani- 
mals, and  many  disabled  men,  he  reached  the  point  of  supply, 
and  was  eminentlj^  successful. 

The  misfortunes  that  had  befallen  the  troops  aroused  the 
Government  to  a  realization  of  the  necessity  of  rendering  every 
aid,  both  in  men  and  material,  to  save  the  expedition  and 
make  it  successful.  Lieut.-Gen.  Scott  was  summoned  to  Wash- 
ington to  consult  with  the  Secretary  of  War,  and  at  one  time 
the  project  of  entering  Utah  from  the  west  was  seriously  en- 
tertained. The  intimation  that  two  regiments  of  volunteers 
would  probably  be  called  for  in  the  spring  met  with  a  ready 
response  from  all  parts  of  the  Union.  It  was  very  evident 
that  the  nation  was  thoroughly  dissatisfied  with  the  state  of 
affairs  in  Utah,  and  wanted  to  bring  the  Mormons  to  a  settle- 
ment. 

Eeady  to  take  advantage  of  anything  which  promised 
wealth,  there  were  multitudes  of  solicitous  contractors  seeking 
to  supply  the  army  in  the  West ;  and,  with  a  prodigality  beyond 
all  precedent,  the  War  Department  was  perfectly  reckless. 
The  Sixth  and  Seventh  regiments  of  infantry,  together  with 
*  Tabernacle,  September  20th,  IS61, 


COLONEL  THOMAS  L.  KANE. 


381 


the  First  Cavalry,  and  two  batteries  of  artillery — about  three 
thousand  in  all — were  ordered  to  Utah,  and  every  arrangement 
made  for  speedy  and  colossal  warfare  with  the  Prophet.  Polit- 
ical writers  charged  to  the  administration  of  Mr.  Buchanan  an 
utter  recklessness  of  expenditure,  intended  more  for  the  sup- 
port of  political  favourites  and  for  the  attainment  of  political 
purposes  in  Kansas  than  for  the  overthrow  of  the  dynasty  of 
Brigham.  It  was  estimated  in  Washington  that  forty- five  hun- 
dred wagons  would  be  required  to  transport  munitions  of  war 
and  provisions  for  the  troops  for  a  period  of  from  twelve  to 
eighteen  months,  besides  fifty  thousand  oxen,  four  thousand 
mules,  and  an  army  of  teamsters,  wagon-masters,  and  em- 
ployes, at  least  five  thousand  strong.  It  was  very  evident 
that  the  Government  was  playing  with  a  loose  hand,  and  the 
consideration  of  cost  to  the  national  treasury  was  the  last  thing 
thought  of.  The  unanimity,  however,  that  prevailed  through- 
out the  Union  exhibited  the  wide-spread  detestation  of  "  the 
"rebellion  "  of  Brigham  Young.  The  transportation  item  for 
1858  provided  for  the  expenditure  of  no  less  than  four  and  a 
half  millions,  and  that  contract  was  accorded  to  a  firm  in  west- 
ern Missouri,  without  public  announcement  or  competition. 

While  all  this  was  occupying  the  attention  of  the  public, 
and  the  Government  seemed  determined  that  the  war  against 
the  Mormons  should  be  carried  out  with  vigour,  there  was  an- 
other influence  at  work  to  bring  "  the  Utah  rebellion  "  to  a 
peaceful  termination. 

Among  the  passengers  who,  in  the  first  week  of  January, 
1858,  steamed  out  of  New  York  harbour  for  San  Francisco, 
was  a  gentleman  registered  as  Dr.  Osborne.  On  reaching  the 
Pacific  coast  the  said  "  Doctor  "  hastened  overland  to  Southern 
California,  and  there  overtaking  the  Mormons  from  San  Ber- 
nardino, who  were  returning  home  for  the  defence  of  Zion,  he 
was  readily  provided  with  the  necessary  escort  through  the  In- 
dian country,  and  in  the  latter  part  of  February  he  reached 
Salt  Lake  City. 

The  presence  of  the  stranger  in  the  city  was  soon  known, 
but  to  Brigham  Young  and  his  associates  only  was  the  reputed 
Dr.  Osborne  known  as  their  whilom  friend  Col.  [now  General] 
Thomas  L.  Kane,  of  Philadelphia. 


382 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


What  was  communicated  from  President  Buchanan  to 
Brigham  Young  through  Col.  Kane  has  never  been  published, 
nor  is  there  a  soul  in  Utah  to-day  who  claims  to  be  in  posses* 
sion  of  that  information  ;  but  whatever  the  nature  of  this  in- 
telligence may  have  been,  if  any  communication  at  all,  it  is 
very  certain  that  President  Buchanan  was  particularly  careful 
to  have  it  understood  that  there  was  nothing  like  yielding  con- 
templated on  the  part  of  the  Government  before  the  predic- 
tions of  the  Prophet.  In  his  annual  message  to  Congress,  on 
the  5th  of  December,  1858,  Mr.  Buchanan  made  honourable 
mention  of  the  services  of  Col.  Kane,  but  he  went  out  of  his 
way  to  assure  Congress  that  the  Colonel  went  to  Utah  "  with- 
"  out  any  official  character  or  pecuniary  compensation ; "  that 
it  was  solely  "from  motives  of  pure  benevolence,"  and  "that 
"  the  Colonel  had  only  sought  to  contribute  to  the  pacification 
"  of  the  Territory."  In  a  letter  furnished  to  Col.  Kane  on  the  eve 
of  his  departure  for  Utah,  Mr.  Buchanan  was  very  particular 
in  defining  their  relative  positions,  and  addressed  him  thus  : 

"  My  Deab  Sir  :  You  furnish  the  strongest  evidence  of  your  desire  to 
serve  the  Mormons,  by  abandoning  the  comforts  of  friends,  family,  and 
home,  and  voluntarily  encountering  the  perils  and  dangers  of  a  journey 
to  Utah,  at  the  present  inclement  season  of  the  year,  at  your  own  expense, 
and  without  official  position.  .  .  ,  Nothing  but  pure  philanthropy, 
and  a  strong  desire  to  serve  the  Mormon  people,  could  have  dictated  a 
course  so  much  at  war  with  your  private  interests."  * 

After  the  Colonel's  arrival  in  Salt  Lake  City,  it  is  very  clear 
that  he  impressed  Brigham  Young  with  the  determination  of 

*  Some  writers  have  essayed  to  represent  that  Col.  Kane  was  a  Mormon,  and 
they  state  that  he  was  baptized  at  Council  Bluffs  in  184  7.  The  Colonel  himself, 
however,  has  not  seen  fit  to  confess  such  a  relationship  with  the  Saints,  and  it  can 
be  of  little  consequence  to  the  world  whether  he  was  so  or  not.  There  is  no  doubt 
in  the  Author's  mind  that  Col.  Kane  acted,  in  1847,  on  the  Missouri  River,  and  in 
1858,  at  Salt  Lake  City,  in  the  interest  of  the  Mormons,  just  as  Mr.  Buchanan 
Btates,  "  from  motives  of  pure  philanthropy." 

The  Colonel  was  very  sick  when  with  the  Mormons  in  1847,  and  but  for  the  ex- 
cellent nursing  and  care  that  he  then  received  he  would  probably  have  died.  The 
debt  of  gratitude  for  those  services  he  has  sought  to  fully  repay,  and  no  man  stands 
higher  in  Brigham  Young's  favour  to-day  than  General  Thomas  L.  Kane.  This  fact 
alone  is  sufficient  to  set  at  rest  all  questions  of  the  Colonel's  Mormonisra.  Had  the 
Colonel  been  a  Mormon,  Brigham  would  have  treated  him  with  less  respect.  To  the 
Prophet,  adhesion  to  the  faith  inevitably  entails  servile  obedience.  Instead  of 
courting  Gen.  Kane,  as  he  now  does,  he  would  have  commanded  him. 


AN  AFFAIR  OF  HONOUR.—THE  APOLOGY.  383 


tlie  Government  to  subdue  all  opposition,  and  satisfied  him 
that  in  the  coming  spring  the  troops  would  force  a  passage 
through  the  canons,  and  would  occupy  the  city  if  any  resist- 
ance were  offered  to  the  instalment  of  the  new  Territorial 
Governor  and  the  Federal  officers. 

On  the  12th  of  March  an  exhausted  traveller  was  seen  plod- 
ding his  way  from  the  west  through  the  snow  towards  the  mil- 
itary lines  of  Camp  Scott.  "When  challenged  by  the  picket, 
he  requested  to  be  conducted  to  the  tent  of  Governor  Gumming, 
whom  he  desired  to  see  without  delay.  This  enfeebled  young- 
looking  gentleman  was  Col.  Thomas  L.  Kane.  With  the  nat- 
ural politeness  of  a  thorough  gentleman,  Governor  Gumming 
bade  him  welcome,  and  did  everything  that  he  possibly  could 
to  make  his  guest  feel  at  home. 

In  the  relations  of  Col.  Kane  with  the  Mormons  at  that 
time,  there  was  exhibited  evidence  of  the  highest  Christian 
charity  and  personal  heroism  of  character.  He  must  have  well 
known  that  in  entering  the  encampment  of  General  Johnston 
at  Camp  Scott,  his  second,  if  not  his  first,  duty  was  to  make 
known  to  the  commander  something  of  the  nature  of  his  busi- 
ness within  the  lines  of  the  army.  His  silence  wounded  Gen- 
eral Johnston  and  his  officers,  and  everywhere  in  the  camp  the 
Colonel  was  spoken  of  as  a  spy."  In  course  of  time  an  invi- 
tation to  dine  at  the  General's  head- quarters  was  sent  to  the 
Colonel  by  the  hand  of  an  orderly ;  but,  instead  of  delivering 
the  invitation,  by  some  unaccountable  mistake,  the  orderly  for- 
got his  instructions,  and  proceeded  to  place  the  Colonel  under 
arrest.  The  Governor  instantly  extended  his  protection  over 
his  guest,  and  immediately  a  challenge  from  the  Colonel  to 
General  Johnston  was  dictated ;  but  by  the  timely  interfer- 
ence of  Chief-Justice  Eckels,  w^ho  threatened  to  arrest  the 
whole  party,  the  affair  of  honour  was  nipped  in  the  bud. 

Governor  Gumming  warmly  espoused  the  cause  of  his 
guest,  and  felt  himself  also  personally  insulted,  and  from  that 
moment  the  entente  cordiale  between  the  civil  Governor  and  the 
military  commander  of  the  Utah  expedition  was  for  ever  bro- 
ken. Brigham  was  now  safe— the  military  could  only  act  as  a 
posse  comitatvs  on  the  call  of  the  Governor,  and  the  latter  was 
for  peace.    Was  this  the  settled  diplomacy  of  Colonel  Kane 


384 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


from  the  beginning  ?  "Was  it  to  accomplisli  this  that  he  risked 
his  life  in  a  long,  weary  journey  over  sea  and  land,  that  almost 
proved  fatal  to  him,  passed  under  a  fictitious  name,  and  bore 
the  epithet  of  "  spy  "  in  Camp  Scott — to  serve  the  Mormon  peo- 
ple and  save  them  from  certain  death  ?  Such  would  appear 
to  have  been  the  fact.    It  was  the  noblest  heroism. 

Soon  after  the  departure  of  Col.  Kane  for  Fort  Bridger,  a 
"special  council  "  was  held  in  the  Tabernacle — on  the  21st  of 
March — at  which  "  a  series  of  instructions  and  remarks  "  was 
delivered  by  Brigham  for  the  edification  of  the  leading  men 
aronnd  him.  The  "  instructions  and  remarks  "  were  never  pub- 
lished in  any  of  the  organs  of  the  Church,  but  for  the  use  ot 
the  bishops  and  chief  men  they  were  printed  in  a  pamphlet 
form.  It  is  a  most  singular  document,  and  one  that  few  per- 
sons have  seen.  The  gist  of  the  "  remarks  "  was  the  forced 
confession  of  Brigham  that  the  Saints  were  not  prepared  to 
fio;ht  the  United  States,  and  that  he  was  resolved  on  flio-ht.  In 
it  he  tells  the  "  special  council  "  that  if  Joseph  Smith  had  giv- 
en heed  to  the  whisperings  of  the  Spirit,  he  never  would  have 
given  himself  up  to  the  marshal  and  gone  to  Carthage,  and  he 
then  avows  his  determination  not  to  be  taken,  and  speaks  at 
random,  like  a  man  utterly  in  the  dark  respecting  the  future, 
notwithstanding  his  previous  boasting  of  continuous  "  revela- 
"tion,"  and  the  guidance  of  "the  Lord."  To  that  special 
council  he  said : 

"  I  do  not  know  precisely  in  what  manner  the  Lord  will  lead  me,  but 
were  I  thrown  into  the  situation  Joseph  was,  I  would  leave  the  people  and 
go  into  the  wilderness^  and  let  them  do  the  lest  they  could.  Will  I  run  from 
the  sheep  ?  No.  Will  I  forsake  the  flock  ?  No.  But  if  Joseph  had  fol- 
lowed the  revelations  in  him  he  would  have  been  our  earthly  shepherd  to- 
day, and  we  would  have  followed  his  voice  and  followed  the  shepherd  in- 
stead of  the  shepherd's  following  the  sheep.  When  the  shepherd  follows 
the  sheep,  it  reverses  the  natural  order,  for  the  sheep  are  to  follow  the 
shepherd.  I  want  you  to  understand  that  if  I  am  your  earthly  shepherd, 
you  must  follow  me,  or  else  we  shall  be  separated." — pp.  3-4. 

The  idea  of  a  shepherd  leading  his  flock  to  greener  and 
richer  pasture  is  known  the  world  over,  but  that  a  faithful 
shepherd  should  flee  before  his  sheep  and  tell  them  to  follow  him, 
when  those  sheep  were  surrounded  and  threatened  by  ravenous 
beasts  seeking  to  devour  them,  is  a  picture  which  has  yet  to 
spring  from  the  artist's  pencil. 


BRIGHAM     COUNSELS"  FLIGHT. 


386 


As  he  had  seen  the  winter  approaching,  and  knew  that  a 
handful  of  men  could  defend  the  narrow  defiles  of  the  caQons, 
Brighara  was  bold  and  threatening ;  but  when  the  balmy  breath 
of  spring  was  felt  on  the  deep  snow  that  intervened  between 
the  national  army  at  Fort  Bridger  and  the  city  of  the  Saints, 
and  told  as  certainly  as  the  returning  season  itself  that  that 
army  would  soon  advance,  the  Prophet  comprehended  the  des- 
perate situation  in  which  he  was  placed.  It  was  then  that  he 
stumbled  upon  this,  to  him,  logical  method  of  escaping  from 
the  difficulties  which  surrounded  him.  To  tlie  council  already 
spoken  of  he  continued  his  address : 

"  A  great  many  parents  follow  off  their  children,  and  men  follow  their 
women.  For  a  man  to  follow  a  woman  is,  in  the  sight  of  Heaven,  disgraceful 
to  the  name  of  a  man.  It  is  a  disgrace  for  parents  to  follow  their  children. 
I  am  your  leader,  Latter-Day  Saints,  and  you  must  follow  me  ;  and  if  you 
do  not  follow  me,  you  may  expect  that  I  shall  go  my  way,  and  you  may 
take  yours,  if  you  please.  I  shall  do  as  the  Spirit  dictates  me.  What  does 
it  now  direct  me  to  dictate  to  you  ?  Our  enemies  are  determined  to  blot 
us  out  of  existence  if  they  can."  [p.  4]  .  .  .  "  Should  I  take  a  course  to 
waste  life  ?  We  are  in  duty  bound  to  preserve  life — to  preserve  ourselves 
on  the  earth— consequently  we  must  use  policy  and  follow  in  the  counsel 
given  us,  in  order  to  preserve  our  lives.  Shall  we  take  a  course  to  whip 
our  enemies  ?  or  one  to  let  them  whip  themselves  ?  or  shall  we  go  out  and 
slay  them  now  ?  We  have  been  preparing  to  use  up  our  enemies  by  fight- 
ing them,  and  if  we  take  that  course  and  shed  the  blood  of  our  enemies, 
we  will  see  the  time,  and  that,  too,  not  far  from  this  very  morning,  when 
we  will  have  to  flee  from  our  homes  and  leave  the  spoils  to  them. — That 
is  as  sure  as  we  commence  the  game."  [Excellent  second  sober  thought: 
thanks  to  Colonel  Kane.]  "  If  we  open  the  ball  upon  them  by  slaying  the 
United  States  soldiery,  just  so  sure  they  would  be  fired  with  anger  to  lav- 
ishly expend  their  means  to  compass  our  destruction,  and  thousands,  and 
millions  if  necessary,  would  furnish  the  means,  if  the  Government  was 
not  able,  and  turn  out  and  drive  us  from  our  homes,  and  kill  us  if  they 
could,  [p.  6.]  [How  strange  "the  Lord "  did  not  whisper  that  before !] 
.  .  '  Where  are  you  going  ? '  To  the  deserts  and  the  mountains.  There 
is  a  desert  region  in  this  Territory  larger  than  any  of  the  Eastern  States, 
that  no  white  man  knows  anything  about.  Can  you  realize  that  ?  What 
is  the  reason  you  do  not  know  anything  about  that  region  ?  It  is  a  desert 
country  with  long  distances  from  water  to  water,  with  wide  sandy  and 
alkali  places  entirely  destitute  of  vegetation  and  miry  when  wet,  and 
small,  scattering  patches  of  greasewood,  and  it  is  a  region  that  the  whites 
have  not  explored,  and  where  there  are  but  few  Indians.  There  are  places 
here  and  there  in  it  where  a  few  families  could  live. 


386 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


"Four  years  ago  this  spring  we  sent  Bishop  David  Evans  and  a  com- 
pany to  go  to  that  desert,  for  we  then  had  too  long  neglected  to  explore 
it.  We  wanted  to  plant  settlements  there  in  preparation  for  this  day,  for 
we  have  had  foreshadowings  and  a  promise  of  the  scenery  now  before  us. 
That  company  did  not  accomplish  the  object  of  their  mission  ;  they  were 
absent  a  few  weeks,  and  went  to  the  first  mountain,  but  they  did  not  go  to 
the  mountain  where  they  were  sent,  and  made  no  settlement.  Now  we  are 
going  to  try  it  again.  Probably  there  is  room  in  that  region  for  500,000 
persons  to  live  scattered  about  where  theije  is  good  grass  and  water.  I  am 
going  there^  where  we  should  have  gone  six  or  seven  years  ago.  Now  we 
are  going  to  see  whether  the  sheep  will  follow  the  shepherd,  I  do  not  ca/re 
whether  they  follow  me  or  noW'' — p.  7. 

Brigham  wound  up  his  remarks,  extending  over  thirteen 
pages,  with  the  following  words  :  "  My  mind  is  too  full  this 
"morning  to  come  to  close  points  "—that  the  reader  could 
easily  believe.  The  tone  of  the  "  defenders  of  Zion  "  was  now 
to  be  changed.  Flighty  and  not  fight,  was  to  be  the  watch- 
word. The  safety  of  Brigham  and  the  leaders  was  the  salva- 
tion of  the  people.    The  "  game  of  bluff"  was  over. 

The  Hon.  John  M.  Bernhisel,  the  Mormon  delegate,  had 
gone  East  with  Major  Yan  Yleit,  and  in  his  very  quiet  and 
unobtrusive  way  he  laboured  faithfully  at  Washington  with 
Colonel  Kane  to  arrive  at  an  understanding  with  President 
Buchanan.  Mr.  Buchanan,  dreading  to  saddle  his  administra- 
tion with  the  responsibility  of  domestic  warfare,  if  it  could  be 
avoided,  gladly  accepted  the  assurance  that  a  settlement  could 
easily  be  effected  without  compromising  the  Government,  and 
in  that  spirit  did  he  favour  the  unofficial  services  of  Colonel 
Kane,  and  furnished  that  gentleman  with  letters  to  Governor 
Cumming  and  other  officers  of  the  Federal  Government  in 
order  to  facilitate  and  protect  him  in  his  travels. 

Efforts  have  been  made  to  charge  Mr.  Buchanan  with 
"  backing  down."  That  the  initiatory  steps  for  the  settlement 
of  the  Utah  difficulty  were  made  by  the  Government,  as  it  is 
so  constantly  repeated  among  the  Saints,  is  not  true.  The 
Author  at  the  time  of  Colonel  Kane's  departure  from  New 
York  for  Utah  was  then  on  the  staff  of  the  New  York  Herald^ 
and  was  conversant  with  the  facts,  and  confidentially  commu- 
nicated them  to  Frederic  Hudson,  Esq.,  the  distinguished 
manager  of  that  great  journal,  to  be  used  as  he  thought  proper. 


CHAPTEE  XL. 


PEACE  EESTORED.— Gov.  Gumming  visits  Salt  Lake  Gity— His  Passage  through 
Echo  Canon — E very wli ere  greeted  with  Honour— Brigham  surrenders  the  Terri- 
torial Seal,  and  receives  the  new  Governor  with  Courtesy — Commissioners  arrive 
with  President  Buchanan's  Pardon — Peace  proclaimed — General  Johnston  with- 
out Opposition  traverses  the  Streets  of  Zion — The  Federal  Troops  locate  Forty 
Miles  from  the  City — The  Saints  return  to  their  Homes — The  Prophet's  Boast- 
ing and  the  President's  Folly  suddenly  terminate. 

The  visit  of  Col.  Kane  to  Governor  Gumming  was  emi- 
nently successful.  On  the  3rd  of  April  his  Excellency  in- 
formed Gen.  Johnston  that  he  was  ready  to  proceed  to  Salt 
*  Lake  City  to  assume  the  duties  of  his  office ;  and  two  days 
later,  accompanied  by  Col.  Kane,  he  set  out  from  Camp  Scott. 

After  all  the  violent  speeches  against  the  advance  of  the 
troops,  and  the  repeatedly  expressed  determination  of  Brigham 
that  he  would  never  permit  them  to  enter  the,  city,  and  that 
he  would  send  back  Governor  Cumming,  it  is  interesting  to 
note  the  facts  as  they  actually  transpired. 

As  soon  as  the  Governor  passed  beyond  the  Federal  mili- 
tary lines  he  was  met  by  a  Mormon  escort,  and  was  the  recip- 
ient of  all  the  honours  the  militia  could  heap  upon  him.  His 
passage  from  Camp  Scott  to  Salt  Lake  City  was  one  grand 
ovation  of  loyalty  and  profession  of  respect  for  the  person  of 
the  chief  representative  of  the  Government. 

The  country  was  in  a  condition  of  war,  and  as  no  official 
steps  had  been  yet  taken  to  bring  it  to  a  close,  his  Excellency 
was  too  much  of  a  gentleman  to  think  of  travellin  through 
Echo  Canon  during  the  day,  as  it  was  obvious  that  he  would 
then  have  every  facility  for  taking  notes  of  the  enemy's  forti^- 
cations  !  Travelling  by  night  afforded  "  the  boys  "  every  op- 
24 


390 


THE  EOCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


portunity  for  showing  the  Governor  what  a  formidable  place 
the  United  States  troops  would  have  to  pass  tKrongh,  and  that 
would  certainly  not  fail  to  impress  him  still  more  favourably 
with  the  advantages  and  necessity  of  peace. 

From  one  end  of  the  canon  to  the  other  great  fires  could 
be  seen  at  night  on  the  hill-sides  and  on  the  mountain-tops, 
representing  the  works  and  bivouacks  of  a  great  army,  while 
the  lurid  flames  of  the  pine-tree  fires  rendered  the  darkness 
still  more  impressive,  and  conveyed  to  the  bewildered  Govern- 
or the  idea  that  near  at  hand  there  was  a  mighty  host  under 
arms. 

The  military  chieftains  managed  to  keep  his  Excellency  in  a 
continued  strain  of  feverish  expectation.  At  every  important 
bend  of  the  road  the  Governor  and  his  escort  would  be  sud- 
denly challenged  by  the  pickets,  and  the  countersign  demand- 
ed. On  one  occasion  there  was  a  call  to  arms,  and  a  mock  ef- 
fort at  hostility,  but  some  of  the  principal  officers  arrived  just 
in  time  to  save  his  Excellency's  life,  and  to  call  off  the  pugna- 
cious militia,  and  hinder  them  from  taking  him  prisoner !  At 
several  of  the  principal  posts  the  Mormon  troops  would  be 
called  together  to  salute  the  Governor  as  he  passed,  and  to  lis- 
ten to  his  kindly  words.  Soon  after  that  he  would  again  be 
detained  by  other  pickets,  while  the  militia  which  he  had  ad- 
dressed 'but  a  few  minutes  before  had  an  opportunity,  in  the 
darkness  of  the  night,  of  passing  by  unobserved,  and  were 
ready  to  salute  him  again,  and  listen  to  another  address  at  a 
succeeding  stage  of  the  journey.  In  this  way  the  new  Gov- 
ernor of  Utah  was  impressed  with  the  idea  that  the  men  under 
arms  numbered  several  thousands,  while  probably  at  that  time 
there  was  not  more  than  a  couple  of  hundreds. 

In  course  of  time  he  discovered  how  the  Mormon  leaders 
had  imposed  upon  him  and  amused  themselves  with  his  credu- 
lity, and  he  was  ever  afterwards  unpleasantly  reticent  when 
the  affair  was  mentioned.  Although  subsequently  upon  friend- 
ly terms  with  Brigham,  he  could  not  forget  the  incidents  of  his 
passage  through  the  canon  by  night,  and  to  the  last  hour  that 
he  was  in  the  Territory  he  felt  annoyed  at  having  been  so  ab- 
surdly deceived,  and  held  Brigham  responsible  for  the  mortify- 
ing joke. 


GOVERNOR  GUMMING  RECEIVED  BY  THE  PROPHET. 


On  the  12th  of  April,  Governor  Gumming  reached  the  city, 
where  he  was  kindly  welcomed  by  the  leading  men  of  "  the 
"  kingdom,"  and  escorted  to  the  most  comfortable  quarters  in 
the  city — the  residence  of  elder  Wm.'G.  Staines,  an  intelligent 
gentleman  and  faithful  disciple  of  the  Prophet.  Among  the 
■first  to  salute  the  new  Governor  and  to  do  him  honour  was  his 
Excellency  Governor  Young.*^  Governor  Gumming  was  per- 
fectly delighted,  and  "  the  Utah  war  "  was  practically  at  an 
end. 

From  the  time  that  the  Federal  troops  left  the  States,  all 
mail  communication  with  Salt  Lake  across  the  Eastern  plains 
was  entirely  stopped  ;  but  by  a  singular  inadvertence,  the  mail 
service  to  and  from  the  Pacific  Coast  was  continued  uninter- 
ruptedly, and  through  this  channel  the  success  of  the  mission 
of  Colonel  Kane  was  communicated  to  the  Government. 

On  the  very  day  that  Governor  Gumming  entered  Salt  Lake 
City  and  Brigham  had  remitted  to  him  the  executive  seal  of  the 
Territory,  President  Buchanan  appointed  Gov.  L.  "W.  Powell, 
of  Kentucky,  and  Col.  Ben.  McCulloch,  of  Texas,  commission- 
ers to  repair  to  Utah  as  bearers  of  a  pardon  from  "Washing- 
ton for  all  offences  committed  during  the  rebellion,  if  those  in 
arms  would  accept  of  the  clemency  of  the  President,  and  re- 
turn to  their  allegiance  to  the  Government. 

The  course  of  Governor  Gumming  was  a  great  annoyance 
to  the  other  Federal  officers,  but  to  that  his  Excellency  was 
perfectly  indifferent.  He  was  fully  conversant  with  the  pro- 
gramme that  had  been  traced  out  in  Washington,  and  after- 
events  in  the  adjustment  of  the  Utah  difficulty  verified  the  cor- 
rectness of  his  judgment.  The  movements  of  Col.  Kane  in 
Utah,  and  the  action  of  President  Buchanan  at  the  seat  of 
Government,  were  perfectly  harmonious,  and  coincided  with 
an  accuracy  which  was  altogether  remarkable. 

Chief-Justice  Eckels  tried  to  reach  something  by  his  court 
against  the  Mormon  elders,  and  General  Johnston  was  fast 

*  John  Hyde,  in  his  work  published  July,  1857,  nine  months  previous  to  the 
entrance  of  Governor  Gumming,  predicted  of  this  event :  "  The  new  Governor,  all 
"  Brigham's  vapouring  to  the  contrary  notwithstanding,  will  be  courteously  received 
"  at  Salt  Lake  City/' — p.  320.  The  Mormon  Elders  thoroughly  understand  the 
Mormon  Prophet. 


392 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


coinpleting  the  preparations  for  his  advance  upon  the  enemy, 
but  it  was  all  to  no  purpose.  Three  days  after  his  arrival  in 
the  city  his  Excellency  notified  General  Johnston  that  he  had 
been  fully  recognized  as  the  Governor  of  the  Territory,  and 
was  in  the  full  and  unmolested  discharge  of  his  duties,  and 
that  therefore  the  presence  of  the  army  in  Salt  Lake  City  was 
altogether  unnecessary. 

The  commander  of  the  army  fully  comprehended  that  as  a 
posse  comitatus  at  the  call  of  the  Governor,  no  requisition  was 
ever  likely  to  be  made.  He  had,  however,  direct  instructions 
from  the  Secretary  of  "War  about  establishing  military  posts  in 
Utah,  and  with  these  the  Governor  could  not  interfere. 

On  the  first  Sunday  after  the  Governor's  arrival  among  the 
Saints  a  great  meeting  was  convened  in  the  Tabernacle,  and 
Brigham  Young  introduced  Governor  Gumming  to  the  congre- 
gation. Another  feature  of  the  "  Utah  rebellion  "  was  now  to 
be  developed. 

It  was  ridiculous  to  expect  Brigham  Young  to  publicly  back 
down  and  eat  the  humble  pie  of  submission.  He  was  a  Proph- 
et in  the  eyes  of  the  Saints,  and  the  position  in  which  he  stood 
was  one  of  world-wide  notoriety.  It  was  absolutely  necessary 
that  some  plan  should  be  adopted  whereby  he  might  escape  the 
difficulties  which  surrounded  him.  President  Buchanan,  too, 
was  before  the  world,  and  he  had  to  be  saved  from  the  appear- 
ance of  folly  in  the  beginning  and  weakness  in  the  ending  of 
"  the  Utah  rebellion."  Diplomacy  was  again  the  order  of  the 
day. 

The  proceedings  in  the  Tabernacle  were  all  an  understood 
thing.  An  apostle  reviewed  Mormon  history  and  pictured 
"  the  persecutions  of  the  Saints,"  from  the  tarring  and  feather- 
ing of  Joseph  Smith  in  1830  to  the  annulling  of  the  mail  con- 
tract in  1857.  The  Government  was  denounced  and  be- 
rated for  sins  of  omission  and  commission,  the  last  of  which 
was'  the  appointment  of  "  a  Missourian  "  to  govern  the  Mor- 
mons. 

The  new  Governor  was  almost  beside  himself  at  the  in- 
dignity offered  to  him  after  all  he  had  done  to  bring  about 
peace.  He  called  out  in  the  congregation  that  he  was  no 
Missouricm:  "  I  am  a  Georgian,  sir,  a  Georgian,  sir."  The 


THE  GOVERNOR  IN  THE  TABERNACLE. 


393 


error  was  immediately  corrected  and  the  ruffled  Governor  was 
gently  soothed  and  pacified.  After  that,  one  speaker  after 
another  arose  in  the  congregation  and  in  a  state  of  excitement 
denounced  the  Government  and  the  Federal  officials  who  had 
been  in  the  Territory.  There  was,  in  fact,  a  general  denuncia- 
tion of  the  enemies  of  the  Saints  and  a  reiteration  of  their  de- 
termination, if  need  be,  to  fight  for  their  rights.  One  of  the 
most  amusing  features  of  that  well- arranged  comedy  was  the 
speech  of  a  very  eloquent  Irishman  who  had  been  but  a  few 
years  in  the  new  world,  who,  with  a  brogue  "  which  was  in 
every  way  most  marked  and  distinguishable,  contended  for  his 
"  rights."  His  forefathers  had,  he  said,  fought  and  bled  for 
American  liberty,  and  he  would  be  an  unworthy  scion  of  such 
illustrious  sires  did  he  not  contend  for  the  right  to  worship  God 
according  to  the  sacred  birthright  of  every  American  freeman."^ 

Brigham  was  seated  beside  the  Governor  on  the  platform, 
and  tried  to  control  the  unruly  spirits  who  were  clamourous  for 
their  "  rights."  Governor  Gumming  may  for  the  moment  have 
been  deceived  by  this  apparent  division  among  the  Mormons, 
but  three  years  later  he  told  the  Author  that  it  w^as  all  of  a 
piece  with  the  incidents  of  his  passage  through  Echo  Canon. 
He  fully  comprehended  it.  In  his  characteristic  brusque  way 
he  said :  "  It  was  all  humbug,  sir;  all  humbug ;  but  never  mind, 
"  it  is  all  over  now.    If  it  did  them  good,  it  did  not  hurt  me. 

Brigham  Young  is  a  smart  man — smart  man,  but  he  may  yet 
"  find  out  that  other  people  are  not  so  blind  as  he  may  think 
"  they  are.    Smart  man  !  but  he  doesn't  know  everything." 

The  Governor's  report  to  President  Buchanan,  in  the  light 
of  the  facts  stated,  is  very  amusing.    Of  his  journey  he  says : 

"  I  left  camp  on  tlie  5th,  en  route  for  this  city,  accompanied  by  Colonel 
Kane  as  guide,  and  two  servants.  ...  I  was  escorted  from  Bear  River 
Valley  to  the  western  end  of  Echo  Canon — the  journey  through  the  canon 
being  performed,  for  the  most  part,  in  the  night.  It  was  about  eleven 
o'clock  when  I  arrived  at  Weber  Station. 

"I  have  been  everywhere  recognized  as  the  Governor  of  Utah,  and,  so 
far  from  having  encountered  insults  and  indignities,  I  am  gratified  in  being 

*  This  eloquent  orator,  whose  "  forefather "  was  a  brushmaker  in  Liverpool, 
three  years  later,  with  two  wives  and  several  children,  was  glad  to  escape  from  the 
liberty "  he  was  once  contending  for,  and  continued  his  flight  by  the  overland 
stage  until  he  reached  the  Pacific  Coast,  and  has  never  since  returned  to  Utah. 


394 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


able  to  state  that,  in  passing  through  the  settlements,  I  have  been  univer- 
sally greeted  with  such  respectful  attentions  as  are  due  to  the  representa- 
tive of  the  executive  authority  of  the  United  States  

"  When  it  was  arranged  with  the  Mormon  officer  in  command  of  my 
escort  that  I  should  pass  through  Echo  Canon  in  the  night,  I  inferred  that 
it  was  with  the  object  of  concealing  the  barricades  and  other  defences.  I 
was  therefore  agreeably  surprised  at  the  illumination  in  honour  to  me. 
The  bonfires  kindled  by  the  soldiers,  from  the  base  to  the  summit  of  the 
hills,  completely  illuminated  the  valley,  and  disclosed  the  snow-covered 
mountains  which  surrounded  us." 

Before  anything  was  learned  upon  which  to  base  a  well- 
grounded  hope  of  a  peaceful  adjustment  of  the  difficulty  be- 
tween Brigham  Young  and  the  Government,  "counsel"  had 
been  given  to  the  Saints  to  vacate  the  city  and  to  move  south- 
ward. Obedient  to  this  "counsel,"  the  people  gathered  all 
that  they  could  take  with  them  "  upon  wheels " — personal 
property  and  effects,  household  goods,  and  articles  of  daily  use, 
and  leaving  all  their  possessions  as  best  they  could,  they  pre- 
pared for  another  exodus. 

Before  turning  the  key  of  the  outer  door  for  the  last  time, 
straw,  wood,  shavings,  and  everything  combustible,  were 
massed  in  heaps  and  placed  throughout  the  houses,  so  that  if 
it  became  necessary  to  burn  the  city,  the  work  of  destruction 
would  be  so  speedily  executed  that  there  would  remain  no 
shelter  for  the  advancing  enemy,  or  their  camp-followers.  Less 
than  a  score  of  men  were  left  behind  to  apply  the  torch,  and 
repeat  upon  a  small  scale  the  tragedy  of  Moscow,  should  it  be- 
come necessary. 

Such  a  "  sublime  illustration  of  faith  "  has  been  frequently 
descanted  upon,  and  it  is  really  a  very  pretty  subject  to  talk 
about ;  but  when  the  threatening  language  of  Brigham  about 
"  shearing  down  "  all  who  would  not  commit  their  homesteads 
to  the  flames  is  remembered,  the  heroic  devotion  said  to  be  dis- 
played is  not  so  clearly  visible.  This  episode  in  Mormonism 
exhibits  at  least  how  easily  the  people  can  be  manipulated  by 
their  rulers,  whether  from  convictions  of  faith,  from  fears  of 
violence,  or  from  both. 

On  the  Yth  of  June,  the  Peace  Commissioners  Powell  and 
McCulloch  arrived  in  the  city.  Previous  to  this,  Brigham  was 
advised  of  the  nature  of  their  mission,  and  was  in  possession 


THE  "REBELLION"  AT  AN  END. 


395 


of  a  copy  of  President  Buchanan's  proclamation  of  pardon. 
JSTotifled  of  their  presence,  he  returned  from  the  southern  coun- 
try, whither  he  had  gone  with  the  fleeing  Saints,  and  met  the 
Commissioners  in  conference  on  the  11th  and  12th  in  Salt 
Lake  City.  Speeches  similar  to  those  first  listened  to  by 
Governor  Gumming  were  made  in  the  hearing  of  the  Gom- 
missioners,  ^nd  were  duly  reported  by  them  in  the  following 
language : 

"  They  denied  that  they  had  ever  driven  any  officials  from  Utah,  or 
prevented  any  civil  officer  from  entering  the  Territory.  They  admitted 
that  they  burned  the  army  trains,  and  drove  off  the  cattle  from  the  army 
last  fall,  and  for  that  act  they  accepted  the  President's  pardon.  All  the 
charges  that  had  been  made  against  them,  except  the  one  last  named,  they 

denied  We  are  pleased  to  state  that  the  conference  resulted  in  their 

agreeing  to  receive,  quietly  and  peaceably,  all  the  civil  officers  of  the  Gov- 
ernment, and  not  to  resist  them  in  the  execution  of  the  duties  of  their 
offices  ;  and  to  yield  obedience  to  the  authorities  and  laws  of  the  United 
States. 

"  That  they  would  offer  no  resistance  to  the  army  ;  that  the  officers  of 
the  army  should  not  be  resisted  in  the  execution  of  their  orders  within 
the  Territory.  In  shorty  they  agreed  that  the  officers^  civil  and  military^  of 
the  United  States,  should  enter  the  Territory  without  resistance,  and  exercise^ 
'peaceably  and  unmolested,  all  the  functions  of  their  various  offices^  * 

Unable  now  to  prevent  the  advance  of  the  army,  the  Mor- 
mon leaders  requested  that  the  troops  should  not  be  permitted 
to  camp  within  the  city,  nor  near  to  any  of  the  settlements. 
The  Gommissioners  were  non-committal  in  promises,  but  used 
their  good  oflSces  with  General  Johnston  to  meet  the  wishes  of 
the  Mormons,  and  prevent  the  army  from  committing  any  in- 
jury to  the  property  of  the  citizens. 

Immediately  on  learning  that  it  was  feared  the  troops 
might  retaliate  for  their  sufi'erings  during  the  winter,  the  Gen- 
eral issued  a  proclamation  assuring  the  people  that  no  one 
should  be  "  molested  in  his  person  or  rights,  or  in  the  peaceful 
"  pursuit  of  his  avocations."    On  the  same  day  the  Governor 

*  The  "  inspired  "  sermons,  songs,  and  legislative  resolutions  of  resistance  were 
probably  only  intended  by  "  the  Lord  "  to  scare  "  Uncle  Sam,"  and  again  "  try  the 
faith  of  the  Saints."  Joseph  had  a  similar  experience  with  the  Lord's  army  "  in 
Missouri.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  the  next  prophet  will  not  deem  it  necessary  to 
follow  in  the  wake  of  his  predecessors.  These  unpleasant  affairs  might  be  repeated 
once  too  often. 


396 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


officially  announced  "the  restoration  of  peace  to  the  Ter- 
"  ritory." 

Captain  Marcy  liad  arrived  at  Camp  Scott  on  the  8th  of 
June  with  about  fifteen  hundred  horses  and  mules,  and  an 
escort  of  five  companies  of  infantry  and  mounted  riflemen,* 
and,  with  the  addition  of  the  animals  which  he  brought  to 
what  had  been  preserved  during  the  winter,  the  expedition 
was  soon  ready  for  marching  orders. 

On  the  13th,  General  Johnston's  army  began  to  move  for- 
ward in  three  columns.  They  passed  through  that  much 
talked-of  Echo  Canon,  and  were  greatly  amused  with  the  Mor- 
mon defences.  On  the  morning  of  the  26th  the  United  States 
troops  emerged  from  the  Emigration  Canon  into  Salt  Lake 
Valley,  directly  east  of  Salt  Lake  City,  and,  despite  of  the  nu- 
merous predictions  of  "  the  servants  of  the  Lord  "  to  the  con- 
trary, the  national  standard  was  unfurled  to  the  breeze,  and 
under  its  starry  folds,  with  full  equipment  of  arms  and  muni- 
tions of  war,  the  Federal  army,  in  all  the  glory  and  pride  of 
unconquered  warriors,  marched  through  the  streets  of  Zion, 
and  passed  before  the  mansion  of  the  "  Lion  of  the  Lord." 
A  correspondent  with  the  army  thus  pictures  the  occurrence : 

"  It  was  one  of  the  most  extraordinary  scenes  that  have  occurred  in 
American  history.  All  day  long,  from  dawn  till  after  sunset,  the  troops 
and  trains  poured  through  the  city,  the  utter  silence  of  the  streets  being 
broken  only  by  the  music  of  the  military  bands,  the  monotonous  tramp 
of  the  regiments,  and  the  rattle  of  the  baggage- wagons.  Early  in  the 
morning  the  Mormon  guard  had  forced  all  their  fellow-religionists  into 
the  houses,  and  ordered  them  not  to  make  their  appearance  during  the 
day.  The  numerous  flags  that  had  been  flying  from  stafis  on  the  public 
buildings  during  the  previous  week  were  all  struck.  The  only  visible 
groups  of  spectators  were  on  the  corners  near  Brigham  Young's  resi- 
dence, and  consisted  almost  entirely  of  Gentile  civilians.  The  stillness 
was  so  profound,  that,  during  the  intervals  between  the  passage  of  the 
columns,  the  monotonous  gurgle  of  the  city-creek  struck  on  every  ear. 
The  Commissioners  rode  with  the  General's  staff.  The  troops  crossed 
the  Jordan  and  encamped  two  miles  from  the  city,  on  a  dusty  meadow  by 
the  river-bank." 

*  The  expedition  undertaken  and  accomplished  by  Captain  [now  General] 
Marcy  is  one  of  the  brightest  pages  of  our  military  annals.  In  his  "  Thirty  Years 
of  Army  Life  on  the  Border  "  the  General  tells  his  thrilling  story.  He  was  the 
subject  of  honourable  commendation  by  Lieutenant-General  Scott,  and  was  named 
by  the  Secretary  of  War  in  terms  of  the  highest  praise. 


TRIUMPHAL  MARCH  OF  THE  FEDERAL  ARMY. 


397 


The  permanent  location  of  the  camp  was  a  matter  of 
deep  concern  to  the  Mormon  leaders.  Afraid  that  General 
Johnston  would  choose  Cache  Valley — eighty  miles  north  of 
Salt  Lake  City — and  concluding  that  he  was  certain  to  refuse 
what  they  commended,  they  were  very  urgent  in  representing 
the  desirability  of  that  place.  Cedar  Valley,  forty  miles  west  of 
the  city,  was  chosen,  and  their  camp  was  named  after  Mr.  Floyd, 
the  Secretary  of  War,  and  as  there  were  few  settlements  in 
that  direction  and  very  few  improvements  in  the  immediate 
locality,  the  Mormons  were  fully  satisfied  with  Camp  Floyd. 

After  resting  three  days  on  the  banks  of  the  Jordan  while 
the  permanent  camp  was  being  selected,  the  army  again  took 
up  its  march,  and  moved  slowly  southward  from  the  city  to  the 
ridge  of  the  basin  called  "  The  Point  of  the  Mountain,"  and 
then  moving  westward,  crossed  the  Jordan  and  a  low  range  of 
the  Oquirrh  Mountains,  reaching  camp  on  the  6th  of  July. 
Notwithstanding  all  the  vandalism,  death,  and  destruction  that 
was  ascribed  to  the  mission  of  the  army,  their  march  through 
the  settlements  was  unmarked  by  the  first  act  of  violence. 
"  Not  a  field  was  encroached  upon,  not  a  house  molested,  not 
"  a  person  harmed  or  insulted  by  troops  that  had  been  so  har- 
"  assed  and  vituperated  by  a  people  now  entirely  at  their  mer- 
"  cy.  By  their  strict  subordination  they  entitled  themselves  to 
"  the  respect  of  the  country,  as  well  as  to  the  gratitude  of  the 
"  Mormons." 

What  an  eventful  year  this  had  been  to  the  Saints !  On 
the  24:th  of  July — less  than  a  year  before — Brigham  at  Big  Cot- 
tonwood Lake  had  hurled  defiance  at  the  Government,  and  de- 
clared "  the  kingdom "  independent.  The  Tabernacle  for 
months  resounded  with  great  swelling  words.  The  promises 
of  "  the  Lord  "  that  victory  should  be  for  "  Israel  "  had  been 
reiterated  in  the  pulpit  and  from  the  press  and  sung  in  rhyme, 
times  without  number !  Predictions  of  defeat,  disgrace,  and 
destruction  had  been  hurled  at  the  army.  The  nation  was 
ridiculed  and  its  rulers  anathematized,  while  the  thread  was 
severed  for  ever  between  the  Saints  and  the  Gentiles.  "  The 
"  Lord  "  was  to  come  out  of  his  hiding-place  to  vex  the  nation, 
and  to  make  bare  His  arm  in  the  overthrow  of  those  arrayed 
against  Zion.    The  Federal  army  was  to  waste  away  and  per- 


398  THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 

ish,  and  on  no  account  was  it  ever  to  enter  the  sacred  city — the 
Prophet's  habitation.  By  the  end  of  twelve  months  all  this 
was  falsified  by  facts,  and  Brigham  who  uttered  and  the  people 
who  listened  to  these  glorious  predictions  were  unhappily  flee- 
ing from  their  homes,  and*  seeking  the  "  dens  and  caves  of  the 
"  mountains."    What  a  lesson  ! 

The  flight  of  the  Mormons  from  Salt  Lake  City  and  the 
neighbouring  settlements  was  heart-rending  to  witness.  The 
poor  people — and  the  great  mass  of  them  were  very  poor  in- 
deed — were  utterly  destitute.  There  had  been  for  years  but 
very  little  money  in  the  country,  and  that  little  reached  only 
the  hands  of  the  few  who  could  trade  and  speculate. 

For  many  years  in  Utah  a  coin  of  any  kind  was  seldom 
seen  by  the  farming  and  labouring  classes.  Labour  was  ex- 
changed for  labour,  and  store-pay  "  was  the  best  that  the 
produce  of  the  field  and  garden  could  command.  When 
"  counsel "  was  given  to  "  move  south  "  the  people  were  re- 
duced to  the  greatest  extremity  to  furnish  themselves  with  the 
means  of  transportation.  Fraternity  is  tjeautiful  in  Sunday 
sermons,  but  in  a  time  of  flight  that  sentiment  is  too  frequent- 
ly exchanged  for  sauve  qui  peut^  for  those  from  whom  most 
might  have  been  expected,  by  way  of  generous  aid,  too  often 
take  advantage  of  the  necessities  of  others  to  drive  very  hard 
"  bargains."  One  very  prominent  gentleman  to-day  in  Salt 
Lake  City  owes  the  foundation  of  kis  fortune  to  the  high  prices 
that  he  obtained  for  old  wagons  "  at  the  move." 

Governor  Gumming  was  greatly  touched  at  the  sight  of  the 
fleeing  Mormons.  The  sad  impression  made  upon  his  mind 
was  often  revived — especially  when  his  Excellency  was  a  "  lit- 
"tle  happy."  Then  he  would  tell  the  story  of  poverty  and 
rags,  of  the  poor  women  and  innocent  children  "  travelling 
barefooted  and  covered  with  dust,  till  they  looked  more  like 
Indians  than  Caucasians.  The  old  gentleman's  eye  would  fill 
with  tears,  his  lips  compress,  his  head  nod,  and  he  would  mut- 
ter :  Terrible  sight ! — hope  never  to  see  the  like  again— Brig- 
"  ham  Young,  imprudent  man — must  never  do  it  again — but  it 
"  is  all  over  now  !  " 

The  Governor  followed  his  constituents  "  fifty  miles  south, 
beseeching  them  to  turn  back,  and  representing  to  them  that 


THE  FLIGHT  OF  THE  SAINTS. 


399 


there  was  no  danger  to  be  apprehended  from  the  troops ;  that 
their  homes  would  be  preserved,  and  that  they  would  be  un- 
molested ;  but  it  was  to  no  purpose.  As  well  say  to  the  tidal- 
wave  :  ''Hitherto  shalt  thou  go,  but  no  further."  The  Gov- 
ernor and  the  Peace  Commissioners  spoke  in  vain.  The  power 
that  led  away  the  Mormons  from  their  firesides  alone  could 
send  them  back  again. 

At  Provo,  on  the  5th  of  July,  Brigham  announced  his  in- 
tention to  return  to  Salt  Lake  City,  and  left  the  people  at  lib- 
erty to  do  as  they  pleased.  In  a  few  hours  afterwards  the 
greater  number  were  on  the  march  home.  Many  who  had  ex- 
hausted their  resources  in  going  south  were  unable  to  return 
immediatelj^,  and  some  remained  permanently  where  the  flight 
had  landed  them. 

In  this  memorable  flight  there  were  probably  no  less  than 
30,000  persons  on  "  the  move  south,"  from  the  latter  part  of 
March  till  the  beginning  of  August. 


CHAPTER  XLI. 


THE  JUDGES  AT  WOEK.— The  Federal  Officers  divided— Judge  Sinclair  op- 
posed by  the  District  Attorney  at  Salt  Lake  City — Judge  Cradlebaugh  holds 
Court  at  Provo — The  Charges  of  Murder  at  Springville — Attention  drawn  to 
the  Mountain  Meadows  Massacre  and  other  Murders — The  Jury  find  no  Bills 
of  Indictment — The  Judge  discharges  them — Depositions  of  Witnesses  taken — 
Terrible  Eevelations — Counterfeiting  on  United  States  Treasury — Trying  to  ar- 
rest Brigham — Saving  the  Governor's  Official  Head. 

With  the  arrival  of  the  new  Federal  officers  a  thorough 
work  of  investigation  into  the  charges  made  against  the  Mor- 
mon leaders  was  expected.  The  few  Gentiles  and  the  dissatis- 
fied Mormons  immediately  realized  that  there  was  another  influ- 
ence than  that  of  the  priesthood  dominating ;  but  every  sensible 
looker-on  could  readily  see  that  though  Brigham  had  been 
brought  to  terms,  he  was  very  far  from  feeling  that  his  reign  was 
over.  "  The  Lord  "  was  still  with  him,  and  the  Prophet  could 
afibrd  to  bide  his  time.  With  that  accommodating  faith  which 
sees  in  every  opposition  and  change  but  the  stepping-stone  to 
something  better  and  greater,  Brigham  could  comprehend  that 
the  Lord  "  had  made  him  stoop  only  to  conquer.  Could  the 
troops  have  been  kept  out  of  "  the  Yalleys  of  the  Mountains  " 
it  would  have  been  the  work  of  "  the  Lord  "  for  the  protection 
of  his  people ;  bu,t  as  the  troops  were  now  in  the  midst  of  the 
Saints,  that  was  "  the  Lord  "  trying  the  faith  of  his  people.  It 
was  necessary  that  the  Saints  should  exhibit  their  inclinations, 
and  that  those  who  might  incline  to  "  the  kingdom  of  dark- 
"  ness  "  should  have  the  opportunity  of  abandoning  their  faith. 

When  Governor  Gumming  first  entered  Salt  Lake  City, 
and  appeared  in  the  Tabernacle,  he  announced  that  he  was 
prepared  to  extend  protection  to  all  who  desired  to  leave  the 
Territory,  and  invited  all  such  persons  to  communicate  to  him 


DREAD  OF  LEAVING  THE  CHURCH. 


401 


their  names  and  addresses.  One  of  the  accusations  against 
the  Mormon  leaders  was  that  they  prevented  persons  who  had 
become  dissatisfied  from  leaving  the  Territory.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  Mormons  indignantly  denied  that  any  one  was  ever 
intimidated  or  his  liberty  circumscribed,^  and  that  on  this 
occasion  when  the  Governor  afforded  them  such  an  excellent 
opportunity  of  leaving,  only  a  very  few  persons — ^probably  less 
than  a  score — availed  themselves  of  it.  Other  sources  of  in- 
formation, however,  tell  a  very  different  story,  f 

The  machinery  of  the  courts  was  soon  set  in  motion.  The 
Chief  Justice  preferred  the  military  camp  for  his  residence. 
Associate-Justice  Sinclair  was  assigned  to  the  district  embrac- 
ing Salt  Lake  City ;  and  Associate-Justice  Cradlebaugh  had 
within  his  district  all  the  southern  country. 

Tip  to  this  time  the  Governor  of  the  Territory  had  also 
been  Superintendent  of  Indian  Affairs,  but  on  the  appointment 
of  Governor  Cumming,  the  office  of  Superintendent  was  con- 
ferred upon  Jacob  Forney,  of  Pennsylvania.  Alexander  Wil- 
son, of  Iowa,  was  appointed  District  Attorney  of  the  Territory, 
and  thus  was  completed  the  full  list  of  Federal  officials. 

*  Much  of  this  feeling  of  fear  about  leaving  the  Territory  was  due  more  to  ap- 
prehension  of  what  might  take  place,  than  to  any  direct  action  of  the  Church  lead- 
ers. Some  persons  had  left  the  Territory  without  opposition  or  annoyance,  but  the 
opinion  always  prevailed  that  there  was  a  great  risk  to  life  in  leaving  the  Church. 
Some  ^'  apostates  "  had  fallen  by  the  way,  and  "  the  Indians  "  were  charged  with 
their  "  taking  off."  There  is  a  strong  impression  among  even  "  good  Mormons,"  as 
well  as  among  the  Gentiles  and  those  in  opposition  to  the  priesthood,  that  some  of 
the  murders  of  "  apostates  "  were  committed  by  "  white  Indians,"  and  in  justifica- 
tion of  much  of  that  impression  the  Tabernacle  sermons  may  be  cited.  There  is, 
besides,  much  circumstantial  evidence  to  justify  the  accusation. 

f  A  responsible  correspondent  of  the  New  York  Tribune — Albert  G.  Browne, 
Esq. — in  a  communication  to  the  Atlantic  Monthly^  April,  1859,  writing  of  the 
Governor's  offer  of  assistance,  says : 

"During  the  ensuing  week  nearly  two  hundred  persons  registered  themselves  in 
the  manner  he  proposed,  and  a  greater  number  would  undoubtedly  have  been  glad 
to  follow  their  example,  but  were  deterred  by  the  surveillance  to  which  they  were 
subjected  by  certain  functionaries  of  the  Church  before  being  admitted  to  bis  pres- 
ence. Those  who  were  registered  were  organized  into  trains,  with  the  Httle  movable 
property  they  possessed,  and  dispatched  toward  Fort  Bridger.  They  arrived  there  in 
the  course  of  May — as  motley,  ragged,  and  destitute  a  crowd  as  ever  descended  from 
the  deck  of  an  Irish  emigrant  ship  at  New  York  or  Boston.  The  only  garments 
which  some  possessed  were  made  of  the  canvas  of  their  wagon  covers.  Many  were  on 
foot.  For  provisions  they  had  nothing  but  flour  and  some  fresh  meat.  It  is  a  fact 
creditable  to  humanity,  that  private  soldiers,  by  the  score,  shared  their  own  abridged 
rations  and  scanty  stock  of  clothing  with  those  poor  wretches,  and  in  less  than  a  day 
after  their  arrival  they  were  provided  with  much  to  make  them  comfortable." 


402 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


The  Governor's  policy  from  the  beginning  was  peace,  if 
"  that  were  possible  ;  "  and  though  he  and  Brigham  concluded 
that  it  was  better  that  they  themselves  should  refrain  from  per- 
sonal intercourse,  the  leading  men  around  the  latter  were 
closely  intimate  with  the  official  party,  and  for  all  practical 
purpose  were  as  friendly  as  need  be  desired.  Superintendent 
Forney  was  personally  intimate  with  the  Governor,  and  was 
for  a  time  of  some  little  service  to  the  Mormons  in  that  rela- 
tionship ;  the  District  Attorney  also  supported  the  Governor's 
policy,  and  sought  by  every  means  in  his  power  the  peace  of 
the  Territory.    The  Secretary  w^as  unreliable. 

The  three  judges  and  the  marshal  were  united  for  a  vigor- 
ous prosecution  of  past  offences,  and  powerful  aid  was  rendered 
them  by  the  Valley  Tan  ^ — the  first  Gentile  paper  published 
among  the  Mormons. 

Judge  Sinclair  convened  the  Third  Judicial  District  Court 
in  Great  Salt  Lake  City  in  November,  1858,  and  in  his  charge 
to  the  grand  jury  he  exhibited  an  anxiety  upon  three  particu- 
lar points — treason,  the  intimidation  of  the  courts,  and  polyg- 
amy. President  Buchanan's  pardon,  the  Judge  admitted,  was 
"  a  public  fact  in  the  history  of  the  country,"  but,  "  like  any 
"  other  deed,  it  ought  to  be  brought  judicially  before  the  court 
"  by  plea,  motion,  or  otherwise."  In  brief,  he  wanted  to  bring 
before  his  court  Brigham  Young  and  the  leading  Mormons  to 
make  them  admit  that  they  had  been  guilty  of  treason,  and 
make  them  humbly  accept  from  him  the  President's  clemency. 
The  District  Attorney  would  not  present  to  the  jury  bills  of 
indictment  for  treason,  pleading  that  the  commissioners  had 
presented  the  pardon,  and  the  people  had  accepted  it,  and  the 
Governor  had  proclaimed  that  peace  was  restored  to  the  Terri- 

*  Among  the  first  efforts  at  home  manufacture  in  the  mountains  was  shoe  leather, 
and  this  article  was  so  successfully  produced  that  kindly  critics  on  examining  it 
gave  preference  to  the  leather  tanned  in  the  Valley.  Ever  afterwards  the  home- 
made leather,  to  distinguish  it  from  the  imported  article,  was  designated  "  Valley 
Tany  As  other  home-made  articles  were  produced,  with  very  pardonable  pride 
this  general  term  was  affixed,  and  the  name  of  everything  manufactured  was  pre- 
fixed with  the  words  Valley  Tan."  Even  the  very  poteen  was  designated  in 
commerce  "  Valley  Tan  Whiskey."  The  publisher  of  the  first  paper  appropriated 
the  popular  term,  and  called  his  weekly  four-paged  sheet  Kirk  Anderson's  Valley 
Tan,    The  first  issue  of  the  paper  is  dated  Nov.  5th,  1858, 


INVESTIGATION  OF  NOTED  MURDERS. 


403 


tory.  The  jury  required  no  further  instruction,  and  the  charge 
of  treason  was  for  ever  ended. 

But  "  the  young  judge  "  was  more  successful  in  his  efforts 
in  bringing  forward  the  charge  of  intimidating  the  courts,  as 
already  noticed,  and  with  the  grand  jury's  presentment  of 
Mr.  Ferguson  that  subject  was  also  dropped.  It  could  not  be 
expected  that  the  charge  to  tlie  jury  on  polygamy  would  se- 
cure much  attention.  It  was  regarded  little  better  than  a 
grand  farce  to  ask  a  Mormon  jury  to  find  indictments  against 
their  brethren  for  polygamy.  The  term  of  Judge  Sinclair's 
judicial  service  was  a  failure,  only  memorable  for  one  thing — 
he  sentenced  the  first  white  man  who  was  ever  hanged  in 
Utah,  and  he  was  a  Gentile,  to  be  executed  on  a  Sunday  ! — Of 
course  the  day  had  to  be  changed. 

Judge  Cradlebaugh  had  a  larger  field  of  operation,  and  a 
still  more  interesting  experience,  but  it  was  an  experience  that 
ended  in  much  the  same  way  as  that  of  Judge  Sinclair.  Judge 
Cradlebaugh  was  a  brave  man,  and  he  undertook  the  unpleas- 
ant and  herculean  task  of  investigating  the  charges  of  murder 
that  had  been  committed  in  the  Territory.  It  was,  undoubt- 
edly, his  purpose  to  saddle  upon  the  parties  really  guilty  the 
responsibility  of  the  murders  committed  during  the  said  ^'  re- 
"  bellion  in  Utah,"  especially  those  commonly  known  as  the 
Potter  and  Parrish  murders  at  Springville,  and  the  Mountain 
Meadows  Massacre  in  southern  Utah.  He  failed  in  his  effort, 
^ut  he  gained  a  mass  of  valuable  evidence  that  is  held  in  re- 
serve for  the  day  of  reckoning  that  has  yet  to  come. 

So  much  of  a  contradictory  character  has  been  stated  con- 
cerning the  proceedings  of  Judge  Cradlebaugh  at  this  time, 
and  so  little  is  clearly  known  of  the  murders  which  he  es- 
sayed to  bring  to  light,  and  which  are  almost  daily  alluded  to 
in  the  public  press,  that  it  is  due  to  the  people  of  Utah  as  well 
as  to  the  people  of  the  United  States  that  the  facts  should  be 
freely  stated  in  this  work,  and  the  sources  of  information 
given. 

On  the  8th  of  March,  1859,  at  Provo,  Judge  Cradlebaugh 
addressed  to  the  grand  jury  the  following  language  : 

"I  will  say  to  you,  gentlemen  of  the  grand  jury,  that,  from  what  I 
learn,  it  has  been  some  time  since  a  court,  having  judicial  cognizance  in 


404 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


your  district,  was  held.  'No  person  has  been  brought  to  punishment  for 
some  two  years ;  and  from  what  I  have  learned  I  am  satisfied  that  crime 
after  crime  has  been  committed. 

"  There  is  no  such  eflfectual  way  of  stopping  crime,  no  means  has  been 
found  so  effectual  and  sure  as  the  speedy  punishment  of  the  offender;  and 
therefore,  so  far  as  you  are  concerned,  and  your  community,  it  is  a  very 
important  matter,  if  you  desire  innocent  and  unoffending  persons  to  be 
protected,  that  you  vigilantly  and  diligently  prosecute  all  persons  who  are 
violators  of  the  law  

"  I  said  to  you  in  the  outset  that  a  great  number  of  cases  had  come  to 
my  knowledge  of  crimes  having  been  committed  through  the  country,  and 
I  shall  take  the  liberty  of  naming  a  few  of  them.  The  persons  commit- 
ting those  offences  have  not  been  prosecuted,  the  reasons  why  I  cannot 
tell,  but  it  strikes  me  that  those  outside  influences  have  prevented  it.  If 
you  do  your  duty  you  will  not  neglect  to  inquire  into  those  matters,  or  al- 
low the  offenders  to  go  unpunished.  I  may  mention  the  Mountain  Meadows 
murders,  where  a  whole  train  was  cut  off,  except  a  few  children  who  were 
too  young  to  give  evidence  in  court.  It  has  been  claimed  that  this  offence 
was  committed  by  Indians,  but  there  is  evidence  that  there  were  others 
who  were  engaged  in  it  besides. 

When  the  Indians  commit  crimes  they  are  not  so  discriminate  as  to 
save  children ;  they  would  not  be  so  particular  as  to  save  the  children  and 
kill  the  rest.  I  say  that  you  may  look  at  all  the  crimes  that  have  been 
committed  in  the  western  country  by  the  Indians,  and  there  is  no  case 
where  they  have  been  so  careful  as  to  save  the  innocent  children.  But,  if 
this  be  not  enough,  we  have  evidence  to  prove  that  there  were  others  there 
engaged  in  it. 

"  A  large  body  of  persons  leaving  Cedar  City,  armed,  and  after  getting 
away  were  organized,  and  went  and  returned  with  the  spoil.  Now  there 
are  persons  who  know  that  there  were  others  engaged  in  the  crime ;  I 
brought  a  young  man  with  me  who  saw  persons  go  out  in  wagons  with 
arms,  others  on  horseback,  were  away  a  day  or  two  and  came  back  with 
the  spoil.  The  Indians  complain  that  in  the  distribution  of  the  property 
they  did  not  get  their  share,  they  seem  to  think  that  the  parties  engaged 
with  them  kept  the  best  and  gave  them  the  worst.  The  chief  there  [Kan- 
osh]  is  equally  amenable  to  law,  and  liable  to  be  punished,  and  I  suppose 
it  is  well  known  that  he  was  engaged  in  assisting  to  exterminate  the  hun- 
dred persons  that  were  in  that  train.  I  might  name  to  you  persons  who 
were  there ;  a  great  number  of  them  I  have  had  named  to  me.  And  yet, 
notwithstanding  this  crime  has  been  committed,  there  has  been  no  effort 
made  to  punish  those  individuals.  I  say  then,  gentlemen,  it  is  your  duty 
to  look  after  that,  and  if  it  is  a  fact  that  they  have  been  guilty  of  that 
offence,  indict  them,  send  for  them,  and  have  them  brought  before  this 
court. 

"I  might  bring  your  attention  to  another  case  near  here,  at  Spring- 
ville  ;  that  is  the  case  of  the  Parrishes  and  Potter.    Springville  is  a  vil- 


MURDERS  AT  SPRINGYILLE. 


405 


lage  of  several  hundred  inhabitants.  There  was  one  yonng  man  whom  it 
was  intended  to  kill.  He  ran  to  his  uncle's,  and  was  followed  to  his  un- 
cle's house.  Here  are  three  persons  killed,  and-  the  criminal  goes  un- 
punished. 

"  There  can  be  no  doubt  but  by  the  testimony  of  young  Parrish  that 
you  will  be  able  to  identify  those  persons  who  were  connected  with  it. 
He  can  tell  you  who  was  engaged  in  it,  and  who  followed  him  to  the 
house  of  his  uncle.  Here  are  three  persons  who  were  butchered  in  a  most 
inhuman  manner,  and  the  offenders  have  not  been  brought  to  justice. 
This  is  sufficient  to  shew  that  there  has  been  an  effort  to  cover  up  instead 
of  to  bring  to  light  and  punish. 

"At  the  same  place  there  was  another  person  killed,  Henry  Fobbs, 
who  came  in  from  California  and  was  going  to  the  States,  but  got  in  here 
when  the  difficulties  arose  between  this  community  and  the  general  Gov- 
ernment, and  was  detained.  When  Henry  Fobbs  was  here  he  made  his 
home  at  Partial  Terry's,  stayed  there  a  few  weeks ;  during  that  time  his 
horse  and  revolver  were  stolen  ;  he  made  his  escape,  tried  to  get  to  Bridg- 
er,  was  caught,  brought  back,  and  murdered ;  and  that  is  the  last  of 
Henry  Fobbs.  No  investigation  has  been  made ;  his  body  has  been  re- 
moved several  times^  so  that  now,  perhaps,  it  could  not  be  found.  Short- 
ly afterwards  his  horse  was  traded  off  by  Terry.  Here  is  a  man  said  to  be 
killed  by  the  Indians,  and  then  his  horse  is  taken  by  Mr.  Terry  and  traded 
for  sheep.  It  seems  to  me  that  these  are  matters  that  you  ought  to  inves- 
tigate. Fobbs,  I  believe,  lived  in  the  State  of  Illinois  ;  he  had  a  wife  and 
children,  and  was  anxious  to  get  back ;  and  I  suppose  his  wife  is  still 
anxious  about  him ;  but  as  to  what  has  become  of  him  she  cannot  tell. 
I  say  this  case  ought  to  come  under  your  notice  and  be  investigated,  and 
the  offenders  punished  ;  don't  let  them  go  unpunished. 

"  Then  there  was  Henry  Jones  that  was  murdered  up  here  ;  I  believe 
he  was  first  castrated  up  in  the  city,  then  went  to  Payson,  was  chased  to 
Pond  Town  and  was  shot  there.  It  is  said  that  he  committed  some  of- 
fence. But  if  persons  do  commit  offences,  the  public  have  no  right  to 
take  the  law  into  their  own  hands  ;  they  have  no  right  to  take  persons  and 
punish  them.  I  understand  that  he  was  castrated ;  that  he  came  down 
here,  and  the  house  in  which  he  and  his  mother  lived  was  pulled  down. 

"  There  is  another  matter  to  which  I  wish  to  call  your  attention.  A 
few  days  before  the  matter  of  the  murder  of  the  Parrishes  and  Potter,  the 
stable  of  Parrish  was  broken  into,  and  his  carriage  and  horses  were  taken 
out ;  this  was  done  in  the  night.  These  horses  have  never  been  returned. 
That  woman,  the  wife  of  Mr.  Parrish,  told  me  that  since  then  at  times  she 
had  lived  on  bread  and  watsr,  and  still  there  are  persons  in  this  commu- 
nity riding  about  on  those  horses.  Mr.  Lysander  Gee  has  those  horses ; 
he  says  that  a  few  days  after  they  were  stolen  they  were  given  to  him,  and 
that  he  was  directed  to  give  them  to  no  person  whatever. 

"  Now,  it  is  a  strange  kind  of  matter  that  persons  should  go  to  Par- 
rish's,  break  open  his  stable  and  rob  him,  and  then  take  the  horses  to  Mr. 
25 


406 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


Lysander  Gee  and  tell  him  to  keep  them.  It  does  not  look  reasonable. 
It  would  look  more  reasonable  to  suppose  that  Mr.  Lysander  Gee  was  en- 
gaged in  it  himself,  and  it  is  an  outrageous  thing  that  this  woman,  one  of 
whose  children  was  killed  with  her  husband,  has  been  obliged  to  live  in 
the  very  dregs  of  poverty.  I  say,  bring  that  man  up  and  compel  him  to 
restore  those  horses,  and  give  the  property  back  to  her,  and  do  not  allow 
her  to  live  in  poverty,  while  others  are  riding  about  the  country  here  with 
her  husband's  property. 

"  Young  Mr.  Parrish  is  here  ;  if  the  grand  jury  desire  to  have  him,  they 
can  use  him  as  a  witness. 

"  It  is  not  pleasant  to  talk  about  these  things,  but  the  crimes  have  been 
committed,  and,  if  you  desire,  you  can  investigate  them.  My  desire  is  that 
the  responsibility  shall  be  with  the  grand  jury,  and  not  with  the  court ; 
all  the  responsibility  shall  be  with  you,  and  the  question  is  with  you, 
whether  you  will  bring  those  persons  to  trial. 

"  I  have  hereby  named  some  few  things  ;  there  has  been  a  great  deal 
of  crime  committed,  and  there  is  a  way  to  punish  those  who  have  com- 
mitted them. 

"  I  hear  every  day  of  cases  of  larceny,  and  an  officer  is  now  after  a  num- 
ber who  are  engaged  in  committing  depredations.  A  great  many  cases 
have  been  committed  near  Camp  Floyd,  such  as  I  shall  call  the  attention 
of  the  Territorial  Attorney  to,  such  as  buying  soldiers'  clothes.  Unless 
you  faithfully  discharge  your  duty,  I  cannot  see  how  you  are  to  escape 
from  the  influence  of  these  cases  of  larceny  that  have  been  committed.  I 
therefore  present  these  for  the  purpose  of  having  you  promptly  discharge 
your  duty. 

"  When  you  retire,  you  will  elect  your  clerk  ;  and  as  it  is  the  desire  of 
the  court  to  expedite  business,  you  will  therefore  be  permitted  to  meet 
upon  your  own  adjournment.  If  time  is  required,  the  court  will  adjourn 
from  time  to  time  to  give  it  to  you. 

"  To  allow  these  things  to  pass  over,  gives  a  colour  as  if  they  were 
done  by  authority.  The  very  fact  of  such  a  case  as  the  Mountain  Mead- 
ows shows  that  there  was  some  person  high  in  the  estimation  of  the 
people,  and  it  was  done  by  that  authority  ;  and  this  case  of  the  Parrishes 
shows  the  same  ;  and,  unless  you  do  your  duty,  such  will  be  the  view  that 
will  be  taken  of  it. 

"  You  can  know  no  law  but  the  laws  of  the  United  States  and  the  laws 
you  have  here.  No  person  can  commit  crimes  and  say  they  are  author- 
ized by  higher  authorities,  and  if  they  have  any  such  notions  they  will 
have  to  dispel  them. 

"  I  saw  something  said  in  that  paper  [the  Deseret  I^ews]  of  some  higher 
law.  It  is  perhaps  not  proper  to  mention  that,  but  such  teachings  will 
have  their  influence  upon  the  public  mind." 

These  extracts  are  taken  from  the  Deseret  News  report. 
During  the  session  of  the  court,  the  judge  made  a  requi- 


THE  JURY  WILL  NOT  CONVICT. 


407 


sition  upon  General  Johnston  for  troops  to  act  as  a  protection 
to  the  witnesses,  and  also,  in  the  absence  of  a  jail,  to  serve  as  a 
guard  over  the  prisoners.  The  mayor  of  Provo  protested  that 
the  presence  of  the  military  was  an  infringement  upon  the  lib- 
erties of  his  fellow-citizens ;  but  the  judge  answered  that  he 
had  well  considered  the  request  before  he  had  made  it.  A 
petition  was  sent  to  Governor  Gumming,  and  he  asked  General 
Johnston  to  withdraw  the  troops,  asserting  that  the  court  had 
no  authority  to  call  for  the  aid  of  the  military  but  through 
him.  The  judges  interpreted  General  Johnston's  instructions 
from  the  War  Department  adversely  to  the  statement  of  the 
Governor,  and  the  troops  were  continued  at  Provo.  On  the 
27th  of  March,  the  Governor  issued  a  proclamation  protesting 
against  the  continuance  of  the  troops  at  Provo,  and  exhibited 
to  everybody  the  hostility  which  existed  between  himself  and 
the  military  commander. 

After  Judge  Cradlebaugh  had  waited  for  two  weeks  for 
some  action  on  the  part  of  the  grand  jury  against  the  mur- 
derers, his  patience  was  exhausted,  and  he  discharged  them, 
assigning  as  his  reason  the  folly  of  trying  to  bring  any  of  the 
murderers  to  justice  with  a  Mormon  jury.  He  narrated  how 
the  officers  of  the  court  had  sought  to  apprehend  criminals  in 
Springville,  and  how,  when  they  got  to  that  settlement,  a. 
trumpet  was  sounded,  and  the  persons  sought  were  secreted 
until,  the  departure  of  the  officers,  when  the  trumpet  was  again 
sounded,  and  the  accused  came  out  of  their  hiding-places  and 
went  about  their  ordinary  business. 

After  the  jury  was  discharged,  the  judge  continued  to  take 
the  affidavits  of  witnesses,  which  revealed  the  existence  of  a 
Reign  of  Terror  in  the  country  settlements  wherever  there 
were    apostates,"  beyond  all  credibility. 

Governor  Gumming  was  a  headstrong,  positive  man,  and 
to  his  personal  repugnance  to  General  Johnston  was  justly  at- 
tributed his  official  protest  against  the  presence  of  troops, 
while  evidence  in  possession  of  the  court  was  most  positive 
that  the  witnesses  testifying  of  the  murders  in  Springville  be- 
lieved themselves  to  be  in  constant  jeopardy,  and  that  their 
lives  were  insecure  but  for  the  protection  affi^rded  by  the 
troops. 


408 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


The  Governor's  interpretation  of  his  instructions  was  after- 
wards sustained  by  Jeremiah  S.  Black,  the  Attorney-General, 
but  it  has  always  been  a  matter  of  regret  with  those  who 
sought  the  punishment  of  crime  and  the  overthrow  of  fa- 
naticism, that  his  Excellency's  private  animosity  ptevented 
him  from  acting  in  concert  with  his  Federal  associates.  That 
was  certainly  a  time  when  the  representatives  of  the  Govern- 
ment ought  to  have  been  united.  Still,  there  is  little  room  for 
regret,  as  the  members  of  the  grand  jury  at  that  session  of 
the  court  were  themselves  accused  of  participation  in  the  very 
crimes  they  were  instructed  to  investigate.^ 

In  summing  up  the  evidence  in  the  case  of  the  murders  at 
Springville,  the  judge  concluded  with  the  following  address  : 

"  Until  I  commenced  the  examination  of  the  testimony  in  this  case,  I 
always  supposed  that  I  lived  in  a  land  of  civil  and  religious  liberty,  in 
which  we  were  secured  by  the  Constitution  of  our  country  the  right  to 
remove  at  pleasure  from  one  portion  of  our  domain  to  another,  and  also 
that  we  enjoyed  the  privilege  of  *  worshipping  God  according  to  the  dic- 
tates of  our  own  conscience.'  But  I  regret  to  say,  that  the  evidence  in 
this  case  clearly  proves  that,  so  far  as  Utah  is  concerned,  I  have  been 
mistaken  in  such  supposition.  Men  are  murdered  here.  Coolly,  delib- 
erately, premeditatedly  murdered — their  murder  is  deliberated  and  deter- 
mined upon  by  church  council-meetings,  and  that,  too,  for  no  other  reason 
than  that  they  had  apostatized  from  your  Church,  and  were  striving  to 
leave  the  Territory. 

"  You  are  the  tools,  the  dupes,  the  instruments  of  a  tyrannical  Church 
despotism.  The  heads  of  your  Church  order  and  direct  you.  You  are 
taught  to  obey  their  orders  and  commit  these  horrid  murders.  Deprived 
of  your  liberty,  you  have  lost  your  manhood,  and  become  the  willing  in- 
struments of  bad  men. 

"  I  say  to  you  it  will  be  my  earnest  effort,  while  with  you,  to  knock  off 
your  ecclesiastical  shackles  and  set  you  free." 

The  grand  jury  would  not  have  listened  to  such  language 
had  there  been  no  foundation  for  the  accusations.  Murders 

*  By  legislative  enactiDents,  the  County  Court  and  the  Territorial  Marshal  have 
the  empanelling  of  juries  in  Utah.  With  a  community  that  was  at  that  time  almost 
wholly  of  the  Mormon  faith,  it  was  impossible  to  have  anything  but  a  Mormon  jury, 
and  a  discreet  marshal  is  not  supposed  to  make  distinctions  between  citizens. 
Whether  any  of  those  jurors  were  themselves  guilty  or  not  is  not  proven,  but  it  is 
certain  that,  immediately  after  they  were  dismissed,  several  of  them  betook  them- 
selves to  conceal'ment,  and  Judge  Cradlebaugh  expressed  his  sorrow  that  he  did  not 
keep  them  when  he  had  them. 


THE  JUDGE  CLOSES  THE  COURT  IN  DISGUST. 


409 


of  an  atrocious  character  had  been  committed  in  that  neigh- 
bourhood, and  the  evidence  was  clear  and  pointed  as  to  who 
the  murderers  were.  The  grand  jury  could  do  nothing  with- 
out doing  too  much.  Had  they  ever  moved  in  earnest,  the 
whole  net-work  would  have  been  exposed  ;  but  that  jury  owed 
allegiance  to  "  a  higher  court,"  and  could  therefore  do  nothing 
but  pocket  silently  the  most  offensive  language  that  could  be 
addressed  to  honest  men. 

With  the  military  supporting  him,  Judge  Cradlebaugh  was 
determined  to  reach  the  guilty,  if  that  were  possible,  without 
the  aid  of  the  grand  jury.  Before  any  intimation  of  his  pur- 
pose could  possibly  be  known  to  the  Mormons,  he  had  fur- 
nished the  marshal  with  writs  for  the  apprehension  of  those 
accused  of  murder,  and  before  daylight  in  the  morning  the 
marshal  and  hh  posse  reached  Springville.  The  troops  accom- 
panied the  j}Ossey  and  surrounded  the  settlement  so  that  flight 
was  impossible.  The  houses  were  searched,  but  no  one  could 
be  found.  The  "  ten  wives  "  of  the  bishop  received  the  posse 
kindly  enough,  and  seemed  to  enjoy  the  disappointment  of  the 
gentlemen  who  were  hunting  their  liege  lord.  Everywhere  it 
was  about  the  same  experience.  A  company  of  the  soldiers 
sought  to  penetrate  the  neighbouring  canon,  whither  it  was  re- 
ported the  accused  had  fled ;  but  the  snow  was  too  deep  for  the 
cavalry,  and  the  search  was  abandoned. 

Chagrined  and  annoyed  at  his  inability  to  reach  the  guilty, 
the  Judge  entered  upon  the  docket  of  his  court :  "  The  whole 
'^community  presents  a  united  and  organized  opposition  to  the 
"  proper  administration  of  justice."  Two  or  three  Indians 
were  held  as  prisoners,  and,  with  a  few  Gentiles,  would  have 
come  up  before  his  Honour  for  trial  during  that  session  of  his 
court,  but  the  hostility  which  he  met  with  on  the  part  of  the 
community  when  in  pursuit  of  Mormon  criminals  decided  him 
to  close  his  court  altogether.  He  therefore  dismissed  the  pris- 
oners, and  adjourned  his  court  "  without  day."  This  was  the 
first  and  last  effort  to  reach  the  Springville  murderers. 

The  affidavits  taken  by  Judge  Cradlebaugh  were  given  to 
the  public  through  the  Yalley  Tan  immediately  afterwards, 
and  they  vividly  reveal  the  terrible  condition  of  Utah  in  1857. 
The  "  Reformation  "  of  the  preceding  year  had  borne  fearful 


410 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


fruit.  Had  the  TJnited  States  army  not  entered  the  Territory 
in  1858,  and  had  the  work  of  "  Reformation  "  continued,  it  is 
difficult  to  conceive  what  the  condition  of  the  people  might 
have  been.  It  is  charitable  to  conclude  that  the  leading 
preachers  who  advocated  the  sacrifice  of  human  beings  as  an 
atonement  for  their  sins  were  absolutely  crazy.  To  believe  less 
is  to  charge  them  with  something  worse. 

Judge  Cradlebaugh  was  appointed  to  the  Western  Judicial 
District  of  the  Territory  and  made  Carson  City  his  oflficial  resi- 
dence. After  the  Territory  of  Nevada  was  created,  his  Tlonoar 
was  sent  to  Washington  as  delegate,  and  while  at  the  seat  of 
Government  he  was  not  unmindful  of  the  Mormon  leaders. 
On  the  7th  of  February,  1863,  he  made  a  lengthy  speech  on  the 
murders  in  Utah,  and  gave  what  is  considered  a  fair  represen- 
tation of  the  Mountain  Mq^dows  massacre,  an  account  of  which 
will  be  given  in  a  succeeding  chapter. 

While  the  contention  between  General  Johnston  and  Gov- 
ernor Cumming  concerning  the  action  of  the  military  contin- 
ued, there  was  a  constant  expectation  of  a  collision.  Governor 
Cumming  was  beset  by  influential  men  among  the  Mormons  who 
complained  that  the  military  was  a  menace  to  them,  and  that 
the  action  of  the  judges  and  the  General  was  a  personal  insult 
to  him.  The  fanatical  longed  for  an  opportunity  of  seeing  the 
Territorial  militia  called  out  by  the  Governor  to  resist  the 
Federal  troops,  and  at  one  time  their  suggestions  appeared  to 
be  favourably  received. 

A  clever  artist  among  the  Mormons  had  been  engaged  by 
smarter  men  than  himself  to  engrave  a  counterfeit  plate  simi- 
lar to  that  used  by  the  quarter-master  at  Camp  Floyd  for 
notes  drawn  upon  the  assistant  treasurers  of  the  United  States 
at  St.  Louis  and  New  York,  and  the  artist  had  been  so  success- 
ful that  it  was  difficult  to  tell  the  counterfeit  from  the  original. 
When  the  fraud  was  discovered,  the  principal  in  the  transac- 
tion was  arrested  at  Camp  Floyd,  and  a  few  hours  after  he 
agreed  to  become  State's  evidence.  In  his  confession  he  pan- 
dered to  the  prejudices  of  the  locality,  and  implicated  someone 
in  the  office  of  Brigham  Young  as  having  furnished  the  paper, 
and  it  was  hoped  that  possibly  the  Prophet  himself  might 
prove  to  be  not  quite  guiltless.  The  latter  suspicion  was,  how- 


PROPOSED  ARREST  OF  THE  PROPHET. 


411 


ever,  entirely  without  foundation,  but  it  served  the  purpose  of 
the  moment,  and  in  what  consequently  ensued  the  anticipated 
collision  between  the  troops  and  the  militia  seemed  at  one 
time  imminent. 

It  was  proposed  that  a  writ  should  be  issued  for  the  appre- 
hension of  Brigham  as  well  as  the  artist,  and  calculating  upon 
the  Prophet's  resistance  to  the  marshal,  the  military  was  to  be 
ordered  into  the  city. 

The  officers  from  camp  entrusted  with  this  little  business 
arrived  and  presented  themselves  at  the  Governors  office  to 
request  his  cooperation.  His  Excellency  entertained  them  as 
gentlemen  and  as  friends,  and  was  ready  to  grant  them  every 
proper  assistance.  The  writ  for  the  arrest  of  the  artist  was 
shown  to  him,  and  met  with  his  approval.  With  a  suspicion 
of  something  in  reserve,  and  a  consciousness  of  the  fullest  co- 
operation on  the  part  of  the  Mormons,  the  Governor  called  a 
messenger,  sent  a  note  to  a  Mormon  official,  and  "  in  fifteen 
"  minutes,"  as  he  afterwards  related,  "  I  placed  their  man  be- 
"  fore  them." 

"  They  had  '  got  the  dead  wood  on  Brigham  Young  this 
"  '  time,'  so  they  said  as  they  unfolded  to  me  their  plans.  If 
"  Brigham  resisted,  General  Johnston's  artillery  was  to  make  a 
"  breach  in  the  wall  surrounding  his  premises,  and  they  would 
"  take  him  by  force  and  carry  him  to  Camp  Floyd. 

"  I  listened  to  them,  sir,  as  gravely  as  I  could,  and  exam- 
ined  their  papers.  They  rubbed  their  hands  and  were  jubi- 
"  lant  they  '  had  got  the  dead  wood  on  Brigham  Young.'  I  was 

"  indignant,  sir,  and  told  them,  '  By  ,  gentlemen,  you  can't 

"  '  do  it !  When  you  have  a  right  to  take  Brigham  Young, 
"  '  gentlemen,  you  shall  have  him  without  creeping  through 
"  '  walls.  You  shall  enter  by  his  door  with  heads  erect  as  be- 
comes  representatives  of  your  government.  But  till  that 
"  Hime,  gentlemen,  you  can't  touch  Brigham  Young  while  I 
"'live,  by  !"' 

Such  was  the  story  told  by  the  Governor  to  the  Author  a 
few  years  later,  and  as  he  related  it  all  the  fire  of  his  nature 
was  depicted  on  his  countenance  and  told  unmistakably  that  he 
would  have  made  good  every  word  with  his  life. 

The  officers  returned  to  Camp  Floyd  discomfited,  and  im- 


412 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


mediately  the  news  was  circulated  that  General  Johnston 
would  send  two  regiments  and  a  battery  of  artillery  to  enforce 
the  writ  for  the  apprehension  of  Brigham.  A  Mormon  corre- 
spondent, writing  to  the  New  York  Herald^  April  23rd5  1859, 
stated  that  the  Governor  had  ordered  General  Wells  to  be  in 
readiness  with  the  niilitia  to  repulse  the  Federal  troops."^ 

The  engraver's  tools  and  paraphernalia  were  all  seized  by 
the  marshal,  and  in  afterwards  visiting  his  regular  workshop 
where  he  had  done  work  for  Brigham  Young  on  the  "  Deseret 
"  Currency,"  the  plates  of  that  institution  were  also  taken  pos- 
session of  and  carried  to  Camp  Floyd.  The  marshal's  zeal  had 
carried  him  too  far.  The  plates  of  the  Mormon  currency  got 
scratched  and  damaged.  Brigham  brouglit  suit  against  the 
marshal  for  the  illegal  seizure  and  injury  of  his  plates,  and  af- 
ter a  long  and  tedious  trial  the  marshal  was  fined  heavy  dama- 
ges, for  payment  of  which  his  house  was  seized.  It  is  now  a 
valuable  piece  of  property  adjoining  the  theatre,  and  is  of 
much  more  value  to  Brigham  than  the  unscratched  plates  of 
the  "  Currency  "  would  have  ever  been. 

On  the  ITth  of  May,  an  official  letter  from  Washington  de- 
cided that  the  military  could  only  be  issued  as  a  jposse  on  a 
call  from  the  Governor,  and  thus  ended  the  contention  between 
the  Governor,  the  Judges,  and  the  General  on  this  subject,  f 

*  "  An  express  from  Camp  Floyd  arrived  here  on  Sunday  night  with  the  intelli- 
gence that  two  regiments  were  coming  to  the  city  to  make  arrests,  and  it  was  ex- 
pected that  they  would  have  orders  for  forced  marches,  to  come  in  upon  us  un- 
awares. Immediately  on  Governor  Gumming  being  made  acquainted  with  the  re- 
port and  circumstances,  which  leaves  no  room  to  doubt  of  the  plans  of  the  judges, 
he  notified  Gen.  D.  H.  Wells  to  hold  the  militia  in  readiness  to  act  on  orders.  By 
two  o'clock  on  Monday  morning  five  thousand  troops  were  under  arms.  Had  the 
United  States  troops  attempted  to  enter  the  city,  the  struggle  must  have  commenced, 
for  the  Governor  is  determined  to  carry  out  his  instructions.  What  has  deferred 
their  arrival  here  we  know  not ;  but  now  that  this  plan  is  known,  a  watchful  eye  is 
kept  on  the  camp,  and  the  shedding  of  blood  seems  inevitable." 

\  It  should  be  stated  that  General  Johnston  succeeded  General  Harney  in  the 
command  of  the  Utah  expedition,  and  to  General  Harney  were  given  instructions 
differing  from  those  which  were  afterwards  given  to  Gov.  Gumming.  General  Har- 
ney was  appointed  early  in  the  spring,  when  Washington  was  feverish  with  the  news 
from  Utah,  and  it  was  not  till  the  6th  of  July  that  Gumming  was  appointed  Gov- 
ernor. Had  there  been  no  personal  diflSculty  between  the  military  chief  and  the 
chief  executive  of  the  Territory,  their  instructions  would  doubtless  have  been  bar* 
moniously  interpreted. 


SAVING  THE  GOVERNOR'S  OFFICIAL  HEAD. 


413 


This  victory  on  the  part  of  the  Governor,  and  with  it  the 
end  of  prosecution  for  past  crime,  was  very  satisfactory  to  the 
Mormons ;  but  there  was  a  moment  when  all  this  joy  was 
seriously  threatened.  The  Gentile  influence  everywhere  was 
invoked  to  support  the  Judges,  and  to  have  Governor  Gum- 
ming removed.  For  a  time  this  was  under  consideration  in 
the  Cabinet,  and  the  probabilities  were  all  against  the  Gov- 
ernor being  retained,  but  an  excellent  piece  of  strategy  saved 
him. 

Soon  after  the  return  of  Col.  Kane  to  the  eastern  States, 
that  gentleman  was  invited  to  deliver  a  lecture  before  the  His- 
torical Society  of  New  York  upon  "  tlie  situation  of  Utah." 
Though  in  v^ry  feeble  health,  and  unprepared  for  such  a  lec- 
ture, his  devotion  to  what  he  no  doubt  sincerely  believed  to  be 
the  welfare  of  the  Mormons  and  the  honour  of  the  Govern- 
ment overcame  all  impediments,  and  the  lecture  was  de- 
livered. In  that  audience  were  two  Mormon  elders  listening 
eagerly  for  a  sentence  that  might  help  "the  cause"  in  the 
West.  By  previous  arrangement  the  agent  of  the  Associated 
Press  was  to  be  furnished  with  a  notice  of  the  lecture,  and  thus 
a  despatch  next  morning  was  read  everywhere  throughout  the 
Union  to  the  effect  that  there  was  a  division  among  the  Mor- 
mons, that  some  were  eager  for  strife,  others  for  peace,  but 
that  Brigham  Young  was  on  the  side  of  peace  and  order,  and 
was  labouring  to  control  his  fiery  brethren.  This  was  a  repeti- 
tion of  a  part  of  the  diplomacy  of  the  Tabernacle.  Governor 
Gumming  was  complimented  by  the  gallant  Colonel  as  a  clear- 
headed, resolute,  but  prudent  executive,  and  the  very  man  for 
the  trying  position. 

Before  such  an  endorsement,  sent  broadcast  over  the  Re- 
public, coming  from  the  lips  of  the  gentleman  who  had  warded 
off  the  effusion  of  blood,  and  saved  the  nation  from  the  ex- 
pense and  horror  of  a  domestic  war,  the  Cabinet  of  Mr.  Bu- 
chanan silently  bowed,  but  they  were  terribly  chagrined. 

A  mass  convention  of  Gentiles  was  held  at  Camp  Floyd  on 
the  23rd  of  July,  at  which  the  Judges  and  the  Indian  agent — 
Dr.  Garland  Hurd — were  present,  and  in  which  they  took  a 
prominent  part.  An  address  was  penned,  rehearsing  all  the 
crimes  cJiarged  to  the  Mormons,  asserting  that  they  \vere  as 


414 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


disloyal  after  the  President's  pardon  as  when  they  were  in 
arms  in  Echo  Canon,  that  the  President  was  deceived  and  bad- 
ly advised,  and  had  done  a  great  wrong  in  withdrawing  the 
protection  of  the  military  from  the  courts. 

In  perusing  the  lengthy  report  of  this  convention,  and  com- 
paring statements  then  and  accusations  since,  the  reader  is 
struck  with  the  unanimity  of  the  opponents  of  the  Mormon 
leaders,  and  the  clearness  with  which  results  were  anticipated 
years  before  their  accomplishment. 


CHAPTEE  XLII. 


THE  EXPEDITION  A  FAILUEE.— The  Mormons  enriched  by  the  Presence  of  the 
Troops — Intercourse  with  the  Camp  forbidden  to  the  Saints — The  Assertion  of 
Personal  Liberty  and  the  Dawning  of  Freedom  to  the  bold— Brigham  supplies 
the  Military  with  Tithing  Flour — Eowdyism  and  Murders  in  the  City — The 
Prophet  guarded  Night  and  Day — The  Desperadoes  are  wasted  away — The 
Bebellion  in  the  South  a  Theme  of  Eejoicing — The  Fulfilment  of  Joseph's  Pre- 
diction— The  Expedition  recalled — Great  Destruction  of  Munitions  of  War — Mil- 
lions of  Property  wasted — The  Federal  Troops  vacate  the  Territory,  and  the 
Saints  rejoice. 

The  social  position  of  many  of  the  Mormons  was  much 
improved  by  the  entrance  of  the  army  into  the  Yalley.  How- 
ever much  they  were  prepared  to  fight  the  troops  before  they 
saw  them,  there  were  few  indeed  who  did  not  afterwards 
thank  a  kind  Providence  for  their  arrival.  The  people  had 
been  utterly  destitute  of  almost  everything  necessary  to  their 
social  comfort.  They  were  poorly  clad,  and  rarely  ever  saw 
anything  upon  their  tables  but  what  was  prepared  from  flour, 
corn,  beet-molasses,  and  the  vegetables  and  fruits  of  their  little 
gardens.  They  were  alike  destitute  of  implements  of  industry, 
and  horses,  mules,  and  wagons  for  their  agricultural  operations. 
Utah  was  truly  very  poor. 

The  presence  of  the  army  soon  changed  the  condition  of 
those  who  were  bold  enough  to  seek  directly  the  intercourse  of 
trade  with  the  Gentiles,  and  the  more  timid,  who  were  afraid 
to  be  known  as  having  themselves  any  dealings  with  the  camp, 
in  course  of  time  found  out  ways  of  supplying  those  who  dared 
to  risk  the  anathemas  of  the  Tabernacle.  In  this  way  money 
was  gathered  in  freely  by  the  Gentiles  and  the  bold  Mormon 
traders,  and  the  people  generally  were  thus  indirectly  clothed, 
and  supplied  with  the  delicacies  of  tea,  coffee,  and  sugar,  in 


416 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


return  for  the  produce  of  the  field,  the  dairy,  and  the  chicken- 
coop. 

It  was  a  certain  indication  of  "  apostacy  "  for  any  of  the 
people  to  deal  with  the  camp ;  but  as  the  heavens  have  always 
been  very  complaisant  towards  Brother  Brigham,"  he  was  not 
held  to  such  strict  accountability.  It  has  been  argued  in  defence 
of  some  of  his  dealings  which  eventually  came  to  light,  that  if  he 
had  utterly  refused  to  supply  the  camp  with  flour,  the  Gov- 
vernment  might  have  charged  him  with  hostility !  While  the 
Tithing-offlce  clerks,  who  had  the  handling  of  the  flour,  found 
it  necessary  for  the  preservation  of  their  own  confidence  in 
the  Prophet  to  adopt  this  convenient  philosophy,  the  ^'  Chief" 
himself  has  never  deemed  it  expedient  to  make  any  allusion  to 
the  circumstance.  He,  however,  was  kind  enough  not  to  pa- 
rade the  transaction  before  the  eyes  of  the  people,  and  the 
wagons  which  took  the  wheat  of  the  people's  contributions 
from  the  Church  Tithing-office,  were  not  necessarily  employed 
in  the  blaze  of  noonday  ! 

Among  the  rascalities  of  those  times,  contracts  were  award- 
ed to  certain  "  political  hucksters  "  at  Washington  for  an  enor- 
mous quantity  of  flour  to  be  supplied  at  $28.40  per  100  lbs., 
which,  in  course  of  time,  was  furnished  by  the  Prophet  at  $6 
in  the  City  of  the  Saints.  That  contractor  also  managed  to 
get  an  order  from  the  Secretary  of  War  for  the  specie  at  Camp 
Floyd,  failing  which  he  was  to  be  paid  in  mules,  and  of  these 
he  had  his  choice,  at  flgures  ranging  from  $100  to  $150  each. 
Great  bands  of  these  animals  were  driven  to  California,  and 
sold  on  the  Pacific  at  nearly  six  times  their  Camp  Floyd  prices. 
With  such  and  many  other  more  flagrant  facts,  it  is  not  sur- 
prising that  the  Prophet  and  the  apostles  designated  Mr. 
Buchanan's  expedition  to  Utah,  in  1857,  "a  Contractors' 
War ! " 

But  the  army  was  the  Republican  entering  wedge  to  The- 
ocracy, and  the  isolation  of  the  prophets.  Men  of  sober 
thought  and  of  resolute  purpose  saw  clearly  enough  that,  how- 
ever well  adapted  might  be  the  revelations  of  Mount  Sinai  to 
the  wandering  Israelites  in  Zin,  the  prohibitive  teachings  of 
Brigham  Young  were  a  compound  of  folly  and  duplicity. 


DEALING  WITH  DESPERADOES. 


417 


They  burst  the  chains  that  bound  them  to  the  Prophet's  chariot, 
and  began  that  struggle  for  freedom  in  Utah  that  has  event- 
uated in  the  present  freedom  of  the  press  and  the  platform. 

Unable  to  throw  off  at  once  allegiance  to  the  priesthood, 
some  merchants  lightened  the  oppressive  weight  by  compound- 
ing with  the  Prophet,  and  paying  grudgingly  a  tithe  of  all 
their  income  to  the  Church.  Foremost,  and  nearly  alone,  as 
pioneers  in  the  grand  work  of  personal  freedom  in  Utah  were 
the  Messrs.  Walker  Brothers  and  Mr.  John  Chislett,  the  latter 
of  whom,  in  the  hand-cart  expedition,  has  already  been  pre- 
sented in  these  pages,  and  the  former  will  be  spoken  of  at 
greater  length  in  a  future  chapter. 

With  such  a  large  body  of  troops  there  were,  as  usual,  nu- 
merous camp-followers  plying  their  petit  inditstries^  gambling, 
thieving,  and  drinking.  General  Johnston,  with  strict  sur- 
veillance and  severe  military  punishment,  had  been  able  to 
control  them  on  the  march  and  at  Camp  Scott ;  but  when 
they  found  in  the  valleys  of  the  Saints  a  wider  and  safer  field 
for  operations,  they  gave  rein  to  their  vilest  passions,  and  a 
worse  set  of  vagabonds  never  afflicted  any  community  with 
their  presence  than  did  the  followers  of  Johnston's  army  tlie 
inhabitants  of  the  chief  city  of  Zion.  Quite  a  number  of  young 
Mormons — and  some  not  so  young — became  as  reckless  and 
daring  as  any  of  the  imported  Gentiles,  and  life  and  property 
for  a  time  were  very  insecure  in  Salt  Lake  City. 

The  programme  of  the  police  authorities  seemed  to  be  to 
give  the  desperadoes  the  largest  liberty,  so  that  they  might,  in 
their  drunken  carousals,  "  kill  off  each  other,"  and  what  they 
left  undone  invisible  hands  readily  accomplished.  During  the 
summer  and  fall  of  1859  there  was  a  murder  committed  in 
Salt  Lake  City  almost  every  week,  and  very  rarely  were  the 
criminals  brought  to  justice. 

The  Mormon  leaders  taught  the  people  to  attend  to  their 
fields  and  work-shops,  keep  out  of  "  Whiskey  Street,"  and  let 
"Civilization"*  take  its  course.    They  had  plenty  of  hard 

*  The  conclusion  being  accepted  that  all  Christian  nations  are  totally  corrupt, 
and  are  hurrying  on  to  final  dissolution  and  ruin,  every  wrong-doing  is  represented 
by  the  Mormon  leaders  to  be  the  result  of  "  Christian  civilization,"  which  the  Gen- 
tiles are  unceasingly  striving  to  force  upon  the  faithful. 


418 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


work  to  engage  their  attention,  and  no  money,  so  that  the 
business  street  was  seldom  visited  by  tliem,  and  they  saw  little 
of  what  was  transpiring  in  their  midst.  The  Church  weekly 
paper  took  pride  in  reporting,  as  it  occurred,  "  another  man 
"for  breakfast,"  and  with  that  "  the  people  of  God  "  were  sat- 
isfied that  "  the  good  work  was  rolling  on."  Israel  would  one 
day  be  free  from  his  oppressors. 

The  rioting  and  killing  that  were  traceable  occupied  little 
more  than  passing  attention,  but  the  midnight  work  of  invis- 
ible hands  created  a  sensation  of  terror  in  the  minds  of  all  who 
were  inimical  to  the  priesthood.  The  Valley  Tan^  notwith- 
standing its  true  boldness,  felt  the  danger  of  the  hour,  and  in 
one  of  its  doleful  wails  ejaculated  :  "  How  long,  oh  !  how  long 
"  are  scenes  like  this  to  continue  ?  ....  It  would  seem  as  if 
"  the  insatiable  demon  and  enemy  of  man  must  himself  be 

"  gorged  with  the  flow  of  human  blood  in  our  midst."  

"  JSTo  man's  life  is  secure  as  long  as  the  scenes  of  violence 
"  and  bloodshed,  which  have  been  of  such  frequent  occurrence 
"  among  us  for  months  past,  continue  to  be  repeated,  and  the 
"perpetrators  escape  unpunished  or  not  detected." 

The  bloody  work  continued,  and  finally  terminated  with 
the  murder  of  Brewer  and  Joaquin  Johnston,'^  two  intimate 
friends,  who  were  shot  at  the  same  instant  as  they  were  walk- 
ing home  together.  The  Author  well  remembers  seeing  very 
early  the  next  morning  the  marshal  of  the  city  and  the  chief 
of  police,  who  gravely  informed  him  of  the  "  sad  news." — 
"  Johnston  and  Brewer  had  quarrelled,  and  killed  each 
other  !  "  This  story  was  feeble  enough,  but  no  one  cared  to 
question  it :  the  people  had  got  used  to  the  record  of  scenes  of 
blood. 

In  the  "  swift  destruction"  that  fell  upon  the  desperadoes, 
there  was  no  mitigation  of  punishment  on  account  of  faith  or 
family  relationship,  and  very  respectable  Mormon  families  had 

*  Brewer  was  the  principal  in  the  matter  of  counterfeiting  the  Quarter-Master's 
cheques,  and  turned  States'  evidence  against  the  Mormon  artist.  Johnston  was  a 
notorious  gambler,  and  had,  on  the  preceding  day,  threatened  to  shoot  a  Mormon 
editor.  He  was  a  handsome  scoundrel,  and  princely  in  his  attire.  On  the  day  be- 
fore his  murder  he  put  on  a  magnificent  suit  of  buck-skin,  elaborately  ornamented 
with  flowers  and  figures  worked  in  coloured  silk.  The  buttons  of  his  vest  were 
$2.60  gold  coins. 


THE  PROPHET^S  GUARD. 


419 


to  mourn  the  untimely  end  of  boys  who,  before  the  entrance  of 
the  army,  gave  promise  of  lives  of  usefulness  and  honour.  All 
the  bad  and  desperate  Mormons  were  not  brought  to  judgment, 
but  the  pretext  alone  was  wanting  for  carrying  more  exten- 
sively into  execution  the  general  programme.  Resistance  to 
an  officer,  or  the  slightest  attempt  to  escape  from  custody,  was 
eagerly  seized,  when  wanted,  as  the  justification  of  closing  a 
disreputable  career,  and  in  more  than  one  case  of  this  legal 
shooting,  there  is  much  doubt  if  even  the  trivial  excuse  was 
waited  for.  The  Salt  Lake  police  then  earned  the  reputation 
of  affording  every  desperate  prisoner  the  opportunity  of  escape, 
and,  if  embraced,  the  officer's  ready  revolver  brought  the  fugi- 
tive to  a  "  halt,"  and  saved  the  county  the  expenses  of  a  trial 
and  his  subsequent  boarding  in  the  penitentiary.  A  coroner's 
inquest  and  cemetery  expenses  were  comparatively  light. 

With  the  troops  themselves  there  was  no  collision.  The 
Governor  had  requested  General  Johnston  to  withhold  fur- 
lough from  the  soldiers,  and  few  of  them  ever  had  the  oppor- 
tunity of  visiting  the  City  of  the  Saints.  With  some  officers 
there  had  been,  in  the  city,  slight  difficulties,  which  were,  how- 
ever, easily  settled.  Only  one  serious  affair  occurred,  ending 
in  the  death  of  Sergeant  Pike.  This  person  was  charged  with 
violently  assaulting  a  young  Mormon  and  cracking  his  skull 
with  a  musket.  During  the  sergeant's  trial  in  Salt  Lake  City, 
while  on  the  public  street  at  noon,  passing  to  his  hotel,  a  young 
man  shot  him  down,  and  shortly,  afterward  he  died.  The  young 
man,  with  the  aid  of  others,  escaped,  and  was  never  arrested. 
There  was  great  excitement  at  Camp  Floyd,  but  the  sergeant's 
comrades  were  too  far  away  to  retaliate. 

From  the  time  of  the  arrival  of  the  troops  in  tlie  valley, 
Brigham  was  personally  very  cautious,  and  never  exposed 
himself  to  attack.  For  a  long  time  he  absented  hiiTiself  trom 
the  public  assemblies,  kept  an  armed  door-keeper  at  the  en- 
trance of  his  residences,  and  by  night  was  protected  by  an 
armed  guard  of  the  faithful.  Every  ward  in  the  city  took  its 
turn  in  watching  over  the  Prophet,  and  the  floor  of  his  offices 
was  nightly  covered  with  a  guard,  armed  and  equipped,  and 
ready  at  a  moment's  notice  to  repulse  the  imaginary  foe. 

During  the  day,  when  Brigham  ventured  beyond  the  outer 


420 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


walls  of  his  premises,  half  a  dozen  friends  always  accompanied 
him  wherever  he  went.  It  is  pleasing  to  add  that  no  one  ever 
so  much  as  said  to  him  an  nnbecoming  word. 

But  there  was  soon  to  be  a  change  in  Zion. 

In  Congress  the  political  excitement  over  slavery  was 
rapidly  travelling  to  a  culmination.  The  news  from  the  East 
was  cheering  to  the  Prophet's  soul,  and  he  felt  assured  of 
the  early  departure  of  the  troops.  The  horizon  began  to 
lighten  up. 

The  experiment  of  the  Pony  Express  from  the  Missouri 
River  to  the  Pacific  Ocean  had  been  undertaken  just  in  time  to 
make  early  news  a  necessity.  From  the  East  the  constant  ru- 
mours of  secession  were  too  good  for  the  pony  to  be  permitted 
to  pass  by  without  its  rider  dropping  a  duplicate  of  the 
despatches  which  he  was  conveying  for  the  Pacific  press. 

"  The  Lord  "  was  again  to  be  seen.  He  was  about  to  com- 
fort Zion,  and  to  exchange  her  mourning  for  joy.  What  a  won- 
derful buoyancy  there  is  in  human  nature,  and  how  readily  it 
asserts  itself  after  a  long  season  of  depression !  The  Tabernacle 
was  again  to  be  blessed  with  the  presence  of  the  Prophet,  and 
the  Saints  were  to  rejoice  in  the  fullest  freedom.  Sitting  under 
vines  and  fig-trees  and  none  daring  to  make  them  afraid,  was 
no  longer  a  prophecy  which  awaited  a  distant  realization. 
The  happy  time  was  at  their  doors,  and  Uncle  Sam  was  to  be 
visited  with  the  wrath  of  the  Almighty,  and  the  words  of  the 
Prophet  Joseph  were  now  to  be  fulfilled.  Joseph,  long  years 
before,  had  had  a  remarkable  revelation,  which  all  the  Saints 
believed,  and  the  time  of  its  accomplishment  was  at  hand: 

EEVELATION  GIVEN  DECEMBER  25,  1832. 

"  Verily  thus  saith  the  Lord,  concerning  the  wars  that  will  shortly 
come  to  pass,  beginning  at  the  rebellion  of  South  Carolina,  which  will 
eventually  terminate  in  the  death  and  misery  of  many  souls.  The  days 
will  come  that  war  will  be  poured  out  upon  all  nations,  beginning  at  that 
place  ;  for  behold  the  Southern  States  shall  be  divided  against  the  North- 
em  States,  and  the  Southern  States  will  call  on  other  nations,  even  the 
nation  of  Great  Britain,  as  it  is  called,  and  they  shall  also  call  upon  other 
nations  in  order  to  defend  themselves  against  other  nations;  and  thus 
war  shall  be  poured  out  upon  all  nations.  And  it  shall  come  to  pass,  af- 
ter many  days,  slaves  shall  rise  up  against  their  masters,  who  shall  be 
marshalled  and  disciplined  for  war.    And  it  shall  come  to  pass,  also,  that 


THE  GREAT  PROPHECY  OF  THE  REBELLION.  421 


the  remnants  who  are  left  of  the  land  will  marshal  themselves,  and  shall 
become  exceeding  angry,  and  shall  vex  the  Gentiles  with  a  sore  vexation ; 
and  thus  with  the  sword,  and  by  bloodshed,  the  inhabitants  of  the  earth 
shall  mourn ;  and  with  famine  and  plague  and  earthquakes,  and  the  thun- 
der of  heaven  and  the  fierce  and  vivid  lightning  also,  shall  the  inhabit- 
ants of  the  earth  be  made  to  feel  the  wrath  and  indignation  and  chasten- 
ing hand  of  an  Almighty  God,  until  the  consummation  decreed  hath 
made  a  full  end  of  all  nations ;  that  the  cry  of  the  Saints,  and  of  the 
blood  of  the  Saints,  shall  cease  to  come  up  into  the  ears  of  the  Lord  of 
Sabaoth,  from  the  earth,  to  be  avenged  of  their  enemies.  Wherefore  stand 
ye  in  holy  places,  and  be  not  moved,  until  the  day  of  the  Lord  come ;  for 
behold  it  cometh  quickly,  saith  the  Lord.  Amen." 

At  a  conference  held  in  Nauvoo,  April  6,  1843 — the  year 
preceding  the  Prophet's  death — he  reiterated  the  prediction: 

"  I  prophecy  in  the  name  of  the  Lord  God,  that  the  commencement  of 
the  difficulties  which  will  cause  much  bloodshed,  previous  to  the  coming 
of  the  Son  of  Man,  will  be  in  South  Carolina  (it  probably  may  arise 
through  the  slave  question) ;  this  a  voice  declared  to  me,  while  I  was 
praying  earnestly  on  the  subject,  December  25,  1832." 

When  the  reader  takes  into  consideration  the  Alabama  ar- 
bitration at  Geneva,  and  the  peaceable  adjustment  of  Britain's 
difficulties  with  the  United  States,  the  hasty  fulfihnent  may 
not  be  very  evident  of  that  part  of  the  prediction  which  states 
that  Great  Britain  is  to  "  call  upon  other  nations  in  order  to 
"  defend  themselves  against  other  nations ;  and  thus  war  shall 
"  be  poured  out  upon  all  nations."  Equally  obscure  and  im- 
probable is  the  prediction  of  the  time  when  the  "  remnant " 
[Indians]  who  are  left  of  the  land  will  marshal  themselves 
"  and  become  exceeding  angry,  and  shall  vex  the  Gentiles  with 
^'  a  sore  vexation," 

The  Saints  at  the  outbreak  of  the  war,  however,  saw  none 
of  these  difficulties  ;  they  were  filled  with  joy,  resulting  from 
the  fact  that  South  Carolina  had  flung  to  the  breeze  the  Pal- 
metto flag  and  "  fired  the  first  gun."  Joseph  was  now  worthy 
of  national  recognition  as  a  prophet,  and  the  horizon  of  the 
Saints  was  radiant  with  glory. 

The  Federal  troops  at  Camp  Floyd  were  ordered  to  the 
Potomac.    That  movement  brought  great  joy  to  "  Israel," 

The  expedition  to  Utah  had  cost  the  treasury^  at  least  four- 
teen millions  of  dollars.  An  enormous  quantity  of  munitions 
26 


422 


THE  KOCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


of  war  had  been  accumulated  at  Camp  Floyd.  It  was  impos 
sible  to  re-transport  this  back  again  to  the  States,  and  with  the 
settled  fear  that  the  Mormons  could  not  be  entrusted  with  the 
means  of  successful  rebellion,  the  order  was  given  to  destroy 
the  best  equipped  military  post  ever  established  in  the  West.  ^ 

Before  the  evacuation  and  the  destruction  of  arms,  public 
sales  were  announced  of  provisions  and  army  stores  of  every 
kind.  The  Mormon  people  who  had  religious  scruples  about 
visiting  the  camp  stayed  at  home  ;  but  those  who  went  made 
fortunes.  Brigham  had  his  agents  there  and  bought  enormous- 
ly for  a  mere  song. 

Mr.  H.  B.  Clawson,  Brigham's  son-in-law  and  agent,  during 
the  sale  became  familiarly  acquainted  with  quarter-master  Col. 
H.  G.  Crossman  and  other  officers.  The  army  now,  instead  of 
being  threatening  and  a  terror  to  the  Saints,  as  had  been  pre- 
dicted, was  to  them  and  their  prophet  a  source  of  wealth  and 
prosperity.  It  was,  therefore,  very  proper  for  Mr.  Clawson  to 
extend  to  the  officers  a  courteous  invitation  to  visit  President 
Young  before  their  departure  from  the  Territory.  They  po- 
litely accepted,  and  seized  the  opportunity  to  present  to  the 
Prophet  the  flag-staff  which  had  borne  aloft  the  national 
banner  at  Camp  Floyd.  It  was  afterwards  transplanted  to  the 
brow  of  the  hill  on  the  east  of  Brigham's  mansion,  and,  singu- 
larly enough,  that  flag-stafi*  on  which  were  hoisted  the  "  stars 
"  and  stripes"  to  rally  the  troops  that  had  come  to  overthrow 
"  tbe  kingdom,"  was  subsequently  used  to  assemble  the  Mor- 
mons for  the  defence  of  Brigham  against  the  Californian  vol- 
unteers, w^ho  for  months  were  expected  to  arrest  him. 

After  the  sales  were  over,  the  arms  and  amunition  were 
taken  to  a  distance  and  piled  up  in  pyramids ;  long  trains  of 
powder  were  then  properly  arranged,  and  at  a  given  signal  the 
fusee  was  touched,  and  away  up  in  the  air  went  the  missiles  of 
death  that  had  been  prepared  to  trouble  the  "  Saints  of  the 
"  Most  High."    Could  the  faithful  do  other  than  rejoice  and 

*  For  years  after,  the  "  regulation  blue  pants  "  were  more  familiar  to  the  eye,  in 
the  Mormon  settlements,  than  the  Valley  Tan  Quaker  gray,  and  there  was  scarcely 
an  officer  in  the  Mormon  militia  who  was  not  proud  to  sport  Uncle  Sam's  blue 
overcoat,  ornamented  with  the  fur  that  the  Territory  produced  !  How  often  that 
which  is  at  first  most  abhorred  becomes  subsequently  an  object  of  respect ! 


THE  EXPEDITION  ENDED. 


423 


see  in  the  ruin  and  desolation  that  covered  the  military  reserve 
the  workings  of  a  kind  Providence  that  over-ruled  all  things 
for  their  good  ? 

Several  pieces  of  ordnance  that  could  not  be  exploded  were 
consigned  to  deep  wells;  but  the  bishop  of  that  region,  with 
the  aid  of  the  faithful,  brought  them  from  their  watery  graves 
and  gave  them  a  glorious  resurrection.  They  now  do  excel- 
lent service  on  the  Fourth  and  twenty-fourth  of  July,  when 
the  city  rejoices  in  the  National  birthday,  and  in  the  greater 
day  of  the  arrival  of  the  pioneers  in  the  Great  Basin  of  the 
Mountains. 

In  the  early  autumn  of  1861  the  troops  marched  from  Zion, 
and  thus  ended  the  military  expedition  of  "  King  James  "  Bu- 
chanan against  the  Prophet  Brigham. 


CHAPTER  XLIII. 


THE  MOUNTAIN  MEADOWS  MASS ACEE.— The  Story  of  two  Emigrant  Trains 
— The  Journey  across  the  Plains — Arrival  in  Salt  Lake  City — Denied  Provis- 
ions in  the  Mormon  Settlements— The  Travel  to  the  Mountain  Meadows — A 
Militia  Eegiment  follows  them — ^Indians  and  Mormon  Militia  attack  the  Train — 
A  Fight  for  Four  Days — Mormon  Ofl5.cers  betray  the  Emigrants  under  a  Flag  of 
Truce — They  lay  down  their  Arms  under  Promise  of  Protection — A  Hundred 
and  Twenty  Men,  Women,  and  Children  butchered— Seventeen  Children  pre- 
served— The  Story  of  the  Massacre  confirmed  by  the  Affidavit  of  Bishop 
Smith — The  Author's  Letter  to  Brigham  Young — Superintendent  Forney's  Re- 
port— Names  of  the  Little  Ones  saved — Judge  Cradlebaugh's  Speech  in  Con- 
gress— Sale  of  the  Emigrants'  Property — Major  Carlton's  Story  of  the  Monu- 
ment— "Vengeance  is  mine,  I  have  repaid" — "Argus"  defines  Brigham 
Young's  Responsibility — Congress  deaf  to  the  Demand  for  Investigation. 

A  FEW  weeks  in  advance  of  the  United  States  Expedition 
to  Utah  in  1857,  there  were  two  trains  of  emigrants  crossing 
the  plains  with  the  purpose  of  going  to  southern  California. 
The  one  was  from  Missouri,  the  other  from  Arkansas.  The 
former  was  composed  chiefly  of  men  who  named  themselves 
"  Missouri  Wild-cats ; "  the  other  train  was  a  company  of 
highly-respectable  persons,  sober  and  orderly,  and  in  their  as- 
sociations seemed  like  a  large  gathering  of  kindred,  or  very 
near  friends.  The  first  were  probably  venturous  spirits  seek- 
ing fortune  ;  the  others,  citizens  seeking  new  homes. 

The  latter  company  was  wealthy,  and  there  were  around 
them  every  indication  of  comfort,  and  everything  in  abundance 
for  pleasant  travelling.  In  addition  to  the  ordinary  trans- 
portation wagons  of  emigrants,  they  had  several  riding  car- 
riages, which  betokened  the  social  class  of  life  in  which  some 
of  the  emigrants  had  moved  before  setting  out  on  the  adven- 
ture of  western  colonization. 


THE  JOURNEY  TOWARDS  SALT  LAKE. 


427 


They  were  in  no  liurry,  but  travelled  leisurely,  with  the 
view  of  nursing  the  strength  of  their  cattle,  horses,  and  mules, 
in  order  to  accomplish  successfully  the  long  and  tedious  journey 
which  they  had  undertaken.  In  that  company  there  were  men, 
women,  and  children,  of  every  age,  from  the  venerable  patriarch 
to  the  baby  in  arms.  It  was  a  bevy  of  families  related  to  each 
other  by  tlie  ties  of  consanguinity  and  marriage,  with  here  and 
there  in  the  train  a  neighbour  who  desired  to  share  with  them 
the  chances  of  fortune  in  the  proposed  new  homes  on  the  golden 
shores  of  the  Pacific. 

One  of  their  number  had  been  a  Methodist  preacher,  and 
probably  most  of  the  adults  were  members  of  that  denomina- 
tion. They  were  moral  in  language  and  conduct,  and  united 
regularly  in  morning  and  evening  prayers. 

On  Sundaj^s  they  did  not  travel,  but  observed  it  as  a  day 
of  sacred  rest  for  man  and  beast.  At  the  appointed  hour  of 
service,  this  brother-preacher  assembled  his  fellow-travellers 
in  a  large  tent,  which  served  as  a  meeting-house,  within  their 
wagon-circled  camp,  for  the  usual  religious  exercises,  and 
there,  on  the  low,  boundless  prairies,  or  in  higher  altitudes 
at  the  base  of  snow-capped  mountains,  he  addressed  them 
as  fervently,  and  with  as  much  soul-inspiring  faith,  as  if  his 
auditory  had  been  seated  comfortably  within  the  old  church- 
walls  at  home,  and  they  too  sang  their  hymns  of  praise  with 
grateful,  feeling  souls,  and  with  hearts  impressed  with  the 
realization  that  man  was  but  a  speck  in  the  presence  of  that 
grand  and  limitless  nature  that  surrounded  them,  and  of  which 
they  were  but  a  microscopic  part. 

Those  who  passed  the  company  en  route^  or  travelled  with 
them  a  part  of  the  way,  were  favourably  impressed  with  their 
society,  and  spoke  of  them  in  the  kindest  terms  as  an  exceed- 
ingly fine  company  of  emigrants,  such  as  was  seldom  seen  on 
the  plains. 

Though  utterly  unlike  themselves  in  character  and  disposi- 
tion, the  "Wild-cats"  contracted  for  them  much  respect,  and 
came  as  near  to  them  in  travelling  as  was  convenient  for  the 
grazing  of  the  cattle  and  the  purposes  of  the  camp  at  night. 
Within  sight  of  each  other  they  would  form  their  corrals,  but, 
while  the  one  resounded  with  vulgar  song,  boisterous  roaring, 


428 


THE  KOCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


and  "  tall  swearing,"  in  the  other  there  was  the  peace  of  do- 
mestic bliss  and  conscious  rectitude. 

A  gentleman,  a  friend  of  the  Autlior,  travelled  with  this 
Arkansas  company  from  Fort  Bridger  to  Salt  Lake  City,  and 
speaks  of  them  in  the  highest  terms  :  he  never  travelled  with 
more  pleasant  companions.  Hearing  the  nightly  yells  of  the 
"  Wild-cats,"  he  advised  the  Arkansas  company  to  separate 
from  them  as  much  as  possible  while  passing  through  the  set- 
tlements, and  in  going  through  the  Indian  country.  At  that 
time  it  was  easy  to  provoke  a  diflSculty ;  the  whole  country 
was  excited  over  the  news  of  the  "  invading  army  ; "  and  so 
much  was  this  gentleman  impressed  with  the  necessity  of  great 
prudence  on  the  part  of  the  emigrants  that,  after  he  had  left 
them  on  his  arrival  at  Salt  Lake  City,  he  afterwards  returned 
and  impressed  upon  the  leading  men  the  urgency  of  refusing 
to  travel  further  with  the  Missouri  company  so  near  to  them. 
The  kindly  suggestions  were  appreciated,  and  they  expressed . 
their  desire  to  act  upon  them.  Up  to  this  time  the  journey  of 
the  emigrants  had  been  prosperous,  and  everything  bade  fair 
for  a  pleasant  termination  of  their  travels.  Like  all  other  pil- 
grims, they  had  counted  upon  replenishing  their  stock  of  pro- 
visions at  Salt  Lake  City,  and  to  do  this,  and  to  rest  their 
cattle,  they  concluded  to  camp  awhile  by  the  Jordan. 

In  early  times  of  overland  travel,  the  arrival  of  a  Gentile 
emigrant  train  was  usually  a  pleasant  season  for  trade  and 
barter,  and  those  who  thought  proper  to  visit  the  camp  could 
readily  exchange  the  fruits  of  the  garden  and  the  produce  of 
the  dairy  or  the  field  for  tea,  coffee,  sugar,  and  similar  use- 
ful articles,  which  the  emigrants  had  in  greater  abundance. 
Many  a  sister  in  Salt  Lake  City  has  bedecked  herself  with 
apparel  advantageously  purchased  from  the  passers-by  with 
the  eggs  and  butter  she  had  accumulated  for  just  such  an  op- 
portunity. 

But  a  change  had  come  over  the  spirit  of  the  people  in 
1857.  The  Federal  troops  were  advancing  upon  Zion,  and  the 
Saints  were  preparing  for  the  defence  of  their  homes.  The 
Indian  is  not  the  only  human  being  who  fails  to  discriminate 
between  the  innocent  and  the  guilty. 

Since  that  date  it  has  been  frequently  asserted  by  the  Mor- 


DEATH  OF  PARLEY  P.  PRATT. 


429 


m on  preachers  that  some  of  the  Missouri  company  had  boasted 
on  the  way  that  they  had  taken  part  in  driving  the  Mormons 
from  that  State,  and  they  are  also  said  to  have  expressed  their 
joy  at  the  approach  of  the  United  States  army  to  "  wipe  out 
the  Mormons,"  and  adding  to  that  folly  that  they  themselves 
would  willingly  assist  in  such  a  pleasant  work.  The  alleged 
animus  against  the  other  company  can  be  briefly  told. 

About  twelve  months  preceding  that  time  one  of  the 
Apostles,  Parley  P.  Pratt,  had  been  arraigned  at  Fort  Smith, 
Arkansas,  on  a  charge  of  abducting  the  children  of  one  Hector 
McLean,  of  New  Orleans,  and  trying  to  run  them  off  to  Utah. 
The  mother  of  the  children  had  years  before  become  converted 
to  the  Mormon  faith  in  California,  and  subsequently  became 
one  of  the  Mrs.  P.  P.  Pratt  in  Utah.  This  apostle  had  not,  at 
this  time,  been  to  New  Orleans,  and  he  personally  did  not  ab- 
duct the  children ':  of  the  act  direct  he  was  guiltless,  but  he 
was  to  meet  with  Mrs.  McLean  Pratt  in  Arkansas  while  she 
was  en  route  from  New  Orleans  to  Utah.  Of  that  Hector  Mc- 
Lean became  assured,  and  he  started    upon  their  trail." 

At  the  examination  before  a  magistrate,  Mrs.  McLean  Pratt 
assumed  all  the  responsibility  for  the  abduction  of  the  children, 
and  the  apostle  was  honourably  discharged.  His  friends,  how- 
ever, apprehended  danger,  and  advised  him  to  escape,  if  he 
could,  for  McLean  was  a  violent  man.  Those  who  proffered 
this  advice  also  offered  him  a  brace  of  revolvers  for  his  defence, 
but  the  apostle  refused  the  carnal  weapons,  and  preferred,  on 
this  occasion,  to  leave  "  his  life  in  the  protection  of  the  Lord." 

In  such  a  sparsely-settled  country  the  escape  of  the  apostle 
was  impossible.  In  a  few  hours  McLean  was  certain  to  over- 
take him  wherever  he  went.  At  length  he  came  within  sight 
of  his  enemy,  as  he  regarded  the  apostle,  and  hotly  pursued 
him  with  a  thirst  for  blood.  Hoping  for  some  possible  shelter, 
Mr.  Pratt  made  some  detour  from  the  public  road,  but  it 
served  him  nothing,  for  McLean  reached  him  before  he  could 
arrive  at  the  house  where  he  thought  to  take  refuge.  Follow- 
ing him  closely,  he  emptied  his  revolver  at  the  apostle,  but 
failed  to  touch  him.  He  became  much  enraged,  urged  forward 
his  horse,  and,  as  he  rode  past  him,  made  a  lunge  with  a  bowie- 
knife,  and  gave  him  a  fatal  thrust  in  the  side.    The  wounded 


430 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


man  instantly  fell  from  his  horse,  and  McLean,  with  a  Derrin- 
ger that  he  obtained  from  one  who  accompanied  him,  fired 
a2:am  at  his  victim  as  he  lay  bleeding  on  the  ground.  That 
ball  penetrated  his  breast,  and  in  a  few  hours  later  the  apostle 
Parley  P.  Pratt  was  dead.* 

McLean  returned  to  Fort  Smith,  walked  through  the  town 
with  his  friends,  and  in  the  evening  took  the  passing  steamer 
for  the  South.  No  one  seemed  to  think  that  he  should  be  ar- 
rested ;  Mormonism  and  apostles  were  unpopular.  Whether 
with  justice  in  this  case  or  not,  there  is  always  a  feeling  of 
sympathy  for  the  injured  when  domestic  intrusions  are  before 
the  public. 

A  contributor  to  the  Corinne  Beporter^  a  Gentile  paper 
published  about  sixty  miles  north  of  Salt  Lake  City,  recently 
published  a  series  of  "  open  letters "  addressed  to  Brigham 
Young,  in  which  there  is  much  light  thrown  upon  the  terrible 
fate  of  the  two  emigrant  companies  from  Missouri  and  Ar- 
kansas. The  writer  of  the  letters  signed  himself  "  Argus,"  f 
and,  for  prudential  reasons,  has  withheld  his  name  from  the 
public. 

As  this  gentleman  relates  with  minuteness  of  detail  the  cir- 
cumstances preceding  the  massacre,  and  also  gives  a  thrilling 
picture  of  that  dreadful  deed,  the  Author  avails  himself  of  the 
courtesy  by  which  he  has  been  permitted  to  make  such  ex- 
tracts as  were  necessary  to  tell  the  story  of  the  Mountain 
Meadows  Massacre :  only  prefacing  these  extracts  with  the 
statement  that  the  charges  as  to  the  author  of  the  order  for 

*  It  has  often  been  charged  to  Parley  that  he  seduced  Mrs.  McLean  from  her 
husband.    Mrs.  McLean  asserts  to  the  contrary. 

f  As  no  statements  of  such  importance  as  those  made  by  this  writer  could  pos- 
sibly be  cited  in  a  work  of  this  kind  without  knowing  who  he  was,  and  whether  he 
was  likely  to  be  in  possession  of  the  information  that  he  claimed  to  know,  for  some 
months  the  Author  sought  anxiously,  but  ineffectually,  to  discover  the  writer's  name  ; 
the  publisher  very  properly  concealed  it.  At  an  unlooked-for  moment  the  thread 
was  accidentally  found,  and  "  Argus  "  frankly  avowed  that  he  wrote  the  "  open  let- 
ters," and  assured  the  Author  that  before  a  Federal  court  of  justice,  where  he  could 
be  protected,  he  was  prepared  to  give  the  evidence  of  all  that  he  had  asserted.  It 
need  only  be  added  that  "  Argus  "  has  probably  been  for  thirty  years  a  Mormon, 
has  resided  many  years  in  Utah,  has  been  a  high-priest  in  the  Church,  and  has  held 
responsible  civil  positions  in  the  Territory. 


THE  COMPANY  FORBIDDEN  TO  KEST. 


431 


the  massacre,  and  the  deductions  of  the  writer  against  Brigham 
'Young,  have  been  nearly  all  left  out :  first,  and  principally, 
for  brevity's  sake,  and  secondly,  from  the  consideration  that, 
on  so  serious  a  charge  as  wholesale  murder,  the  unconvicted 
should  have,  as  before  expressed,  the  benefit  of  whatever  un- 
certainty there  is  about  the  matter.  There  is,  however,  suflfi- 
cient  extracted  to  make  it  very  desirable  for  Brigham  Young 
to  encourage  the  investigation  of  these  charges  before  a  com- 
petent tribunal,  to  clear  his  name  of  the  imputation — if  he  is 
innocent. 

EXTRACTS  FROM    "  OPEN   LETTERS    FROM  '  ARGUS '  TO  BRIGHAM 

YOUNG." 

"  Sir  :  The  company  of  emigrants  slaughtered  on  the  15th  of  Septem- 
ber, 1857,  at  the  Mountain  Meadows,  and  within  your  jurisdiction,  was 
one  of  the  wealthiest,  most  respectable  and  peaceable  that  ever  crossed 
the  continent  by  the  way  of  Salt  Lake  City.  They  were  American  citi- 
zens— were  within  the  territory  of  the  United  States,  and  when  they 
encamped  by  the  Jordan  river,  upon  the  free,  unenclosed  and  unappropri- 
ated public  domain,  and  by  the  laws  of  Utah,  their  stock  were  ^  free  com- 
moners '  on  that  domain.  The  most  of  those  emigrants  had  unquestion- 
ably been  farmers,  all  of  them  rural  in  their  habits  of  life ;  and  from  the 
fact  that  you  did  not  charge  them  with  being  thieves,  or  robbers,  or  of 
trespassing  upon  the  rights  of  others,  or  disturbing  the  public  peace,  or 
with  behaving  themselves  unseemly,  it  is  fair  to  infer  that  they  were  as 
upright  and  virtuous  in  their  habits  of  thought,  and  as  honest  and  honour- 
able in  their  intercourse  with  others  as  people  from  country  parts  generally 
are.    They  came  from  Arkansas.* 

"  When  they  encamped  by  the  Jordan  they  were  weary  and  foot-sore, 
their  supply  of  food  was  wellnigh  exhausted,  and  their  work-cattle  nearly 
'  used  up '  by  the  labours  of  the  long  and  toilsome  journey.  The  neces- 
sity rested  upon  them  of  tarrying  in  Utah  sufficiently  long  to  rest  and  re- 
cruit their  teams  and  replenish  their  store  of  provisions.  The  harvest  in 
Utah  that  year,  then  gathering,  was  abundant,  and  mountain  and  valley 
were  covered  with  rich  and  nutritious  grasses.  What  was  there  to  hinder 
this  company  from  staying  as  long  as  they  pleased,  recruiting  their  stock, 
and  pursuing  their  journey  when  they  got  ready  ?  And,  besides,  what 
had  they  done  that  the  protection  of  the  law,  represented  in  your  person, 
should  be  worse  than  withdrawn  from  them  ?  that  they  should  be  ordered 
to  break  up  camp  and  move  on  ?  and,  worse  than  all,  that  a  courier  should 
be  sent  ahead  of  them  bearing  your  written  instructions  to  the  Mormons 
on  said  company's  line  of  travel  to  have  no  dealing  or  intercourse  with 

*  Mrs.  McLean  Pratt  is  said  to  have  recognized  one  or  more  of  the  emigrants  as 
being  present  at  the  murder  of  the  apostle. 


432 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


them ;  thus  compelling  them  to  almost  certain  death  by  starvation  on  the 
deserts  ?  You  were  at  that  time  the  Governor  of  Utah,  Commander-in- 
Chief  of  the  militia,  and  Superintendent  of  Indian  Affairs,  a  sworn  officer 
of  the  United  States  and  of  the  Territory,  upon  whom  devolved,  and  with 
whom  were  intrusted  grave  and  important  responsibilities,  affecting  the 
liberties  of  the  people,  the  rights  of  persons  and  property,  and  the  welfare 
and  happiness  of  all  within  the  pale  of  your  authority  without  regard  to 
sect,  creed,  name,  or  nativity,  or  differences  between  individual  opinions. 
In  addition  to  your  magistrature,  you  were  the  chief  high-priest  of  almost 
the  entire  body  of  the  people,  assuming  to  yourself  extraordinary  heavenly 
powers  and  an  unusual  amount  of  spiritual  excellence.  Without  any 
modification  of  the  term,  you  were  professedly  the  earthly  Vicar  of  the 
heavenly  Saviour — of  Him  who  divinely  discoursed  on  earth  of  mercy  and 
of  love,  and  whose  last  words  were,  '  Father,  forgive  them  ! '  .  .  . 

"  Not  being  allowed  to  remain,  this  weary,  unrested  company  *  broke 
camp '  and  took  up  their  line  of  travel  for  Los  Angeles.  Their  progress 
was  necessarily  slow.  Arriving  at  American  Fork  settlement  they  essayed 
to  trade  off  some  of  their  worn-out  stock  for  the  fresh  and  reliable  cattle 
of  the  Mormons,  offering  fine  bargains  ;  and  also  sought  to  buy  provisions. 
What  must  have  been  their  surprise  when  they  found  they  could  do  nei- 
ther ?  Notwithstanding  that  flour,  bacon,  vegetables  in  variety,  poultry, 
butter,  cheese,  eggs,  etc.,  were  in  unusual  abundance,  and  plenty  of  sur- 
plus stock,  not  the  first  thing  could  be  bought  or  sold  !  They  passed  on 
through  Battle  Creek,  Provo,  Springville,  Spanish  Fork,  Payson,  Salt 
Creek  and  Fillmore,  attempting  at  each  settlement  to  purchase  food  and 
to  trade  for  stock,  but  without  success.  It  is  true  that  occasionally  some 
Mormon  more  daring  than  his  fellows  would  sack  up  a  few  pounds  of 
provisions,  and  under  cover  of  night  smuggle  the  same  into  the  emigrant 
camp,  taking  his  chances  of  a  severed  windpipe  in  satisfaction  for  such 
unreasonable  contempt  of  orders ;  but  otherwise  there  was  no  food  bought 
by  this  company  thus  far.  And  here  it  is  worthy  to  remark  that  up  to 
this  time  no  complaint  had  been  made  against  these  travellers.  They 
had  been  accused  of  no  crime  known  to  the  laws,  and,  undeniably,  it  had 
been  a  point  with  them  to  quietly  and  peaceably  pass  through  Utah,  in 
the  hope  of  reaching  some  Gentile  settlement  where  their  gold  and  cattle  . 
could  buy  them  something  to  eat. 

"  The  query  arises  here.  What  caused  so  strange  and  unprecedented  a 
proceeding  towards  this  particular  company  ?  The  custom  of  the  over- 
land emigration  at  that  tim'e  was  well  known ;  which  was,  to  provision 
their  trains  for  Salt  Lake  City,  and  refit  at  that  place  for  California.  If 
other  trains  could  rest  and  recruit,  could  buy,  sell  and  refit  in  Utah,  why 
not  this  ?  .  .  .  These  people  were  from  Arkansas,  a  State  in  which  Par- 
ley P.  Pratt,  one  of  your  fellow-apostles,  had  been  killed  .  .  .  But  to  re- 
turn. This  ill-fated  company  were  now  at  Fillmore.  They  had  left  their 
camp  at  the  Jordan  with  almost  empty  wagons,  they  had  been  unable  to 
purchase  provisions,  as  before  stated,  they  had  but  three  or  four  settle- 


THE  EMIGRANTS  REFUSED  ALL  SUPPLIES.  433 


ments  yet  to  pass  through  ;  and  then  their  way  would  pass  over  the  most 
to  be  dreaded  of  all  the  American  deserts,  where  there  would  be  no  possi- 
bility of  obtaining  a  pound  of  food.  What  their  prospects,  feelings  and 
forebodings  were  at  that  time,  I  leave  for  your  consideration ;  but,  sir,  I 
beg  to  call  your  attention  to  the  fact  that,  at  the  capture  of  their  train  at 
the  Mountain  Meadows,  their  stores  were  found  to  be  inadequate  for  the 
journey  in  contemplation.  They  were,  indeed,  wellnigh  exhausted,  with 
the  exception  of  two  purchases  which  I  shall  describe  presently,  which  pur- 
chases were  made  after  they  had  left  Fillmore.  There  cannot  be  a  reason- 
able doubt  that  they  were  already  on  short  allowance  when  they  reached 
that  settlement.  .  .  .  There  have  been  times,  as  in  late  occurrences  in 
Paris,  when  men's  passions  have  been  aroused  and  excited,  especially  upon 
religious  differences,  and  still  more  especially  when  associated  with  the 
idea  of  caste  or  race  ;  outrages  and  wholesale  butcheries  have  occurred  ; 
but  here  we  have  in  free  America  a  peaceable  company  of  emigrants  who 
were  forced  untimely  into  a  journey,  then  half-starved,  and  finally  slaugh- 
tered in  cold  blood  !  And  this  was  the  result  of  the  apparent  action  of 
an  entire  people.  Do  you  expect  the  world  to  believe  that  action  to  have 
been  spontaneous  with  them  ?  That  the  whole  people  from  the  Jordan  to 
Fillmore  should,  of  their  own  free  will,  uninfluenced,  uninstructed,  unco- 
erced, should  all  as  one  unite  in  denying  these  strangers  the  right  even 
of  buying  food  ?  Impossible !  This  company  of  Arkansas  farmers,  travel- 
ling with  their  wives  and  little  ones,  had  now  travelled  through  and  by 
fifteen  different  settlements,  large  and  small,  peopled  by  Mormons  under 
your  absolute  control  in  all  things,  and  had  not  been  able  to  buy  food. 
Oh !  what  a  falling  off  was  there  from  the  words  of  Him  who  said,  *  If 

thine  enemy  hunger,  feed  him  ! '  

"  At  Fillmore  their  store  of  provisions  was  too  scanty  to  allow  of  de- 
lay; and  so  soon  as  they  found  they  could  do  no  trading  there  they 
moved  on,  and  in  due  course  reached  Corn  Creek.  Here  they  saw  the 
first  kindly  look  and  heard  the  first  friendly  word  since  they  left  the  Jor- 
dan. And,  strange  to  say,  those  friends  were  Indians !  They  sold  the 
emigrants  30  bushels  of  com — all  they  had  to  spare — and  sent  them  away 
in  peace. 

The  company  passed  on  from  Corn  Creek,  and,  reaching  Beaver,  they 
found  the  same  order  of  non-intercourse,  the  same  prohibition  as  to  trad- 
ing as  before ;  and,  passing  on,  they  came  to  Parowan,  lut  were  not  per" 
mitted  to  enter  the  town,  Now  be  it  known,  and  the  books  will  show,  that 
the  General  Government  had  paid  twenty-five  thousand  dollars  in  gold 
coin  for  the  surveying  and  opening  of  this  road  which  passed  directly 
through  the  town  of  Parowan,  and  upon  which  this  company  was  travel- 
ling and  had  travelled  all  the  way  from  Salt  Lake  City,  passing  through 
American  Fork,  and  all  the  principal  settlements  on  the  route.  They  had 
passed  through  those  settlements  without  let  or  hindrance ;  but  here  they 
were  forced  to  leave  the  public  highway  and  pass  around  the  west  side 
of  the  fort  wall.    When  they  reached  the  stream  abreast  of  the  town 


434 


THE  KOCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


they  encamped,  and  tried,  as  before,  to  trade  for  food  and  fresh  cattle, 
but  failed.  There  was  a  little  Englishman  who  was  determined  to  sell 
them  some  provisions ;  but  Bishop  Lewis's  son  and  Counsellor  advanced 
before  him,  and,  pressing  the  edge  of  a  bowie-knife  against  his  throat, 
compelled  him  to  retreat  without  realizing  his  humane  intentions.  There 
was  a  grist-mill  at  Parowan,  the  first  the  company  had  *  struck '  since 
they  left  Corn  Creek.  They  made  application  to  have  the  corn  ground 
which  they  had  bought  of  the  Indians,  but  were  flatly  refused. 

"  Now,  sir,  why  were  these  emigrants  refused  permission  to  enter  and 
pass  through  Parowan?  However  unpleasant  it  may  be  to  you,  this 
question  will  probably  yet  be  asked  in  such  form  and  by  such  authority 
that  you  will  feel  constrained  to  answer.  You  are  quite  competent  to  give 
the  answer,  so  is  your  aide-de-camp  and  Brigadier-General,  George  A. 
So  is  Wm.  H.  Dame,  the  colonel  of  the  regiment  forming  a  part  of  the 
militia  under  your  supreme  command — that  same  regiment  that  after- 
wards fell  upon  that  same  unofl*ending  company  at  Mountain  Meadows  and 
destroyed  them.  But  you  will  not  answer  until  compelled.  Then  let  me 
suggest  that  Parowan  was  the  legitimate  headquarters  of  that  particular 
regiment ;  that  it  was  the  place  of  residence  of  Colonel  Dame ;  that  there 
was  a  certain  military  appearance  inside  the  walls  that  it  would  not  be 
prudent  for  the  emigrants  to  see  or  suspect,  for  their  destruction  had 
been  decreed,  and  they  must  be  taken  at  a  disadvantage.  And,  further, 
the  emigrants  hitherto  had  encountered  only  a  passive  hostility,  now  it 
was  to  be  active ;  and  they  must  not  be  permitted  to  enter  the  town 
where  their  unoffending  manners  and  quiet  deportment  might  win  upon 
the  sympathies  of  the  people. 

"  The  emigrants  made  their  way  to  Cedar  City,  at  that  time  the  most 
populous  of  all  the  towns  in  Southern  Utah.  Here  they  were  allowed  to 
purchase  fifty  bushels  of  tithing  wheat,  and  to  get  the  same,  and  also  the 
com,  ground  at  John  D.  Lee's  mill.  No  thanks,  however,  for  this  seem- 
ing favour ;  for  the  authorities  that  pretended  to  sell  that  wheat  knew 
that  they  would  have  the  most  of  it  back  in  less  than  a  week ;  at  least 
they  knew  that  it  would  never  leave  the  Territory.  But,  waiving  that, 
still  this  company  of  one  hundred  and  twenty  souls,  or  thereabouts,  had 
not  to  exceed  forty-nine  hundred  pounds  of  provisions,  less  than  forty 
days'  rations,  all  told,  to  take  them  to  San  Bernardino,  in  California. 

"  Now,  sir,  I  have  consulted  with  one  of  the  old  pioneers  of  the  road 
from  Cedar  City  to  the  Mojave  river,  one  whose  judgment  and  experience 
are  worthy  of  respect;  one  who  saw  that  company  in  Utah  as  they  were 
passing  along  on  the  Territorial  road,  and  knew  the  condition  of  their 
teams.  I  asked  him  how  long  it  would  have  taken  them  to  go  from  Cedar 
to  the  Mojave?  He  reflected,  then  answered,  '  Sixty  days.'  From  there 
to  San  Bernardino  would  have  taken  six  to  ten  days.  Here  was  a  com- 
pany made  up  of  men,  women  and  children,  with  at  least  one  child  to  be 
born  on  the  road,  whose  mother  would  require  a  little  rest  and  at  least 
some  comfort,  forced  to  undertake  this  journey  under  circumstances  be- 


THE  MILITIA  IN  PURSUIT. 


435 


yond  their  control,  but  altogether  under  yours^  who  w6re  obliged  to  put 
themselves  on  short  allowance  on  the  start  

"  The  Arkansas  company  remained  at  Cedar  City  but  one  day,  and 
then  started  on  that  fatal  trip  which  was  but  too  soon  to  come  to  a  tragic 
and  sanguinary  end.  And  here  I  will  state  a  fact  well  known  at  Cedar 
City  and  Pinto  Creek,  to  prove  that  I  have  not  overdrawn  the  picture 
when  speaking  of  the  jaded  and  worn-out  condition  of  their  teams.  It 
took  them  three  days  to  go  to  Iron  Creek,  a  distance  of  only  twenty 
miles.  The  distance  from  Iron  Creek  to  the  Meadows,  about  fifteen  miles, 
was  made  in  two  days.  The  morning  they  left  Iron  Creek,  the  fourth 
after  leaving  Cedar,  your  militia  took  up  their  line  of  march  in  pursuit 
of  them,  intending  to  make  the  assault  at  the  *  Clara  Crossing' — your  mi- 
litia I  you,  Brigham  Young,  were  at  that  very  time  Governor  of  Utah,  and 
Commander-in-Chief  of  the  military  forces  of  the  Territory,  and  were 
drawing  your  salary  as  such  from  the  treasury  of  the  United  States. 

"  These  soldiers  did  not  come  together  by  chance.  Indeed,  sir,  it  is  on 
oath,  and  witnessed  by  the  seal  of  the  court,  that  the  calling  out  of  those 
troops  *  was  a  regular  milita/ry  call  from  the  superior  officers  to  the  subordi- 
nate officers  and  privates  of  the  regiment^  And  said  sworn  testimony  further 
states  that  ^  said  regiment  was  duly  ordered  to  muster,  armed  and  equipped 
as  the  law  directs,  and  prepared  for  field  operations!^    I  am  fally  aware,  sir, 

of  the  fearful  import  of  these  quotations  The  call  to  arms  was  the 

result  reached  by  a  regular  military  council,  held  in  the  town  of  Paro- 
wan,  at  which  were  present.  President  Isaac  C.  Haight  (the  Mormon 
High-Priest  of  Southern  Utah),  Colonel  Dame,  Major  John  D.  Lee,  and 
your  fat  Aide-de-Camp. 

"  The  regiment  camped  at  Cedar  City — was  commanded  by  its  major, 
John  D.  Lee  (who  was  also  your  Indian  Agent  for  Southern  Utah),  and 
marched  from  that  place  in  pursuit  of  the  emigrants.  It  was  accompanied 
by  baggage- wagons,  and,  with  the  exception  of  artillery,  the  other  neces- 
sary '  make-up  '  of  a  military  force  in  the  field.  Lee  had  extended  an  in- 
vitation to  the  Piede  Indians  to  accompany  him ;  and  with  these  auxil- 
iaries he  had  a  force  which  the  poor,  hungry  emigrants  could  not  hope  to 
resist. 

"  The  emigrants  were  overtaken  at  the  Mountain  Meadows.  Being  en- 
tirely ignorant  of  the  danger  so  near  them,  they  '  rolled  out '  from  camp 
in  a  careless  matter-of-course  way,  on  the  morning  of  the  12th  of  September, 
and,  as  soon  as  the  rear  wagon  had  got  a  safe  distance  from  the  spring, 
the  Indians,  unexpectedly  to  Lee,  commenced  firing.  The  emigrants  were 
taken  completely  by  surprise.  It  is  conclusive  beyond  a  doubt,  from  the 
loose  and  unguarded  manner  of  their  travelling,  that  they  had  no  idea  of 
the  military  expedition  sent  against  them  until  they  saw  and  felt  it.  Yet, 
unguarded  as  they  were  at  the  moment  of  the  attack,  they  had  travelled 
too  far  over  roads  infested  with  Indians  to  become  confused.  They  im- 
mediately corralled  their  wagons  and  prepared  for  defence,  fortifying  aa 
best  they  could ;  but,  alas,  they  were  too  far  from  water  I 


436 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


"  They  fought  your  troops  all  that  day  and  all  the  next.  Major  Lee, 
beginning  to  think  that  he  had  waked  up  the  wrong  passengers,  sent  to 
Cedar  City  and  Washington  for  reenforcements,  which  were  at  once  raised 
and  forwarded,  forming  a  junction  with  the  main  body  on  the  morning 
of  the  fourth  day's  fight.  This  call  for  reenforcements  took  every  able- 
bodied  man  from  Washington,  and  all  but  two  from  Cedar  City. 

"  During  the  third  daj's  battle  it  became  a  necessity  with  the  emi- 
grants to  get  water.  They  were  choking  with  thirst,  and  without  water 
they  could  hold  out  but  little  longer.  There  it  was  in  abundance,  in  plain 
sight,  but  covered  by  the  rifles  of  your  troops.  They  made  several  des- 
perate but  fatal  and  unsuccessful  efforts,  and  finally,  hoping  there  might 
be  some  little  of  humanity  remaining  with  the  Mormons,  they  dressed 
two  little  girls  in  white,  and  started  them  with  a  bucket  toward  the 
spring.    Tour  soldiers  shot  them  down  I 


"  On  the  next  morning,  the  reenforcements  having  arrived,  Major  Lee 
massed  his  troops  at  a  point  about  half  a  mile  from  the  emigrants'  fort, 
and  there  made  them  a  speech,  during  which  he  informed  them  that  (I 
quote  from  a  sworn  statement)  his  orders  from  headquarters  were,  '  To 
Ml  the  entire  company  except  the  children:  Now,  sir,  as  to  whether  those 
^  headquarters'  were  located  in  your  office  at  Salt  Lake  City,  or  at  Paro- 
wan,  is  a  matter  to  be  settled  between  you  and  Colonel  Dame ;  and,  if  I 
am  not  mistaken,  you  will  yet  have  to  settle  it.  If  Colonel  Dame  shall 
ever  confess  before  a  proper  tribunal  that  he  issued  that  extraordinary 
order  on  his  own  responsibility,  and  independently  of  you,  I  shall  be  very 
much  mistaken.  But,  of  the  fact  that  such  an  order  was  actually  made, 
there  can  be  no  doubt.    There  had  been  two  military  councils  held  in 


Brother  Kanosh,  the  Indian  Chief,  p.  404. 


THE  FLAG  OF  TRUCE.— TREACHERY ! 


437 


Parowan — one  before  or  about  the  time  the  emigrants  passed  that  place 
and  one  on  the  day  they  left  Cedar.  Haight  and  Lee  were  at  both  these 
councils,  and  from  the  last  returned  together  to  Cedar — the  latter  to  take 
command  of  the  troops,  and  the  former  to  stand  prepared  to  render  him 
any  service  which  might  be  needed- 

"  It  is  on  oath,  sir,  that  it  was  at  Cedar  City,  two  days  after  the  emi- 
grants had  left,  that  President  Haight  said  to  certain  parties  (who  shall 
be  nameless  here),  '  that  he  had  orders  from  headquarters  to  kill  all  of 
said  company  of  emigrants  except  the  little  children  ! '  This  fixes  the 
fact  beyond  dispute  that  Lee  and  Haight  were  professedly  acting  under 
orders  from  headquarters ;  and  to  suppose  that  such  profession  was  false 
— that  two  subordinates  should  take  upon  themselves  the  responsibility 
of  such  a  bloody  affair,  professedly  in  your  name,  and  yet  without  your 
authority — is  out  of  the  question.  It  is  equally  absurd  to  suppose  that 
said  order  originated  with  Colonel  Dame.  All  the  reasons  are  against 
such  a  supposition.  Besides,  no  colonel  of  a  regiment  would  have  the 
right  or  the  authority  to  do  anything  in  such  premises,  except  to  promul- 
gate and  enforce  the  order  of  his  superior  officer.  To  do  otherwise  v/ould 
be  to  subject  himself  to  the  eventualities  of  a  military  court ;  and  it  is 
certain  that  neither  Colonel  Dame  nor  Major  Lee  was  ever  court-martialled 
for  his  action  in  the  military  operations  at  the  Mountain  Meadows. 

"  After  Major  Lee  had  announced  that  fatal  order  to  his  troops,  and 
instructed  them  as  to  how  he  intended  to  carry  it  out,  '  he  sent  a  flag  of 
truce  into  the  emigrants'  fort,  offering  to  them  that  if  they  would  lay 
down  their  arms  he  would  protect  them.'  This  was  on  the  15th  day  of 
September,  and  the  fourth  since  the  battle,  or,  rather,  siege  had  begun. 
You  will  not  forget  that  the  little  band  of  Arkansans  were  not '  whipped.' 
Though  well-nigh  exhausted  with  fatigue  and  loss  of  sleep,  and  burning 
up  with  thirst,  they  were  not  conquered.  They  were  fighting  for  their 
wives  and  little  ones  more  than  for  themselves,  else,  at  any  time,  under 
cover  of  the  darkness,  they  could  have  formed  in  solid  column,  broke 
through  your  lines  and  escaped.  But  to  their  honour,  be  it  said,  they  re- 
fused life  when  associated  with  the  condition  of  deserting  their  families. 

"  But  the  flag  of  truce  came  into  their" little  fort — that  white  flag  held 
by  all  civilized  nations  and  peoples,  from  time  immemorial,  as  an  emblem 
at  once  of  peace,  of  truth,  of  honour.  By  the  message  accompanying  this 
flag,  they  were  promised  protection.  Alas,  that  it  should  prove  to  be 
*  such  protection  as  vultures  give  to  lambs  I '  But  the  message  was  not 
from  Indians,  it  was  from  Major  Lee,  a  regularly  constituted  officer  of  the 
military  forces  of  the  Territory  of  Utah,  one  of  the  Territories  of  the 
United  States.  What  should  they  do  but  believe  its  promise?  They 
marched  out  of  their  little  fort,  laid  down  their  arms,  marched  up  to  the 
spring  where  Lee  stood,  and  placed  themselves  under  his  protection ;  and 
his  promises  of  protection  were  yours. 

"  But  now  was  to  be  enacted  one  of  those  scenes  which  the  pen  is  in- 
adequate to  describe,  and  the  horrors  of  which  it  is  impossible  for  one  not 


438 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


then  present  to  realize.  Here  were  unarmed,  unresisting  men,  innocent 
and  inoflfeasive  women,  and  helpless  children,  none  of  which  had  ever 
harmed  you,  or  offended  the  majesty  of  the  laws  of  Utah.  They  had  every 
possible  claim  not  . only  to  Lee's  protection,  but  to  life,  liberty,  and  their 
property.  Their  right  to  be  treated  truthfully,  honourably,  and  humane- 
ly was  perfect.  But,  sir,  your  order  was  practically  as  irrevocable  as  it 
was  terrible.  And  it  would  not  do  for  the  troops  to  think  long  about  it, 
lest  conscience  should  assert  rights  which  even  the  thought  of  you  could 
not  overcome.  There  must  be  no  time  for  parleying  between  obedience 
to  you  and  duty  to  humanity.  So,  without  allowing  these  famishing 
prisoners  time  even  to  refresh  themselves,  the  women  and  children  were 
separated  from  their  husbands  and  fathers,  and  started  on  ahead  towards 
Cedar  City,  the  men  following  immediately  in  their  rear,  and  all  guarded 
by  the  entire  command,  with  Lee  at  the  head  of  the  column.  There  is  no 
reason  to  suppose  that,  up  to  the  moment  of  the  massacre,  the  emigrants 
thought  they  were  going  to  be  shot  down.  After  they  had  been  marched 
about  a  half  mile,  Lee  gave  the  word  to  '  halt ; '  then  immediately  the  com- 
mand to  ^  shoot  them  down'  was  passed  down  the  column,  and  before  the 
poor  emigrants  could  realize  their  situation  the  first  volley  was  delivered  ! 
Then  from  the  survivors  went  up  such  a  piercing,  heart-rending  scream  ! — 
such  a  shriek  of  blank  despair! — then  the  flight  of  all  except  one  young 
woman,  who  sprang  to  Lee,  and  clung  to  him  for  protection — then  the 
chase — then  another  volley — and  then  another — and  still  another,  and 
then — all  was  still !  save  the  last  death-strugglings  of  the  unhappy  vic- 
tims, the  cries  of  the  remnant  of  little  ones  who  had  been  left  behind  in 
the  flight,  and  the  heavy  breathings  of  the  soldiers,  pale,  trembling  and 
aghast  at  the  horrid  scene  before  and  around  them  ! 

"  Another  scene  was  now  to  be  enacted  so  utterly  revolting  to  our  sense 
of  modesty,  so  grossly  at  variance  with  all  our  ideas  of  propriety,  so  alto- 
gether repulsive  to  the  better  qualities  of  human  nature,  that  it  vies  even 
with  the  massacre  itself  in  damnable  wickedness.  This  remark  is  not  in- 
tended to  apply  to  all  of  the  troops,  for  it  is  just  and  fair  to  understand 
that  many  a  man  was  mustered  in  that  regiment  sorely  against  his  will. 
But  apparently  a  majority  of  them  took  to  the  whole  work  of  the  cam- 
paign with  willing  earnestness,  and  finally  returned  home  seemingly 
without  remorse.  And,  as  good  Utah  Mormons,  why  should  they  not  ? 
Why  should  they  not  slay  upon  the  right  hand  and  upon  the  left,  until 
they  could  wade  in- the  gore  of  apostates  and  Gentiles,  and  then  return 
home  singing  hosannas  to  God  and  the  Lamb  ?  They  had  been  taught 
from  your  pulpits  to  expect  and  to  do  just  such  things.  The  carnage 
around  them  was  simply  a  matter  of  course.  It  was  but  an  episode  in 
what  was  yet  to  be  the  gory  history  of  the  Kingdom  of  God.  It  was  but 
a  faint  realization  of  those  glorious  campaigns  when  they  should  go 
through  the  United  States  *  like  a  lion  among  the  flocks  of  sheep,  tread- 
ing down,  breaking  in  pieces,  with  none  to  deliver,  leaving  the  land  deso- 
late and  without  an  inhabitant.'    It  was  for  these  (your)  soldiers,  these 


FIEND-LIKE  TREATMENT  OF  THE  DEAD. 


439 


demons  to  commit  the  last  outrage  upon  their  victims.  Among  the  slain 
there  was  the  nursing  babe  which  the  mother  could  not  forsake,  even  in 
death  ;  there  were  females  of  all  ages,  from  budding  girlhood  to  the  prime 
of  life  ;  there  was  also  the  youth  and  the  strong  man.  Those  females  were 
not  abandoned  characters ;  they  had  not  unsexed  themselves  by  whore- 
dom ;  they  were  the  chaste,  the  modest,  virtuous  and  pure-hearted  daugh- 
ters, sisters  and  wives  of  the  emigrants.  Well,  sir,  your  soldiers,  with 
many  a  coarse,  ribald,  vulgar  jest,  with  many  an  obscene,  beastly  remark, 
stripped  them  entirely  of  their  clothing,  and  the  whole  company  were  left 
nude  and  stark,  and  without  burial !  Even  the  young  maiden,  who  had 
implored  Lee  for  her  life,  was  found  among  the  sage-brush  with  her  throat 
cut,  and  stripped  naked  ! 

"  The  order  had  been  given  to  spare  the  little  children  ;  but  in  the  ex- 
citement of  the  massacre  some  were  killed.  Seventeen,  however,  were 
saved.  They  were  taken  care  of  by  Bishop  Smith,  who  had  been  detailed 
by  Major  Lee  before  the  massacre  for  that  purpose.  In  this  labour  of  mercy 
he  was  voluntarily  assisted  by  John  Willis  and  Samuel  Mardy.  The  hap- 
less orphans  were  put  into  two  regimental  baggage-wagons  and  taken  to 
Jake  Hamlin's  ranche,  and  the  next  day  to  Cedar  City,  where  they  were 
distributed  among  the  Mormon  families.  Two  of  these  children  afterward 
made  some  remarks  which  were  thought  dangerous,  and  they  were  pri- 
vately taken  out  and— buried !  After  the  administration  in  Utah  had 
changed  hands,  they  were  gathered  up  by  the  Government  and  sent  to  St. 
Louis.  The  troops  at  the  Meadows,  having  stripped  the  bodies  of  the 
dead,  gathered  the  stock,  and  Lee  took  possession  of  the  wagons  and 
their  contents,  and  also  the  stock." 

"While  these  sickening  details  of  this  terrible  cliapter  were 
being  sent  to  the  press,  unlooked-for  confirmation  comes  from 
Salt  Lake  City  in  the  following  affidavit  from  Bishop  Philip 
Klingon  Smith.  It  is  proper  to  remark  that  Argus"  could 
have  no  possible  knowledge  of  the  Bishop's  affidavit,  nor  could 
the  Bishop  know  of  "  Argus's "  letters.  The  affidavit  was 
made  in  April,  1871,  and  was  secretly  preserved  in  the  hands 
of  a  Federal  officer  :  the  "  Argus  Letters "  were  written  in 
July  and  August.  It  is  singularly  strange  that  both  writers 
should  give  so  harmonious  and  clear  a  statement. 

State  of  Nevada^  County  of  Lincoln^  ss, : — ^Personally  appeared  before 
me,  Peter  B.  Miller,  Clerk  of  Court  of  the  Seventh  Judicial  District  of  the 
State  of  Nevada,  Philip  Klingon  Smith,  who  being  duly  sworn,  on  his 
oath,  says  :  My  name  is  Philip  Klingon  Smith  ;  I  reside  in  the  County  of 
Lincoln,  in  the  State  of  Nevada ;  I  resided  at  Cedar  City,  in  the  County 
of  Iron,  in  the  Territory  of  Utah,  from  A.  d.  1852  to  a.  d.  1859;  I  was  re- 
siding at  said  Cedar  City  at  the  time  of  the  massacre  at  Mountain  Meadows, 
27 


440 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


in  said  Territory  of  Utah ;  I  had  heard  that  a  company  of  emigrants  was  on 
its  way  from  Salt  Lake  City,  bound  for  California ;  said  company  arrived 
at  said  Cedar  City,  tarried  there  one  day,  and  passed  on  for  California ; 
after  said  company  had  left  Cedar  City,  the  militia  was  called  out  for  the 
purpose  of  committing  acts  of  hostility  against  them ;  said  call  was  a  reg- 
ular military  call  from  the  superior  officers  to  the  subordinate  officers  and 
privates  of  the  regiment  at  Cedar  City  and  vicinity,  composing  a  part  of 
the  militia  of  the  Territory  of  Utah  ;  I  do  not  recollect  the  number  of  the 
regiment ;  I  was  at  that  time  the  Bishop  of  the  Church  of  Jesus  Christ  of 
Latter-Day  Saints  at  Cedar  City ;  Isaac  C.  Haight  was  President  over  said 
church  at  Cedar  City  and  the  southern  settlements  in  said  Territory  ;  my 
position  as  Bishop  was  subordinate  to  that  of  said  President ;  W.  H.  Dame 
was  President  of  said  Church  at  Parowan  in  said  Iron  County  ;  said  W. 
H.  Dame  was  also  colonel  of  said  regiment ;  said  Isaac  C.  Haight  was 
lieutenant-colonel  of  said  regiment,  and  said  John  D.  Lee,  of  Harmony,  in 
said  Iron  County,  was  major  of  said  regiment ;  said  regiment  was  duly 
ordered  to  muster,  armed  and  equipped  as  the  law  directs,  and  prepared 
for  field  operations;  I  had  no  command  nor  office  in  said  regiment  at  the 
time,  neither  did  I  march  with  said  regiment  on  the  expedition  which  re- 
sulted in  said  company's  being  massacred  in  the  Mountain  Meadows,  in 
said  County  of  Iron  ;  about  four  days  after  said  company  of  emigrants 
had  left  Cedar  City,  that  portion  of  said  regiment  then  mustered  at  Cedar 
City  took  up  its  line  of  march  in  pursuit  of  them  ;  about  two  days  after 
said  company  had  left  said  Cedar  City,  Lieutenant-Colonel  1.  C.  Haight 
expressed,  in  my  presence,  a  desire  that  said  company  might  be  permitted 
to  pass  on  their  way  in  peace ;  but  afterward  he  told  me  that  he  had 
orders  from  headquarters  to  kill  all  of  said  company  of  emigrants  except 
the  little  children ;  I  do  not  know  whether  said  headquarters  meant  the 
Regimental  Headquarters  at  Parowan,  or  the  Headquarters  of  the  Com- 
mander-in-Chief at  Salt  Lake  City  ;  when  the  said  company  had  got  to 
Iron  Creek,  about  twenty  (20)  miles  from  Cedar  City,  Captain  Joel  White 
started  for  Pinto  Creek  settlement,  through  which  said  company  would 
pass,  for  the  purpose  of  influencing  the  people  to  permit  said  company  to 
pass  on  their  way  in  peace  ;  I  asked  and  obtained  permission  of  said 
White  to  go  with  him  and  aid  him  in  his  endeavours  to  save  life  ;  when 
said  White  and  myself  got  about  three  miles  from  Cedar  City  we  met 
Major  John  D.  Lee,  who  asked  us  where  we  were  going ;  I  replied  that 
we  were  going  to  try  to  prevent  the  killing  of  the  emigrants ;  Lee 
replied,  'I  have  something  to  say  about  that;'  Lee  was  at  that  time 
on  his  way  to  Parowan,  the  Headquarters  of  Colonel  Dame;  said  White 
and  I  went  to  Pinto  Creek ;  remained  there  one  night,  and  the  next 
day  returned  to  Cedar  City,  meeting  said  company  of  emigrants  at 
Iron  Creek ;  before  reaching  Cedar  City  we  met  one  Ira  Allen,  who  told 
us  '  that  the  decree  had  passed,  devoting  said  company  to  destruction  ; ' 
after  the  fight  had  been  going  on  for  three  or  four  days,  a  messen- 
ger from  Major  Lee  reached  Cedar  City,  who  stated  that  the  fight  had 


BISHOP  SMITH'S  AFFIDAVIT. 


441 


not  becD  altogether  successful,  upon  which  Lieutenant-Colonel  Haight 
ordered  out  a  reenforcement ;  at  this  time  I  was  ordered  out  by  Captain 
John  M.  Higbee,  who  ordered  me  to  muster,  '  armed  and  equipped  as  the 
law  directs  ; '  it  was  a  matter  of  life  or  death  to  me  to  muster  or  not,  and 
I  mustered  with  the  reenforcing  troops  ;  it  was  at  this  time  that  Lieuten- 
ant-Colonel Haight  said  to  me  that  it  was  the  orders  from  headquarters 
that  all  but  the  little  children  of  said  company  were  to  be  killed ;  said 
Haight  had  at  that  time  just  returned  from  headquarters  at  Parowan, 
where  a  military  council  had  been  \ield ;  there  had  been  a  like  council  held 
at  Parowan  previous  to  that,  at  which  were  present  Colonel  Dame,  Lieuten- 
ant-Colonel I.  C.  Haight,  and  Major  John  D.  Lee ;  the  result  of  this  first 
council  was  the  calling  out  of  said  regiment  for  the  purpose  already  stated ; 
the  reenforcement  aforesaid  was  marched  to  the  Mountain  Meadows,  and 
there  formed  a  junction  with  the  main  body  ;  Major  Lee  massed  all  the 
troops  at  a  spring,  and  made  a  speech  to  them,  saying  that  his  orders  from 
headquarters  were  to  kill  the  entire  company  except  the  small  children ;  I 
was  not  in  the  ranks  at  that  time,  but  on  the  side  talking  to  a  man  named 
Slade,  and  could  not  have  seen  a  paper  in  Major  Lee's  hands ;  said  Lee 
then  sent  a  flag  of  truce  into  the  emigrant  camp,  offering  said  emigrants 
that  '  if  they  lay  down  their  arms,  he  would  protect  them  ; '  they  accord- 
ingly laid  down  their  arms,  came  out  from  their  camp,  and  delivered  them- 
selves up  to  said  Lee ;  the  women  and  children  were  then,  by  the  order  of 
said  Lee,  separated  from  the  men,  and  were  marched  ahead  of  the  men ; 
after  said  emigrants  had  marched  about  a  half  mile  toward  Cedar  City, 
the  order  was  given  to  shoot  them  down  ;  at  that  time  said  Lee  was  at 
the  head  of  the  column  ;  I  was  in  the  rear ;  I  did  not  hear  Lee  give  the 
order  to  fire,  but  heard  it  from  the  under  oflScers  as  it  was  passed  down 
the  column  ;  the  emigrants  were  then  and  there  shot  dov/n,  except  seven- 
teen little  children,  which  I  immediately  took  into  my  charge ;  I  do  not 
know  the  total  number  of  said  company,  as  I  did  not  stop  to  count  the 
dead  ;  I  immediately  put  the  little  children  in  baggage-wagons  belonging 
to  the  regiment,  and  took  them  to  Hamlin's  ranclie,  and  from  there  to 
Cedar  City,  and  procured  them  homes  among  the  people;  John  Willis 
and  Samuel  Murdy  assisted  me  in  taking  charge  of  said  children  ;  on  the 
evening  of  the  massacre.  Colonel  W.  H.  Dame  and  Lieutenant  I.  C.  Haight 
came  to  Hamlin's,  where  I  had  the  said  children,  and  fell  into  a  dispute, 
in  the  course  of  which  said  Haight  told  Colonel  Dame  that,  if  he  was  go- 
ing to  report  of  the  killing  of  said  emigrants,  he  should  not  have  ordered 
it  done  ;  I  do  not  know  when  or  where  said  troops  were  disbanded  ;  about 
two  weeks  after  said  massacre  occurred,  said  Major  Lee  (who  was  also  an 
Indian  Agent),  went  to  Salt  Lake  City,  and,  as  I  believe,  reported  said 
fight  and  its  results  to  the  commander-in-chief;  I  was  not  present  at  either 
of  the  before-mentioned  councils,  nor  at  any  council  connected  with  the 
aforesaid  military  operations,  or  with  said  company ;  I  gave  no  orders  ex- 
cept those  connected  with  the  saving  of  the  children,  and  those,  after  the 
massacre  had  occurred,  and  said  orders  were  given  as  bishop  and  not  in  a 


442 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


military  sense  ;  at  the  time  of  the  firing  of  the  first  volley  I  discharged  my 
piece ;  I  did  not  fire  afterward,  though  several  subsequent  volleys  were 
fired ;  after  the  first  fire  was  delivered  I  at  once  set  about  saving  the  chil- 
dren ;  I  commenced  to  gather  up  the  children  before  the  firing  had  ceased. 
I  have  made  the  foregoing  statement  before  the  above-entitled  court  for 
the  reason  that  I  believe  that  I  would  be  assassinated  should  I  attempt  to 
make  the  same  before  any  court  in  the  Territory  of  Utali.*  After  said  Lee 
returned  from  Salt  Lake  City,  as  aforesaid,  said  Lee  told  me  that  he  had 
reported  fully  to  the  President,  meaning  the  commander-in-chief,  the 
fight  at  Mountain  Meadows,  and  the  killing  of  said  emigrants.  Brigham 
Young  t  was  at  that  time  the  commander-in-chief  of  the  militia  of  the  Ter- 
ritory of  Utah  ;  and  further  deponent  saith  not. 

(Signed)  Philip  Klingon  Smith. 

"  Subscribed  and  sworn  to  before  me,  this  10th  day  of  April,  a.  d.  1871. 

(Signed)  P.  B.  Miller,  County  Cleric, 

"  District  Court,  Seventh  Judicial  District,  Lincoln  County,  Nevada. 
(Copy  of  seal.)  " 

"  Utah  Territory^  County  of  Salt  Lake^  ss. ;— -I,  O.  F.  Strickland,  Associate 
Justice  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  Utah  Territory,  hereby  certify  that  I  have 
carefully  compared  the  foregoing  copy  of  affidavit  with  the  original  of  the 
same,  and  that  the  foregoing  copy  is  a  true  literal  copy  of  said  original, 
and  that  such  comparison  was  made  this  4th  day  of  September,  1872. 

(Signed)  O.  F.  Strickland." 

"  Territory  of  TTtali^  Salt  Lalce  County^  ss. : — I,  James  B.  McKean,  Chief 
Justice  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  said  Territory,  do  certify  that  I  have  care- 
fully compared  the  above  copy  of  an  affidavit  with  the  original  of  the 
same,  and  know  the  same  to  be  in  all  particulars  a  true  copy  thereof. 

(Signed)      James  B.  McKean,  Chief  Justice^  etc. 

"  Dated  Septemler  5,  1872." 

The  following  map  tlirows  much  additional  light  upon  the 
statements  of  both  "  Argus  "  and  Bishop  Smith.  The  latter 
states  that  while  he  and  Captain  Joel  White  were  travelling 

*  Since  this  affidavit  was  made,  great  changes  have  taken  place  through  the  iu- 
ux  of  Gentiles,  and  Bishop  Smith  now  expresses  his  readiness  to  "  return  to  Utah 
and  give  testimony  in  person." 

f  The  Mormons,  who  seek  to  exonerate  Brigham  Young  from  all  complicity  with  • 
the  murderers  of  the  emigrants,  relate  that,  when  Lee  offered  to  pay  him  a  tithing 
of  the  ill-gotten  gear,  he  refused  it,  and  threw  it  from  him.  Be  the  latter  part  of 
the  statement  true  or  false,  the  acknowledgment  of  the  former  shows  that  Brigham 
Young  had  the  opportunity  of  knowing  w^ho  were  the  guilty  parties,  even  if  he  him- 
self did  not  direct  them,  and  could  have  brought  them  to  justice.  But  there  is  no 
necessity  to  argue  from  any  disciple's  admissions,  for  it  is  a  fact,  of  which  there  is 
evidence,  that  John  D.  Lee  did  make  a  report  of  the  Mountain  Meadows  Massacre  to 
Governor  Brigham  Young^  Superintendent  of  Indian  Affairs^  etc ,  and  that  report 


THE  PLAN  OF  THE  MASSACRE. 


443 


southward  from  Cedar  City  to  Pinto  Creek,  they  met  Lee 
three  miles  south  of  Cedar,  who  had  something  to  say  about 
"  trying  to  prevent  the  killing  of  the  emigrants."  The  subject 
of  attacking  them  had  evidently  been  spoken  of  among  the 
Mormons  ;  but  as  yet,  not  by  authority,  at  least  so  far  as  White 
and  Smith  knew,  or  they  would  not  liave  undertaken  the  jour- 
ne,7  to  Pinto  Creek  to  dissuade  the  people  from  "  killing  the 
"  emigrants."  Lee  was  then  en  route  to  headquarters  at  Paro- 
wan.  On  the  return  of  the  Bishop  and  Captain  White  from 
Pinto  Creek,  the  next  evening,  before  they  reached  Cedar  City, 


EOAD  FROM  FILLMOEE 

TO 

MOUNTAIN  MEADOWS. 

FILLMORE  er^ 
Meadow  Cr. 
Corn  Cr^% 

CO 

CoveCr/^ 

BEAVVER 

Sum 
Iron  C 

MOUNTAIN  MEADOW^-p 
 ^r.<!^e Muddy  -  •  •  •  .y: 

Faro/^oona 

parow)an 

^  Cedar  City 
INTO 

-JLO^              Ilamlim  j>B,anc^e 
<iGunLocA 

/  ®ST(^EORGE 

he  says,  ''We  met  Ira  Allen,  who  told  us  that  '  the  decree  had 
"  '  passed  devoting  said  company  to  destruction.'  "  In  a  letter 
dated  August  10,  1871,  "Argus,"  without  any  knowledge  of 
Bishop  Smith's  affidavit,  incidentally  accounts  for  the  informa- 
tion in  the  possession  of  Allen,  and  says  : 

"  Had  the  original  order  to  assault  tlie  emigrants  in  Santa  Clara  Canon 
been  carried  out,  not  one  of  them  would  have  been  living  in  fifteen  min- 
utes after  the  head  teams  had  been  shot  down.    They  would  have  been 

was  written  in  the  house  of  the  apostle  Ezra  T.  Benson^  in  Salt  Lake  City^  within  two 
hundred  yards  of  the  official  residence  of  the  Governor  and  Prophet  of  the  Lord  ! 


444 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


covered  by  the  rifles  of  your  troops  from  every  possible  direction.  But 
ample  provision  was  made  to  cut  oJff  any  that  might  escape.  For  this  pur- 
pose a  'party ^  headed  ly  one  Allen^  was  sent  to  watch  the  road  between  the  train 
and  the  Muddy ^  and  Ira  Hatch  and  a  fellow-missionary  (!)  were  sent  to  the 
crossing  of  the  Muddy.  These  good  brethren  were  instructed  to  shoot 
down  any  who  should  chance  to  escape  the  attack  of  Lee.  On  the  night 
of  the  second  day  of  the  battle,  two  men,  on  horseback,  left  the  emigrants' 
camp,  and  started  cautiously  toward  California.  They  had,  probably? 
been  sent.  As  they  were  passing  Allen's  ambush,  one  of  them  was  shot — 
the  other  got  away.  Word  was  dispatched  to  Parowan,  and  armed  parties 
were  immediately  sent  out  to  hunt  down  and  kill  him.  They  did  not  find 
him — he  had  returned  to  camp,  and  was  recognized  after  the  massacre." 

It  is  further  stated  by  this  writer,  that 

"...  a  man  named  Boyle  was  sent  on  a  mission  to  the  Mojave  Crossing 
well  armed  and  with  a  key  [mail-sack  key],  to  prevent  any  suspicious 
mail-matter  from  reaching  San  Bernardino,  and  to  kill  off  any  one  who  by 
any  possibility  might  have  escaped  and  got  along  that  far.  These  par- 
ticulars are  given  to  show  how  thoroughly  planned  and  cold-blooded 
was  everything  connected  with  the  war  of  extermination  made  upon  the 
Arkansas  emigrants,"  .... 

and  to  further  show  that  some  other  mind  than  that  of  John 
D.  Lee  had  concocted  the  plan  of  the  massacre. 

It  was  with  the  knowledge  of  these  facts  tliat  Judge 
Cradlebaugh  delivered  that  extraordinary  charge  to  the  Grand 
Jury  at  Provo."^  The  Judge  had  with  a  Federal  escort  visited 
the  scene  of  the  massacre  within  eighteen  months  of  the  per- 
petration of  the  deed,  and  had  seen  the  bones  of  that  Arkansas 
con^pany  bleaching  on  the  Meadows.f    With  the  actors  all 

*  Ante^  p.  404. 

\  While  Judge  Cradlebaugh  was  in  Cedar  City,  on  his  returu  from  the  Meadows, 
a  number  of  persons  made  affidavit  against  the  leading  Mormons  there  who  had 
taken  prominent  part  in  the  massacre,  and  several  of  the  actors  in  it  came  to  him 
by  night  and  expressed  their  readiness  to  testify  to  the  facts  whenever  they  had 
the  assurance  of  protection.  On  the  information  obtained  from  these  parties  the 
Judge  issued  warrants  for  the  arrest  of  the  following  persons : 

"  haac  C.  Haight^  President  of  the  Cedar  City  Stake  ;  Bishop  John  M.  Highee 
and  Bishop  Johi  D.  Lee :  Columbus  Freeman,  William  Slade,  John  Willis^  William 

Riggs,   Ingram,  Daniel  McFarlan,  William  Stewart,  Fra  Allen  and  son,  Thomas 

Cartwright,  E.  Welean,  William  Halley,  Jabez  Nomlen,  John  Mangum,  James  Price, 

John  W.  Adair,  Tyler,  Joseph  Smith,  Samuel  Pollock,  John  McFarlan,  Nephi 

Johnson,  Thornton,  Joel  Whlte^  Harrison,  Charles  Hopkins,  Joseph  Elang, 

Samuel  Lewis,  Sims  Matheney,  James  Mangum,  Harrison  Pierce,  Samuel  Adair,  F. 
C.  McDulange,  Wm.  Bateman,  Ezra  Curtis,  and  Alexander  Loveridge."  The  names 
in  italics  are  specially  mentioned  in  the  reports  both  by  Bishop  Smith  and  ^' Argus.'* 

While  the  Judge  was  so  occupied,  the  captain  commanding  the  Federal  troops 


GOVERNOR  GUMMING  REPROACHES  BRIGHAM.  445 

around  him,  and  the  people  horrified  at  the  enormity  of  the 
crime,  he  would  have  held  his  court  at  Cedar  City,  and  could 
have  brought  to  light  the  truly  guilty  authors  of  that  atrocious 
deed,  but  for  the  interference  of  Governor  Camming,  whose 
confiding  nature  trusted  in  the  promises  of  his  predecessor  to  • 
make  a  full  investigation  of  the  matter  '''  without  the  presence 
"  of  the  troops."  On  that  promise  Governor  dimming  relied, 
and  on  his  representation  to  the  Government  at  Washington 
that  the.  United  States  troops  were  unnecessary  to  sustain  the 
Federal  Judges,  the  Government  immediately  ordered  General 
Johnston  to  furnish  no  troops  except  on  the  requisition  of  the 
Governor  alone. 

"  Argus,"  from  personal  conversation  with  the  Governor, 
affirms  that  he  felt  keenly  his  failure  to  investigate  those  mur- 
ders, and  relates  that  before  he  left  the  Territory  he  visited 
Brigham  Young  and  upbraided  him  with having  purposely 
"  lied  to  and  deceived  him."  Such  was  no  doubt  the  feeling 
of  the  Governor  expressed  to  "  Argus  " — whether  he  ever  said 
?!)  to  Brigham  or  not — for  he  used  about  the  same  language  to 
other  persons.  The  opportunity  and  duty  of  bringing  the  guilty 
to  justice  were  those  peculiarly  belonging  to  the  governorship 
of  Alfred  Cumming :  the  crime  had  been  committed  after  he 
was  appointed  to  Utah,  and  he  was  the  fitting  person  to  have 
made  the  investigation.  But  the  diplomacy  that  brought  him 
into  collision  with  the  military  commander  at  Fort  Bridger 
tied  him  hand  and  foot,  and  he  afterwards  could  only  move  as 
Brigham  moved  him."^  The  strength  of  his  right  arm  was  gone 
when  he  broke  with  General  Johnston,  and  his  left  leaned  on 
a  bruised  reed  that  was  destined  to  fail  him ;  and  no  man  saw 
this  more  clearly  than  Cumming  did  himself. 

that  had  escorted  his  Honour  to  the  Mountain  Meadows  informed  him  that  he  "  had 
received  orders  for  his  entire  command  to  return  to  Camp  Floyd  ;  the  General  hav- 
ing received  orders  from  Washington  that  the  military  should  not  be  used  in  pro- 
tecting the  courts,  or  in  acting  as  a  posse  to  aid  the  marshal  in  making  arrests." 

*  A  day  or  two  before  the  Governor  left  the  Territory,  the  Author,  in  familiar 
conversation  with  him  about  the  then  near  future,  asked  :  "  How  will  Wootton  [the 
"  Secretary  in  his  absence  became  Acting  Governor]  get  along  ?  "      Get  along  ? 
replied  he ;  "  well  enough,  if  he  will  do  nothing.    There  is  nothing  to  do.  Alfred 
"  Cumming  is  Governor  of  the  Territory,  but  Brigham  Young  is  Governor  of  the  people, 

"  By  ,  I  am  not  fool  enough  to  think  otherwise.  Let  Wootton  learn  that,  and  he 

"  will  get  along,  and  the  sooner  he  knows  that  the  better.  This  is  a  curious  place !  '* 


446 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


There  was  no  "  public  opinion  "  in  Utali  at  that  time,  nor 
for  years  after  could  any  expression  of  condemnation  be  heard ; 
but  among  those  who  could  utter  free  words  within  their  own 
circle  of  friends,  the  Mountain  Meadows  Massacre  has  been 
branded  with  a  condemnation  as  burning  as  was  ever  expressed 
by  the  Gentiles.  The  dominant  theory  among  the  intelligent 
Mormons  was  that  Brigham  Young  had  not  himself  ordered 
the  massacre,  but  that  he  feared  its  investigation,  as  the  men 
who  did  the  deed  were  his  brethren  in  the  faith,  and  were  in 
official  relations  with  him,  and  that  the  massacre  being  brought 
before  a  court  it  would  doubtless  lead  to  the  execution  of  men 
who  might  plead  that  it  was  the  teachings  of  the  Tabernacle 
that  had  rendered  them  capable  of  the  perpetration  of  such  a 
terrible  crime.  Further,  an  investigation  would  have  revealed 
the  despotism  of  a  system  that  constrained  men  to  imbrue 
their  hands  in  the  blood  of  unoffending,  innocent  men,  women, 
and  helpless  children,  in  order  only  to  save  themselves  from 
the  charge  of  disobedience  and  the  fatal  consequences  of  re- 
bellion at  such  a  moment. 

Believing,  with  many  others  in  Utah,  that  it  was  possible 
that  Lee  and  his  confederates  had  been  tempted  by  the  wealth 
of  the  passing  emigrants,  and  had  availed  themselves  of  the 
excitement  of  the  people  to  attack  the  train,  the  Author  ad- 
dressed the  following  communication  to  the  Prophet,  in  hopes 
that  he  would  avail  himself  of  this  opportunity,  however  in- 
significant it  might  be  in  his  estimation,  of  putting  himself 
right  with  at  least  a  portion  of  the  public  : 

"  AsTOR  House,  New  York,  July  10, 1871. 

"  President  Brigham  Young — 
"  Sir  :  Beiog  engaged  in  preparing  a  work  for  publication  tliat  will 
notice  prominent  incidents  in  Utah  history,  and  desirous  of  doing  no  in- 
justice by  misstatement,  I  think  it  proper  to  ask  information  such  as,  in 
the  quality  of  Governor  of  Utah  and  Superintendent  of  Indian  Afiairs, 
you  probably  possessed  at  the  date  referred  to,  and  may  not  think  it  im- 
proper to  impart  now. 
•  "What  Indians  committed  what  is  generally  termed  the  Mountain 
Meadows  Massacre  ?  What  number  of  Indians  were  engaged  in  it  ?  Were 
any  of  them  ever  punished ;  if  so,  how,  and  by  whose  order  ?  Did  any 
person  by  the  Governor's  order  take  charge  of  the  property  of  the  emi- 
grants ?    What  became  of  it  ? 

"  It  is  generally  understood  that  you  sent  an  express  to  the  leading 


REMORSE  OF  THE  GUILTY. 


447 


white  men  in  that  neighbourhood  to  allow  the  emigrants  to  pass  along 
unmolested.  I  should  be  pleased  to  publish  such  an  order  if  you  would 
furnish  a  copy.  I  have  heard  of  the  recent  excommunication  from  the 
Church  of  John  D.  Lee,  Isaac  C.  Haight,  and  others,  for  being  participa- 
tors in  that  horrible  crime.  If  this  is  correct,  I  should  be  gratified  with 
this  and  such  other  information  on  this  point  as  you  might  feel  disposed 
to  furnish  me.  I  shall  of  course  make  use  of  the  intelligence  which  I  may 
receive  in  the  book  in  a  manner  to  place  your  statements  fairly  before  the 
public,  recommending  at  the  same  time  that  the  guilty  be  brought  to 
justice.  Very  respectfully,  etc.  T.  B.  H.  Stenhouse." 

To  this  letter  no  reply  was  vouchsafed. 

Whatever  differences  of  opinion  may  exist  between  former 
members  of  the  Ohmxh  and  the  Prophet,  no  proper-minded 
person  among  them  desires  to  see  any  wrong  imputed  to  Brig- 
ham  Yonng  of  which  he  is  innocent ;  and  of  the  responsibilit}^ 
of  this  massacre,  above  all  other  things,  his  bitterest  enemy 
should  be  pleased  to  see  him  exonerated. 

The  apostles  who  have  spoken  and  written  upon  this  pain- 
ful subject,  have  endeavoured  to  fasten  the  guilt  solely  upon 
the  Indians,  but  this  was  a  grave  error,  as  well  as  being  directly 
and  palpably  false. 

There  is  implanted  in  the  human  breast  an  instinctive 
horror  of  the  act  of  murder,  and  a  large  number  of  the  Mor- 
mons who  took  part  in  the  massacre  were  too  good  men  to  rest 
in  peace  after  the  commission  of  a  dreadful  deed  that  was 
forced  upon  them.  It  has  unmistakably  withered  and  blasted 
their  happiness,  and  some  of  them  have  suffered  agonizing  tor- 
tures of  conscience,  equal  to  those  of  Shakespeare's  Thane  of 
Cawdor.  Two  of  them  are  said  to  have  lost  their  reason  en- 
tirely, and  others  have  gone  to  early  graves  with  a  full  realiza- 
tion of  the  terrible  crime  upon  their  souls.  To  expect  silence 
among  the  living  while  such  a  deed  was  consuming  them  was 
a  great  folly,  and  the  exposure  in  detail  now  coming  to  light  is 
what  every  sensible  man  might  have  expected  some  time  or 
other. 

In  his  speech  to  Congress,  already  referred  to.  Judge  Cradle- 
baugh  thus  relates  what  he  had  personally  and  officially  ascer- 
tained of  the  massacre : 

"During  our  stay  there  [Santa  Clara]  I  was  visited  by  the  Indian 


448 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


chiefs  of  that  section,  who  gave  me  their  version  of  the  massacre.  They 
admitted  that  a  portion  of  their  men  were  engaged  in  the  massacre,  but 
were  not  there  when  the  attack  commenced.  One  of  them  told  me,  in 
the  presence  of  the  others,  that  after  the  attack  had  been  made  a  white 
man  came  to  their  camp  with  a  piece  of  paper,  which  he  said  BrigJiam 
Young  had  sent,  that  directed  them  to  go  and  help  to  whip  the  emigrants. 
A  portion  of  the  band  v.^ent  but  did  not  assist  in  the  fight.  He  gave  as  a 
reason  that  the  emigrants  had  long  guns,  and  were  good  shots.  He  said 
that  his  brother  [this  chief's  name  was  Jackson]  was  shot  while  running 
across  the  Meadow,  at  a  distance  of  two  hundred  yards  from  the  corral 
where  the  emigrants  were.  He  said  the  Mormons  were  all  painted.  He 
said  the  Indians  got  a  part  of  the  clothing ;  and  gave  the  names  of  John 
D.  Lee,  President  Haight,  and  Bishop  Higbee,  as  the  big  captains.  It 
might  be  proper  here  to  remark,  that  the  Indians  in  the  southern  part  of 
the  Territory  of  Utah  are  not  numerous,  and  are  a  very  low,  cowardly, 
beastly  set,  very  few  of  them  being  armed  with  guns.  They  are  not  for- 
midable. I  believe  all  in  the  southern  part  of  the  Territory  would,  under 
no  circumstances,  carry  on  a  fight  against  ten  white  men. 

"  From  our  camp  on  the  Santa  Clara  we  again  went  back  to  the  Moun- 
tain Meadows,  camping  near  where  the  massacre  had  occurred.  The 
Meadow  is  about  five  miles  in  length  and  one  in  width,  running  to  quite 
a  narrow  point  at  the  southwest  end.  It  is  the  divide  between  the  waters 
that  flow  into  the  Great  Basin  and  those  emptying  into  the  Colorado 
river.  A  very  large  spring  rises  in  the  south  end  of  the  narrow  part.  It 
was  on  the  north  side  of  this  spring  that  the  emigrants  camped.  The 
bank  rises  from  the  spring  eight  or  ten  feet,  then  extends  ofi*  to  the  north 
about  two  hundred  yards,  on  a  level.  A  range  of  hills  is  there  reached, 
rising  perhaps  fifty  or  sixty  feet.  Back  of  this  range  is  quite  a  valley, 
which  extends  down  until  it  has  an  outlet,  three  or  four  hundred  yards 
below  the  spring,  into  the  main  meadow. 

The  first  attack  was  made  by  going  down  this  ravine,  then  following 
up  the  bed  of  the  spring  to  near  it,  then  at  daylight  firing  upon  the  men 
who  were  about  the  camp-fires — in  which  attack  ten  or  twelve  of  the  emi- 
grants were  killed  or  wounded ;  the  stock  of  the  emigrants  having  been 
previously  driven  behind  the  hill  and  up  the  ravine. 

"  The  emigrants  soon  got  in  condition  to  repel  the  attack,  shoved 
their  wagons  together,  sunk  the  wheels  in  the  earth,  and  threw  up  quite 
an  intrenchment.  The  fighting  after  continued  as  a  siege ;  the  assailants 
occupying  the  hill,  and  firing  at  any  of  the  emigrants  that  exposed  them- 
selves, having  a  barricade  of  stones  along  the  crest  of  the  hill  as  a  protec- 
tion. The  siege  was  continued  for  five  days,  the  besiegers  appearing  in 
the  garb  of  Indians.  The  Mormons,  seeing  that  they  could  not  capture 
the  train  without  making  some  sacrifice  of  life  on  their  part,  and  getting 
weary  of  the  fight,  resolved  to  accomplish  by  strategy  what  they  were  not 
able  to  do  by  force.  The  fight  had  been  going  on  for  five  days,  and  no 
aid  was  received  from  any  quarter,  although  the  family  of  J acob  Hamlin, 


JUDGE  CRADLEBAUGH'S  SPEECH. 


449 


the  Indian  Agent,  were  living  in  the  upper  end  of  the  Meadow,  and  with- 
in hearing  of  the  reports  of  the  guns. 

"  Who  can  imagine  the  feelings  of  these  men,  women,  and  children, 
surrounded,  as  they  supposed  themselves  to  be,  by  savages  ?  Fathers  and 
mothers  only  can  judge  what  they  must  have  been.  Far  off  in  the  Rocky 
Mountains,  without  transportation — for  their  cattle,  horses,  and  mules,  had 
been  run  off — not  knowing  what  their  fate  was  to  be — we  can  but  poorly 
realize  the  gloom  that  pervaded  the  camp. 

"A  wagon  is  descried  far  up  the  Meadows.  Upon  its  nearer  approach 
it  is  observed  to  contain  armed  men.  See !  now  they  raise  a  white  flag  I 
All  is  joy  in  the  corral.  A  general  shout  is  raised;  and  in  an  instant,  a 
little  girl,  dressed  in  white,  is  placed  at  an  opening  between  two  of  the 
wagons,  as  a  response  to  the  signal.  The  wagon  approaches ;  the  occu- 
pants are  welcomed  into  the  corral — the  emigrants  little  suspecting  that 
they  were  entertaining  the  fiends  that  had  been  besieging  them. 

"  This  wagon  contained  President  Haight  and  Bishop  John  D.  Lee, 
among  others  of  the  Mormon  Church.  They  professed  to  be  on  good 
terms  with  the  Indians,  and  represented  the  Indians  as  being  very  mad. 
They  also  proposed  to  intercede  and  settle  the  matter  with  the  Indians. 
After  several  hours  of  parley,  they,  having  apparently  visited  the  Indians, 
gave  the  ultimatum  of  the  Indians ;  which  was,  that  the  emigrants  should 
march  out  of  their  camp,  leaving  everything  behind  them,  even  their 
guns.*  It  was  promised  by  the  Mormon  bishops  that  they  would  bring  a 
force,  and  guard  the  emigrants  back  to  the  settlements. 

"  The  terms  were  agreed  to — the  emigrants  being  desirous  of  saving 
the  lives  of  their  families.  The  Mormons  retired,  and  subsequently  ap- 
peared at  the  corral  with  thirty  or  forty  armed  men.  The  emigrants  were 
marched  out,  the  women  and  children  in  front,  and  the  men  behind,  the 
Mormon  guard  being  in  the  rear.  When  they  had  marched  in  this  way 
about  a  mile,  at  a  given  signal,  the  slaughter  commenced.  The  men  were 
most  all  shot  down  at  the  first  fire  from  the  guard.  Two  only  escaped, 
who  fled  to  the  desert,  and  were  followed  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles  be- 
fore they  were  overtaken  and  slaughtered. 

"  The  women  and  children  ran  on,  two  or  three  hundred  yards  farther, 
when  they  were  overtaken,  and,  with  the  aid  of  the  Indians,  they  were 

*  At  first,  it  baffled  every  one  in  Utah  to  account  for  the  emigrants  giving  up 
their  arms,  and  to  this  fact  there  is  but  one  feasible  solution.  The  Arkansas  com-  * 
pany  was  composed  of  persons  of  high  moral  character,  and  devotedly  religious. 
They  were  worshippers  of  the  Christian  Deity,  and  when  they  saw  the  faces  of 
white  men  they  believed  themselves  secure.  They  confided  in  the  fidelity  of  those 
who  professed  to  believe  in  the  teachings  of  "  the  greatest  name  given  among  men,'* 
and  as  those  who  came  to  their  succour  claimed  the  direction  of  a  still  later  reve- 
lation of  the  will  of  God  to  man,  what  else  could  the  honest,  truthful,  simple-hearted 
emigrants  do  but  confide  in  men  of  their  own  race,  who  assumed  to  be  nearer  than 
themselves  to  the  guidance  of  the  Supreme  Being?  What  a  terrible  lesson  awaited 
them ! 


450 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


slaughtered.  Seventeen  only  of  the  small  children  were  saved,  the  eldest 
being  only  seven  years.  Thus,  on  the  10th  day  of  September,  1857,  was 
consummated  one  of  the  most  cruel,  cowardly,  and  bloody  murders  known 
in  our  history.  Upon  the  way  from  the  Meadows,  a  young  Indian  pointed 
out  to  me  the  place  where  the  Mormons  painted  and  disguised  thamselves." 

Mr.  Jacob  Forney,  tlie  first  Saperintendent  of  Indian  Af- 
fairs after  Brigliam  Young,  gathered  up  sixteen  of  the  chil- 
dren, made  orphans  by  that  foul,  treacherous  deed,  and  gives 
the  names  and  ages,  eighteen  months  after  the  occurrence,  as 
follows : 

"  John  Calvin,  now  seven  or  eight  years  old ;  does  not  remember  his 
name  ;  says  his  family  lived  at  Horse  Head,  Johnston  Co.,  Arkansas.  Am- 
brose Mironi,  about  seven  years,  and  William  Taggit,  four  and  a  half 
years,  brothers ;  these  also  lived  in  Johnston  Co.  Prudence  Angeline,  six 
years,  and  Annie,  about  three  years  ;  these  two  are  said  to  be  sisters.  Ee- 
becca,  nine  years  ;  Louisa,  five  years  ;  and  Sarah,  three  and  a  half  years  ; 
from  Dunlap.  Betsy,  six  years,  and  Anna,  three  years,  said  to  be  sisters ; 
these  know  nothing  of  their  family  or  residence.  Charles  Francher,  seven 
or  eight  years,  and  his  sister  Annie,  three  and  a  half  years.  Sophronia  or 
Mary  Huflf,  six  years,  and  Elisha  W.  Huff,  four  years.  A  boy ;  no  account 
of  him  ;  those  among  whom  he  lived  call  him  William.  Francis  Hawn  or 
Korn,  four  and  a  half  yeai;s  old. 

"  I  have  come  to  the  conclusion,  after  different  conversations  with 
these  children,  that  most  of  them  come  from  Johnston  Co.,  Arkansas. 
Most  of  them  have  told  me  that  they  have  grandfathers  and  grand- 
mothers in  the  States.  Mr.  Hamlin  has  good  reasons  for  believing  that 
a  boy  about  eight  years,  and  belonging  to  the  party  in  question,  is  among 
the  Navajos  Indians,  at  or  near  the  Colorado  river." 

No  human  soul  can  read  the  list  of  those  helpless,  destitute 
children  of  such  tender  years  without  experiencing  a  harrow- 
ing feeling  of  grief  for  the  sad  beginning  of  their  lives,  and  a 
burning  indignation  against  the  "  Saints  "  who  committed  the 
atrocious  crime  which  bereft  them  of  their  natural  protectors. 

Superintendent  Forney  reports  in  a  letter  to  the  Commis- 
sioner of  Indian  Affairs,  dated  from  Provo  City,  March,  1859, 
that — 

Facts  in  my  possession  warrant  me  in  estimating  that  there  was  dis- 
tributed a  few  days  after  the  massacre,  among  the  leading  Church  digni- 
taries, $30,000  worth  of  property." 

In  August  of  the  same  year,  to  the  the  same  Commissioner, 
he  writes : 


SUPERINTENDENT  FORNEY'S  REPORT.  45 1 

I  am  justified  in  the  declaration  that  this  massacre  was  concocted  by 

white  men,  and  consummated  by  whites  and  Indians  The  children 

were  sold  out  to  different  persons  in  Cedar  City,  Harmony,  and  Painter 
[Pinto]  Creek,  and  bills  are  now  in  my  possession  from  different  individu- 
als, asking  payment  from  the  Government,  but  I  cannot  condescend  to  be- 
come the  medium  of  even  transmitting  such  claims  to  the  Department." 

In  his  Annual  Report,  September,  1859,  he  continues : 

"  Mormons  have  been  accused  of  aiding  the  Indians  in  the  commission 
of  the  crime.  I  commenced  my  inquiries  without  prejudice  or  selfish  mo- 
tive, and  with  the  hope  that,  in  the  progress  of  my  inquiries,  facts  would 
enable  me  to  exculpate  all  white  men  from  any  participation  in  this 
tragedy,  and  saddle  the  guilt  exclusively  on  the  Indians ;  but,  unfortu- 
nately, every  step  in  my  inquiries  satisfied  me  that  the  Indians  acted  only 
a  secondary  part.  .  .  .  White  men  were  present  and  directed  the  Indians. 
John  D.  Lee,  of  Harmony,  told  me  in  his  own  house,  last  April,  in  pres- 
ence of  two  persons,  that  he  was  present  three  successive  days  during  the 
fight,  and  was  present  during  the  fatal  day.  ...  I  gave  several  months 
ago  to  the  Attorney-General,  and  several  of  the  United  States  Judges,  the 
names  of  those  who  I  believed  were  not  only  implicated,  but  the  hell- 
deserving  scoundrels  who  concocted  and  brought  to  a  successful  termina- 
tion the  whole  affair. 

"  The  following  are  the  names  of  the  persons  most  guilty :  Isaac  C. 
Haight,  Cedar  City,  president  of  several  settlements  south  ;  Bishop  Smith, 
Cedar  City  ;  John  D.  Lee,  Harmony ;  John  M.  Higbee,  Cedar  City ;  Bishop 
Davis,  David  Tullis,  Santa  Clara ;  Ira  Hatch,  Santa  Clara.  These  were  the 
cause  of  the  massacre,  aided  by  others.  It  is  to  be  regretted  that  nothing 
has  yet  been  accomplished  towards  bringing  these  murderers  to  justice. 
"  I  remain,  very  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

"  J.  Forney,  Superintendent  of  Indian  Affairs,  Utah  Territory. 
"  Hon.  A.  B.  Greenwood,  Comr.  Indian  Affairs,  Washington,  D.  C." 

Whatever  sympathy  one  would  naturally  feel  for  the  men 
who  were  forced  into  the  massacre,  much  of  that  kindly  senti- 
ment is  greatly  modified,  when  the  statement  is  made  that  af- 
ter the  fathers  and  mothers  of  those  little  children  had  been 
cruelly  butchered  and  all  their  worldly  wealth  had  been  appro- 
priated by  their  murderers,  a  portion  of  that  same  people,  call- 
ing themselves  "  Saints  "  did  so  debase  themselves  as  to  claim 
of  the  Government  a  remuneration  for  sheltering  the  helpless 
innocents !  To  this  should  be  added  that  wives  and  daughters 
of  some  of  those  murderers  wore  the  apparel  of  the  massacred 
women  and  maidens,  while  their  polygamic  husbands  and  fa- 
thers wore  the  masculine  garments  of  their  victims,  ploughed 


452 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN"  SAINTS. 


the  fields  with  their  cattle,  and  drove  to  their  religious  assem- 
blies with  the  horses  that  they  had  stolen  from  the  Arkansas 
train,  and  no  one  called  them  to  account  ! 

It  has  been  repeatedly  asserted  that  the  best  carriage  was 
taken  to  Salt  Lake  City  and  was  there  seen  rolling  through  the 
streets  of  that  place  for  years  after,  and  the  jewellery  of  the 
murdered  victims  is  said  to  have  adorned  the  persons  of  some 
distinguished  women ;  but  all  this  seems  too  incredible.  Lee. 
and  his  marauders  could  steal  and  murder — that  has  been  de- 
monstrated ;  but  surely  no  one  in  fellowship  with  the  Prophet 
at  the  chief  city  of  Zion,  could  either  afford  the  luxury  of  such  a 
carriage  nor  yet  the  glitter  of  such  gold  at  so  fearful  a  price. 

Of  the  actual  property  of  the  emigrants  no  definite  state- 
ment can  be  made,  for  those  who  knew  would  not  tell ;  but  it 
is  as  near  the  truth  as  will  ever  be  reached,  till  a  court  of  jus- 
tice shall  compel  a  full  divulgence  of  the  facts,  that  "  the  train 
"  consisted  of  40  wagons,  800  head  of  cattle,  and  about  60 
"  horses  and  mules."  *  "  The  property,''  says  Mr.  Beadle, 
"  was  divided,  the  Indians  getting  most  of  the  flour  and  ammu- 
"  nition ;  but  they  claim  that  the  Mormons  kept  more  than 
"  their  share.     Much  of  it  was  sold  in  Cedar  City  at  puUic 

auction ;  it  was  there  facetiously  styled,  '  Property  taken  at 
"  '  the  siege  of  Sevastopol ; '  and  there  is  legal  proof  that  the 
"  clothing  stripped  from  the  corpses,  spotted  with  blood  and 

flesh  and  shredded  by  bullets,  was  placed  in  the  cellar  of  the 
"  tithing-office  and  privately  sold.    As  late  as  1862,  jewellery 

taken .  at  Mountain  Meadows,  was  worn  in  Salt  Lake  Citj^, 
"  and  the  source  it  came  from  not  denied.  "  f 

Major  [now  General]  Carlton,  in  1859,  with  a  company  of 
United  States  cavalry,  escorted  from  California  to  the  southern 
settlements  of  Utah  the  United  States  paymaster  of  the  troops 
at  Camp  Floyd.  On  his  return  the  Major  passed  through  the 
Mountain  Meadows  and  gathered  the  whitened  bones  of  the 
emigrants  and  erected  over  them  a  large  cairn  of  stones. 

"  It  was  constructed  by  raising  a  large  pile  of  rock,  in  the  centre  of 
which  was  erected  a  beam,  some  twelve  or  fifteen  feet  in  height.  Upon 
one  of  the  stones  he  caused  to  be  engraved,  '  Here  lie  the  bones  of  one 
hundred  and  twenty  men,  women,  and  children,  from  Arkansas,  murdered 

*  The  Mormon  Prophet,  p.  65.  f  ^^^^     ^^^h,  p.  184. 


• 


THE  MONUMENT  OYER  THE  SLAIN.  453 

on  the  10th  day  of  September,  1857/  Upon  a  cross-tree,  on  the  beam,  he 
caused  to  be  painted :  '  Vengeance  is  mine,  saith  the  Lord,  and  I  will  re- 
pay it.'  This  monument  is  said  to  have  been  destroyed  the  first  time  that 
Brigham  visited  the  Territory."  * 

It  is  reported  by  one  who  stood  at  Brigham's  side  as  he 
read  aloud  the  inscription,  that  the  Prophet-with  unfaltering 
voice  changed  the  purport  of  its  language  and  said  to  those 
who  were  around  him  that  it  should  read  thus:  "Vengeance 
"  is  mine,  saith  the  Lord,  and  I  have  repaid  !  " 

u  ^pgiig  "  closes  his  series  of  letters  with  the  following  dis- 
cussion of  Brigham's  supposed  justification  : 

"That  an  entire  company  of  peaceful  families,  as  at  the  Mountain 
Meadows,  should  be  butchered  in  cold  blood,  anywhere  in  the  United 
States,  upon  the  public  highway,  and  within  the  easy  reach  of  the  arm  of 
the  civil  power  created  expressly  for  the  protection  of  life  and  property, 
is  a  mystery  which  the  purely  American  mind  finds  very  hard  to  under- 
stand. And  the  marvel  is  only  increased  by  the  fact  that  no  inquest  was 
held  over  the  remains  of  those  slaughtered  ones — that  no  arrests  were 
made  of  the  murderers,  although  they  were  well  and  notoriously  known, 
and  that  no  ofiicial  notice  was  taken  of  the  matter  (except  as  I  have  here- 
tofore stated)  during  the  remainder  of  your  term  as  Governor,  and  no  ap- 
parent authoritative  notice  since,  except  to  gather  up,  by  soldiers  of  the 
United  States,  what  bones  the  wolves  had  left,  and  giving  them  respect- 
•  able  sepulture.  Based  upon  American  ideas,  and,  indeed,  upon  the  more 
general  notions  of  civilization,  the  whole  story  becomes  incomprehensible. 
In  order  to  understand  this  matter,  it  will  be  necessary  for  the  reader, 
first,  to  mentally  segregate  Utah  geographically  from  the  United  States — 
to  consider  it  as  absolutely  a  foreign  State  and  nation,  with  a  civilization 
such  as  existed  thirty-five  hundred  years  ago,  and  a  religion  as  antagonis- 
tic to  Christianity  as  Moslemism  itself,  including  within  its  creed  a  tenet 
more  cruel  and  bloody  than  the  Thuggism  of  India.  Second,  to  consider 
this  Deseret  nation  as  incensed  to  the  last  degree  against  the  Government 
and  people  of  the  United  States,  for  a  series  of  wrongs  committed  against 
them,  including  exile  and  the  loss  of  life  and  property.  Third,  to  take 
into  the  account,  that  the  American  Government  at  that  time  had  act- 
ually proposed  to  extend  its  jurisdiction  over  said  Deseret  (otherwise 
called  Utah),  and  an  army  was  then  on  its  way  to  occupy  said  Utah  for 
the  purpose  of  maintaining  the  sovereignty  of  said  Government  there, 
and  that  a  state  of  -war  was  apj)arently  existing  between  said  two  nations. 
Fourth,  that  you  were,  at  the  very  time  of  the  massacre  at  the  Mountain 
Meadows,  mustering  and  putting  into  the  field  an  army  of  one  thousand 
two  hundred  men,  which  was  known  in  Utah  as  '  The  Standing  Army,' 
and  that  said  army  was  designed  for  active  operations  against  the  forces 

*  Waite,  p.  71. 


454 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


of  the  United  States,  under  Colonel  Johnston,  then  en  route  for  Salt  Lake. 
Fifth,  that  you  were  the  *  Sovereign '  lord  of  Deseret — that  your  rule 
was  an  absolute  and  unmitigated  despotism — that  your  w^ord  was  the  only 
recognized  law — that  it  was  within  your  imperious  nature  to  rule  with  a 
high  hand  and  a  stretched-out  arm  over  all  your  subjects,  and  with  fury 
poured  out  against  your  enemies.  If  the  reader  can  grasp  the  ideas  con- 
tained in  the  above  items,  and  arrange  them  into  one  compound  proposi- 
tion, he  will  be  able  to  form  some  idea  of  the  causes  which  made  the 
aforesaid  massacre  possible. 

"  But  the  misfortune  is,  that  said  proposition  being  based  upon  false- 
hood and  not  upon  the  truth,  affords  you  no  justification  whatever ;  for, 
first,  Utah  was  a  part  of  the  United  States,  and  not  a  foreign  State ;  second, 
your  intense  hatred  of  Americans  and  their  Government  was  without 
adequate  cause ;  third,  the  occupation  of  Utah  as  a  Military  Department 
was  altogether  a  friendly  act,  and  in  strict  accordance  with  the  known 
military  policy  of  the  Government ;  fourth,  that  all  your  acts  in  relation 
to  the  State  of  Deseret  were  and  are  treasonable  in  their  intent,  and  there- 
fore illegal  and  of  no  binding  force.  For  these  reasons,  the  American 
people  will  refuse  to  look  upon  that  massacre  from  your  stand-point.  They 
will  and  do  hold  you  to  your  responsibility  as  a  citizen  of  the  Republic. 
And  as  you  were  at  that  time  the  Chief  Magistrate  of  Utah,  they  have  the 
right  to  demand  why  you  took  no  official  steps  to  inquire  into  that  san- 
guinary afifair  which  is  the  shame  and  damning  disgrace  of  your  administra- 
tion. They  have  the  right  to  demand  why  you  took  no  official  action  in 
the  case  of  Dame,  Haight,  and  Lee ;  and  how  it  is  that  you  have  so  far 
persistently  and  successfully  screened  those  murderers  from  the  officers 
and  the  action  of  the  law.  It  is  a  foul  blot  upon  the  workings  of  the 
system  of  American  jurisprudence  that  the  Mountain  Meadow  Massacre 
should  having  been  committed  nearly  sixteen  years  ago,  and  to  this  pres- 
ent writing  you,  and  Lee,  and  Dame,  and  Haight,  are  at  large,  and  come 
and  go  unquestioned  by  the  proper  authority.  The  blush  of  shame  should 
mantle  the  cheeks  of  the  Governor  of  our  Territory  so  long  as  that  bloody 
affair  remains  uninvestigated,  now  that  such  investigation  is  possible. 
The  judges  of  our  courts  should  not  have  the  courage  to  look  a  law-abid- 
ing man  in  ihe  face  so  long  as  anything  remains  undone  which  they  can 
legally  do  to  bring  those  murderers  to  justice. 

"  It  appears  to  have  all  along  been  the  opinion  that  the  investigation 
of  the  Mountain  Meadow  Massacre  must  originate  in  the  criminal  courts. 
With  that  view,  and  the  Grand  Jury  subject  to  your  dictation,  and  under 
your  complete  control,  what  could  be  done  ?  Nothing,  absolutely  noth- 
ing, but  to  wait.  Murder  is  shielded  by  no  statute  of  limitations.  But  I 
will  here  suggest,  that  such  investigation  should  be  made  by  a  military 
court,  for  the  reason  that  the  operations  of  Lee  were  purely  and  undeni- 
ably of  a  military  character.  Such  a  court  would  officially  determine  the 
military  character  of  those  operations,  would  collect  all  necessary  facts  in 
the  case,  and  those  facts  would  fix  the  responsibility  where  it  justly  be- 


"THE  MOUNTAIN  MEADOW  DOGS:" 


longs.  Then  such  ulterior  proceedings  could  be  had  as  the  case  would 
seem  to  demand.  If  there  are  not  Centile  officers  enough  in  the  Utah 
militia  to  constitute  such  a  court,  enough  can  soon  be  commissioned. 
But  no  Mormon  should  be  allowed  to  constitute  a  part  of  that  court,  nor 
any  Gentile  who  could  be  allured  from  duty  by  your  sirens  or  be  pur- 
chased by  your  ill-gotten  gold. 

"And  now,  in  conclusion,  as  a  Mormon,  I  demand  of  the  proper  au- 
thorities that  this  long-neglected  affair  be  investigated,  in  order  that  the 
innocent  may  no  longer  suffer  that  reproach  which  belongs  to  Brigham 
Young  and  others  only.  In  this  connection  it  is  proper  to  state  that 
there  is  a  strong  and  growing  feeling  in  Southern  Utah  against  Lee  and 
his  co-labourers  on  that  bloody  mission,  and  against  their  confederates, 
•apologists,  and  protectors.  Even  in  Cedar  City  those  characters  are  now 
known  as  '  Mountain  Meadow  Dogs.'  As  a  citizen  of  the  United  States, 
I  demand  that  the  veil  of  mystery  so  long  covering  that  butchery  be  rent 
asunder,  and  the  foul  deed  exposed  in  all  its  repulsive  hideousness,  bring- 
ing to  the  light  those  latent  agencies  which  superinduced  its  commission, 
in  order  that  justice  may  be  meted  out  to  the  guilty  parties,  thus  wiping 
out  a  foul  blot  upon  the  American  name.  In  the  name  of  Justice  I  de- 
mand it,  that  it  may  no  longer  be  said  that  in  Utah  the  direst  of  felonies 
may  be  committed  with  impunity.  In  the  name  of  Truth,  I  demand  that 
the  facts  concerning  the  Mountain  Meadow  Massacre  be  ascertained  and 
stated  in  official  form  by  competent  authority,  in  order  that  the  people 
of  the  United  States  may  know  that  said  massacre,  even  to  its  most 
sickening  details,  was  only  too  true." 

There  are  many  incidental  circumstances  in  the  story  of 
this  massacre,  and  events  which  have  occurred  since  its  perpe- 
tration, that  keenly  touch  the  souls  of  those  who  are  capable 
of  appreciating  the  facts  of  that  horrible  tragedy. 

Judge  Cradlebaugh  speaks  of  the  joy  which  he  witnessed 
among  the  children  when  they  found  themselves  together  again, 
and  under  the  protection  of  American  citizens  : 

^'I  recollect,"  he  says,  "one  of  them,  John  Calvin  Sorrow,  after  he 
found  he  was  safe,  and  before  he  was  brought  away  from  Salt  Lake  City, 
although  not  yet  nine  years  of  age,  sitting  in  a  contemplative  mood,  n6 
doubt  thinking  of  the  extermination  of  his  family,  saying :  *  Oh,  I  wish  I 
was  a  man ;  I  know  what  I  would  do  ;  I  would  shoot  John  D.  Lee  ;  I  saw 
him  shoot  my  mother.'    I  shall  never  forget  how  he  looked." 

Poor  boy  !  What  terrible  anguish  must  have  been  in  the 
reflections  that  found  such  expressions  in  a  child  of  his  years ! 

There  is  represented  in  the  engraving  preceding  this  chap- 
ter a  maiden  of  sixteen  summers,  cruelly  murdered  while 
pleading  for  life.  The  Author's  friend,  who  travelled  with 
28 


466 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


the  company  from  Fort  Bridger,  speaks  of  her  as  a  lovely 
sweet  creature,  with  dark  flowing  curls,  who  had  been  the 
life  and  joy  of  the  camp,  and  the  companion  of  the  venerable 
patriarch  of  the  company.  When  the  first  volley  of  rifles  had 
strewn  the  ground  with  the  dead,  she  flew  into  the  arms  of 
young  Lee,  and  begged  protection  of  her  life.  The  manly  in- 
stinct of  the  youth  was  instantly  aroused  by  the  supplicating 
look  of  that  pure  and  innocent  being,  in  her  defence,  and  he 
sheltered  her  by  his  person.  In  an  instant  his  father  seized 
him  by  the  collar,  and  by  greater  force  bending  his  son's  head, 
fired  his  revolver,  and  shot  the  maiden  in  the  forehead.  She 
fell  lifeless  at  his  feet.  This  incident,  and  the  forced  part  which 
he  played  in  the  massacre,  has  blighted  for  ever  the  life  of  the 
young  man,  and  to  his  confidants  he  has  sorrowfully  related  his 
poignant  grief. 

Three  of  the  men  who  escaped  from  the  massacre  were  pur- 
sued for  a  long  distance.  One  of  them  is  said  to  have  perished 
in  the  desert,  after  a  flight  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles  ;  and 
of  the  disposition  of  the  other  two,  the  band  under  the  captain- 
cy of  Ira  Hatch  could  probably  tell  a  thrilling  story. 

There  is,  too,  a  legend  that  the  written  order  for  the  massa- 
cre of  the  emigrants  has  been  preserved,  and  is  to-day  in  safe- 
keeping. If  such  a  document  does  exist,  it  can  only  be  in  the 
hands  of  some  one  who  means  to  use  it  at  a  proper  time,  but 
to  acknowledge  now  the  personal  possession  of  such  property 
would  be  dangerous  folly.  There  are,  however,  persons  in 
Utah  who  are  fully  confident  that  the  document  is  a  reality. 

Wherever  the  story  of  this  treacherous  massacre  has  gone 
forth,  a  curse  has  been  muttered  by  the  lips  of  honest  men  and 
women,  and  a  demand  for  retribution  has  lingered  on  their 
tongues,  while,  humiliating  as  it  is  to  confess,  in  the  Forty-- 
second  Congress  there  were  gentlemen  to  be  found  in  the 
Committees  of  the  House,  and  in  the  Senate,  who  were  bold 
enough  to  declare  their  opposition  to  all  investigation  of  these 
murders.  One  who  had  a  national  reputation  during  the  war, 
from  Bunker's  Hill  to  New  Orleans,  was  not  ashamed  to  say 
to  those  who  sought  the  legislation  that  was  necessary  to  make 
investigation  possible,  that  it  was  too  late."  To  the  petition- 
er he  said : 


THE  HONOUR  OF  THE  REPUBLIC  AT  STAKE. 


457 


"  Have  any  murders  been  committed  in  Utah  during  twen- 
tj  years  ? " 
Yes.' 

"  Have  any  been  committed  during  the  last  fifteen  years  ? " 
"  Yes." 

"  Have  any  been  committed  vf^ithin  ten  years  ?  " 
"  Yes." 

"  Have  any  been  committed  within  five  years  ?  " 

"  Perhaps  not." 
Well,  then,"  was  the  reply,  "  if  there  have  been  none 
within  five  years,  I  am  opposed  to  meddling  with  the  past. 
There  are  murders  in  New  York  nearly  every  day." 

To  that  representative  from  the  proudest  State  in  the 
Union,  the  answer  of  the  fatherless  should  be,  that  one  single 
murder  resulting  from  religious  hatred,  systematically  shown, 
is  more  damning  than  ten  thousand  murders,  the  casual  off- 
spring of  the  vile  passions  of  the  most  debased  of  men. 

Moreover,  that  a  sedate,  honourable  Senator,  also  one  who 
has  not  deemed  the  Presidency  of  the  United  States  beneath 
his  ambition,  should  make  a  similar  announcement,  and  ask 
that  the  past  might  be  buried  in  oblivion,  is  passing  strange.* 

To  this  lengthy  statement,  and  circumstantial  detail  of 
facts,  the  Mormon  apostles  may  continue,  as  they  have  done 
before,  to  allege  that  the  emigrants  put  poison  on  the  body  of 
a  dead  ox,  that  some  Indian  chiefs  partook  of  the  poisoned 
meat  and  died,  and  that  the  rest  of  the  Indians  became  en- 
raged, and  "  wiped  them  out."    They  may,  perhaps,  also  add 

*  In  addition  to  the  labours  of  the  regular  delegate  from  Utali  to  Congress  dur- 
ing the  winter  of  1871-2,  there  was  another  delegation  from  Utah,  composed  of  two 
Gentiles  and  an  apostle  who  enjoyed  the  freedom  of  the  House,  and  whose  business 
it  was  to  secure  the  admission  of  Utah  into  the  Union  and  thereby  end  all  interfer- 
ence of  Congress  with  the  bloody  record  of  that  Territory.  The  apostle  was  but 
doing  his  duty  to  "  the  Lord  ;  "  the  two  Gentile  gentlemen  were  to  be  rewarded,  the 
one  with  senatorial  honours  and  the  other  with  the  position  of  Representative  of 
the  "  State  of  Deseret." 

On  one  occasion  the  Author  visited  that  assembled  body  of  honoured  gentlemen, 
and  was  chatting  with  some  of  them  on  the  proposed  legislation  for  Utah  which  was 
to  bring  up  and  investigate  the  Utah  murders,  and  expressing  surprise  at  the  evi- 
dent intention  of  some  parties  to  prevent  all  legislation,  the  answer  was  made  unre- 
servedly by  a  number  of  gentlemen,  with  ill-disguised  contempt :  "  It  is  very  evi* 
dent,  Mr.  Stenhouse,  that  Brigham  Young  has  a  financial  agent  in  Washington." 


THE  mCEY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


that  the  emigrants  poisoned  a  spring,  and  that  for  doing  so  the 
Indians  attacked  them.  To  those  who  can  accept  such  state* 
ments,  in  the  light  of  the  facts  stated  in  this  chapter,  as  a  solu- 
tion of  the  Mountain  Meadows  Massacre,  thej  are  perfectly 
welcome;  but  upon  the  Government  of  this  great  Eepublic, 
that  massacre  will  ever  be  a  stain  until  the  fullest  investiga- 
tion has  been  made,  and  the  guilty  ones  brought  to  justice. 

Fifteen  long  years  have  passed  away  since  that  dark  trag- 
edy was  enacted,  and  yet  the  nation  slumbers,  and  the  repre- 
sentatives of  the  Government  are  deaf  to  the  cries  of  the 
slaughtered !  How  well  did  Britain,  a  few  years  ago,  earn  the 
admiration  of  the  world  for  the  proud  march  of  her  army  into 
the  heart  of  Abyssinia,  to  demand  from  the  infatuated  Theo- 
dorus  the  release  of  British  subjects  !  Other  nations,  too,  have 
disregarded  distance,  time,  and  money,  when  the  cries  of  in- 
jured citizens  have  been  heard  calling  for  protection.  But 
here,  in  the  very  heart  of  "  the  Great  Eepublic,"  on  the  high- 
way between  the  seas,  the  darkest  deed  of  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury is  passed  by  in  silence!  The  cries  and  prayers  of  the 
orphans  have  been  heard  in  vain  in  free  America ! 


CHAPTEE  XLIY. 


THE  SPRINGVILLE  MURDEES.— The  Status  of  the  People  during  the  Time  of 
Blood— Brigham's  absolute  Authority— Something  Personal  of  Lee  and  the 
Leaders  at  Springville— How  the  Parrishes  were  Entrapped  and  Murdered— 
Confession  of  the  Bishop's  Counsellor — "  Helping  those  who  need  Help" — How 
Bird  ''^worhed  the  best  he  could" — ''A  Lick  across  the  Throat" — Paying  the 
Atoning  Penalty — Horrible  Sacrifice  of  an  Unfaithful  Wife— How  John  G — -'s 
Blood  was  Spilled." 

The  Mormon  newspapers  very  properly  declaim  against 
"  the  people of  Utah  being  branded  as  murderers,  because 
murders  have  been  committed  within  their  Territory,  and,  fur- 
ther, they  protest  against  the  great  crimes  being  charged  to 
Brigham  Young.  Unfortunately  for  these  defenders,  no  sane 
person,  in  or  out  of  the  Territory  of  Utah,  ever  did  hold  "  the 
people"  responsible  for  the  black  deeds  of  their  history,  and 
if  the  Prophet  is  selected  by  the  universal  judgment  of  man- 
kind to  bear  the  charge  of  crimes,  his  own  teachings  may  have 
had  something  to  do  with  inducing  that  conclusion. 

When  a  public  teacher  utters  a  thousand  times  the  state- 
ment that  it  is  his  right  to  dictate,  direct,  and  control  the  af- 
fairs of  a  whole  people,  from  the  building  of  a  temple  down 
"  to  the  ribbons  that  a  woman  should  wear,"  or  to  "  the  set- 
"  ting-up  of  a  stocking,"  and  that  his  influence  over  the  pas- 
sions of  men  and  women  in  a  religious  assembly  was  so  poten- 
tial that,  if  he  "  had  but  crooked  his  little  finger  "  they  would 
have  torn  a  United  States  judge  to  pieces,  neither  he  nor  his 
friends  can  righteously  complain  when  violence  is  done  among 
such  a  people,  without  personal  cause  being  visible,  that  a  sus- 
picion should  follow  that  "  the  ruling  priesthood  "  may  have 
been  the  cause. 

That  the  citizens  of  Cedar,  Parowan,  Pinto,  Harmony,  and 
Washington  settlements,  south  of  Fillmore,  were  any  more 


460 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


wicked  tlian  the  citizens  of  the  settlements  north  of  Fillmore, 
no  one  believes — ^yet  the  Mountain  Meadows  Massacre  was 
committed  by  the  militia  from  those  southern  settlements. 
When  the  news  of  that  deed  was  heard,  the  people  north  were 
terror-stricken,  and  shuddered  with  horror  at  the  thought  of 
the  barbarous  crime,  and  the  recital  of  the  bloody  work  is  har- 
rowing to  them  to-day.  Had  the  massacre  been  committed  in 
the  north,  the  people  of  the  south  would  have  experienced  the 
same  sentiments  of  abhorrence,  yet  they  in  the  south  com- 
mitted the  crime,  and  served  themselves  with  the  spoils  of  their 
victims. 

The  Mormon  people  in  Utah  are  not  the  offspring  of  a  bar- 
barous race,  neither  were  they  raised  and  nurtured  in  uncivil- 
ized nations.  Apart  from  the  spitefulness  of  religious  contro- 
versy— which,  by-the-by,  is  nothing  peculiar  to  them — a  kinder 
and  more  simple-hearted  people  is  not  upon  the  face  of  the 
earth.  Had  the  Mountain  Meadows  Massacre  occurred  in  any 
of  the  neighbouring  Territories,  and  that  crime  was  clearly  the 
work  of  white  people,  the  Mormons  would  have  despised  them, 
hated  them,  and  in  all  probability  would  have  refused  all  inter- 
course with  them. 

That  Brigham  Young  is  by  his  natural  instincts  a  bad  man, 
or  that  his  apostles  and  his  bishops  are  men  of  blood,  is  not 
true.  Here  and  there  among  them  a  malicious  man  is  met 
with,  but,  apart  from  religion,  the  ruling  men  in  Utah  would 
be  considered  good  citizens  in  any  community. 

Without  the  consideration  of  the  question  of  personal  di- 
vinity, the  high  moral  teaching  and  unspotted  life  of  the  Naza- 
rene  have  been  the  greatest  blessings  to  mankind,  and  have, 
through  the  varied  channels,  and  slow,  tortuous,  and  muddled 
windings  of  progressive  civilization,  made  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury what  it  is.  Under  the  influence  of  that  Christianity,  the 
Mormons  were  second  to  no  people  of  their  class  ;  but  once 
from  under  it,  and  with  headlong  rush  flying  back  to  the  hab- 
its, customs,  and  morality,  of  the  ages  of  the  world's  childhood, 
Mormonism  is  consistently  just  what  it  is.  Moving  in  the  light 
of  past  ages,  the  hatred  of  the  Gentile  and  the  apostate  has 
made  the  history  of  Utah  what  it  has  been.  The  more  they 
have  approximated  in  situation  to  the  nomadic  Israelites,  the 


CHARACTER  OF  JOHN  D.  LEE. 


461 


more  have  they  been  able  to  reproduce  their  works.  It  is  with 
this  understanding  that  the  Mountain  Meadows  Massacre  is  ex- 
plicable, and  the  subject-matter  of  this  chapter  can  be  com- 
prehended. 

John  D.  Lee,  who  has  been  selected  as  the  chief  scapegoat 
upon  which  to  pile  the  responsibility  of  the  Mountain  Meadows 
Massacre,  is  not,  in  his  own  estimation,  without  defence.  That 
his  instincts  are,  in  the  jud;;^ment  of  others,  low  and  brutal,  is 
unquestioned,  but  he  probably  prays  as  much  as  the  most  re- 
fined Mormon  in  Utah,  and  doubtless  pays  his  tithing  with  as 
great  regularity.  The  Author  wrote  to  a  gentleman,  who  had 
visited  Lee  and  had  been  with  him  some  time,  to  ask  what  his 
personal  opinion  was  about  this  man  now  so  notorious.  His 
answer  was  :  "  Lee  is  a  good,  kind-hearted  fellow,  who  would 
"  share  his  last  biscuit  with  a  fellow-traveller  on  the  plains,  but 
"  at  the  next  instant,  if  Brigham  Young  said  so,  he  would  cut 
"  that  fellow-traveller's  throat." 

It  is  not  intended  to  infer  here  that  Lee,  in  the  Mountain 
Meadows  Massacre,  was  but  the  tool  of  Brigham  Young.  Lee 
has  refused  to  divulge  anything  on  the  subject,  but  he  has  said 
that  the  order  was  not  given  by  the  Prophet,  and  though  there 
has  been  but  little  done  that  was  not,  either  directly  or  in- 
directly, ordered  or  countenanced  by  Brigham,  it  is  due  to 
the  latter  that  he  should  have  all  the  advantage  of  Lee's  dis- 
claimer, till  evidence  shows  that  Lee  has  spoken  falsely.  The 
arguments  and  statements  of  "  Argus  "  are  very  forcible  to  all 
who  have  lived  in  Utah,  and  they  point  logically  to  Brigham, 
but  there  is  not  yet  before  the  public  the  evidence  of  direct 
communication  between  Brigham  Young,  in  Salt  Lake  City, 
and  Col.  W.  H.  Dame,  in  Parowan.  That  the  communication 
was  possible,  is  true,  but  that  it  was  had  is  as  yet  "not  proven," 
and  Brigham  Young  has  a  right  to  the  benefit  of  that  fact.* 

The  chapter  on  the  "  Reformation  "  must  have  satisfied  the 
reader  that  the  commission  of  the  massacre  was  possible  in 

*  Many  respectable  persons  in  Utah,  who  have  free  intercourse  with  the  apos- 
tles and  leading  men  of  the  Mormon  Church,  do  not  believe  that  Brigham  Young 
had  anything  to  do  with  this  massacre.  It  would  be  very  gratifying  to  see  him  ex 
onerated  from  the  charge.  Should  it  yet  turn  out  that  it  was  the  work  of  another, 
and  that  Brigham  has  patiently  borne  the  imputation  for  so  many  years,  he  will 
nchly  deserve  respect  where  he  now  is  condemned. 


462 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


1857,  for  the  Tabernacle  had  been  preaching  a  "  reformation  " 
by  blood  for  a  period  of  three  years.  The  provocation  to  vio- 
lence was  all  that  was  required.  The  advance  of  the  troops 
and  the  passage  of  the  emigrant  trains  were  only  the  accidents. 
Before  either  of  them  was  heard  of,  the  teachings  of  the  ^'  Ref- 
ormation" had  begun  to  bear  their  fruits  among  the  Mormons 
themselves,  particularly  in  the  very  notable  case  known  as  the 
Parrish  Murders  at  Springville. 

The  family  of  Parrish  had  at  one  time  been  yerj  devoted 
to  the  Church.  In  the  controversy  that  occurred  between  Sid- 
ney Eigdon  and  the  Twelve  Apostles  at  Nauvoo  for  the  ruling 
supremacy  of  the  Church,  Parrish's  name  figures  in  one  of  the 
documents,  and  he  is  reported  to  have  said  that  "  he  would  fol- 
"  low  the  Twelve  if  they  led  him  to  hell."  Ten  years  later  his 
zeal  had  cooled  considerably,  and  he  had  resolved  to  leave  the 
Territory.  It  is  not  likely  that  the  consideration  of  the  influ 
ence  abroad  of  a  man  of  his  calibre  could  have  weighed  much 
with  the  Mormon  leaders,  yet  he  was  brutally  and  foully  mur- 
dered, as  also  was  one  of  his  sons,  and  the  other  son  was  seri- 
ously wounded,  on  the  evening  that  they  were  preparing  to 
start  for  California.  This  particular  case  is  probably  the  best 
illustration  of  how  men  are  "  killed  to  save  them." 

The  facts  of  this  deed  of  blood  clearly  exhibit  that  it  was  ' 
a  religious  murder.  The  major  part  of  the  men  charged  witlj 
compassing  the  death  of  the  Parrishes  never  would  have  soiled 
their  hands  with  the  blood  of  these  or  any  other  persons  on  their 
own  account.  They  are  not  men  of  bad  habits ;  not  riotous,  nor 
drunkards.  Bishop  Johnson,  for  whose  apprehension  J udge  Cra- 
dlebaugh  issued  a  warrant  on  the  charge  of  this  murder,  is  a  very 
quiet,  inoflFensive  man.  He  has  a  well-regulated  and,  for  aught 
the  public  know,  a  peaceable  home,  with  ten  excellent  wives 
and  a  long  string  of  children.  Mayor  McDonald  is  a  thorough 
Scotchman,  a  Gaelic  Highlander,  born  and  reared  with  the  best 
surroundings  of  Presbyterianism,  a  man  of  unfailing  honesty, 
strict  integrity,  and  truthfulness,  and  blessed  with  as  sweet  a 
wife  as  ever  honoured  man  with  her  love.  Though  great  and 
powerful  physically,  he  was  by  nature  docile  as  a  lamb.  There 
could  be  nothing  possibly  in  the  "  apostasy  "  of  Parrish,  and 
the  proposed  departure  of  his  family  from  Utah,  to  tempt  such 


MURDER  OF  POTTER  AND  THE  PARRISHES.  463 

men  as  these  to  harbour  thoughts  of  deadly  violence  or  to 
countenance  it  in  others,  yet  they  are  charged  with  other  per- 
sons with  deliberating  in  a  council  of  elders  against  this  man  Par- 
rish,  and  with  having  put  the  machinery  to  work  that  brought 
about  his  death.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  of  all  this  they  are  inno- 
cent, for  it  is  painful  to  see  men  who  have  every  quality  calcu- 
lated to  command  respect  dragged  into  such  frightful  positions. 

According  to  the  affidavits  made  under  oath  of  persons  who 
had  been  actors  in  the  Parrish  tragedy,  the  first  move  against 
the  "  apostate  "  was  made  in  a  council  of  elders  that  was  convened 
on  the  1st  of  March  of  that  same  bloody  1857.  Two  of  that 
council — Abraham  Durfee  and  Duff  Potter — were  appointed 
to  play  the  part  of  spies  upon  the  Parrish  family  and  to  assume 
that  they  also  were  dissatisfied  with  the  condition  of  things  in 
Utah,  and  thereby  ingratiating  themselves  with  the  Parrishes 
and  winning  their  confidence,  worm  out  of  them  when  they 
intended  to  leave  for  California,  and  all  their  plans. 

On  the  14th  of  March,  the  evening  of  the  departure  of  the 
Parrishes,  Potter  and  Durfee  were  with  them  and  professed 
to  aid  them  in  leaving  without  observation,  while  in  reality  they 
were  leading  them  to  the  place  where  they  were  to  be  killed. 
In  the  darkness  of  the  night.  Potter,  who  decoyed  the  elder 
Parrish,  was  accidentally  shot  and  killed.  The  old  man  Par- 
rish seems  to  have  rallied  from  his  surprise  and  struggled  with 
his  assailant,  and  was  finally  stabbed  to  death.  His  eldest  son 
fell  dead  upon  the  road,  and  the  younger  son,  though  severely 
wounded,  escaped  and  got  back  into  Springville.  He  and 
Durfee  were  arrested  and  examined  to  see  whether  they  had 
committed  the  murders  ! !  The  farce  of  an  inquest  was  gone 
through  with  before  the  public,  and  some  of  the  m^  who  were 
afterwards  charged  with  being  privy  to  the  murder  sat  as  ju- 
rors :  the  details  are  sickening,  and  leave  no  room  for  question- 
ing why  the  deed  was  done — they  were  "  apostates."  After 
the  affidavits  taken  by  Judge  Cradlebaugli  had  been  published 
(as  referred  to  in  a  previous  chapter),  one  J.  M.  Stewart,  who 
at  the  time  of  the  murder  was  counsellor  to  Bishop  Johnson, 
made  confession  of  the  whole  matter,  and  in  it  implicates  Brig- 
ham  Young  as  the  author  of  the  order  for  that  deed  also ;  but 
of  Brigham's  guilt  there  has  been  no  other  evidence  given  to 


464 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


the  public,  and  the  caution  on  misjudging  him  already  ex- 
pressed is  again  suggested  to  the  reader.   The  following  is  the 

CONFESSION  OF  STEWART. 

"  San  Bernaedino,  July  4, 1859. 
•  •••••••• 

"At  a  certain  time  during  the  notable  ^  Keformation,'  I  think  in  the 
winter  of  1857,  I  was,  as  one  of  the  Bishop's  counsellors,  presiding  and 
speaking  at  a  ward  meeting  in  the  house  of  G.  G.  (Duft)  Potter,  where  a 
brother  counsellor,  N.  T.  Guyman,  came  to  the  door  and  said,  ^  Brother 
Stewart,  please  to  cut  your  remarks  short ;  the  Bishop  wishes  to  see  you.' 
I  did  so,  and  went  with  him  to  the  Bishop's  council-room,  an  upper  room 
in  his  dwelling-house.  As  this  was  in  the  night,  our  movements  were 
perhaps  observed  by  but  very  few.  The  Bishop  (Johnson),  Guyman,  and 
myself,  and  some  few  others,  whom  I  cannot  now  identify,  composed  this 
council.  After  all  had  assembled,  and  were  orderly  seated,  the  Bishop 
stated  the  object  of  the  meeting,  which  was  that  we  might  hear  a  letter 
which  he  had  just  received  from  '  President  Young.'  He  there  read  the 
letter,  the  purport  of  which  was  about  this : 

"  He,  Brigham,  had  information  that  some  suspicious  characters  were 
collecting  at  the  '  Indian  Farm '  on  Spanish  Fork,  and  he  wished  him 
(Bishop  Johnson)  to  keep  a  good  lookout  in  that  direction  ;  to  send  some 
one  out  there  to  reconnoitre  and  ascertain  what  was  going  on,  and  if  they 
(those  suspicious  characters)  should  make  a  break  and  be  pursued,  which 
he  required,  he  '  would  be  sorry  to  hear  a  favourable  report ; '  *  but,'  he 
wrote,  'the  better  way  is  to  lock  the  stable-door  before  the  horse  is  stolen.' 
He  then  admonished  the  Bishop  that  he  (the  Bishop)  understood  these 
things,  and  would  act  accordingly,  and  to  *  keep  this  letter  close.'  This 
letter  was  over  Brigham's  signature,  in  his  own  peculiarly  rough  hand, 
which  we  all  had  the  privilege  of  seeing.  About  this  matter  there  was 
no  counselling.  The  word  of  Brigham  was  the  law^  and  the  object  was 
that  we  might  hear  it. 

"  Early  one  morning  during  the  week  succeeding  the  council,  Parrish 
and  Durfee  called  at  my  house  (or  office),  for  I  was  the  precinct  magis- 
trate, when  Parrish,  under  oath,  said  his  horses  were  stolen  the  night  be- 
fore from  his  stable,  and  asked  for  a  search-warrant.  I  could  find  no  law 
in  Utah  making  it  the  duty  or  the  privilege  of  a  justice  or  any  other  offi- 
cer to  grant  a  search-warrant,  yet  I  considered  that  there  could  be  no 
harm  in  it,  and  therefore  granted  it,  directing  it  to  the  sheriiF,  his  deputy, 
or  any  constable  of  Utah  County,  requiring  him  to  search  diligently  Utah 
County  for  such  property.  Parrish  wished  me  to  deputize  Durfee  to 
search,  but  I  refused.  It  was  at  this  time  that  Durfee  aimed,  as  I  under- 
stood it,  to  give  me  a  hint  of  his  situation.  '  In  private,'  he  said,  '  you 
know  how  I  stand.'  I  replied  '  yes,'  supposing  that  he  alluded  to  his 
apostasy,  which  he  had  made  as  public  as  he  dare,  when  he  replied,  ^  All's 
right  in  Israel  1 '    I  did  not  understand  him. 


THE  MURDERERS  IN  COUNCIL. 


465 


"The  next  Satiirda;^  night  there  was  a  council  which  I  attended  by 
special  invitation.  In  the  council  were,  as  well  as  I  remember,  Bishop  A. 
Johnson,  J.  M.  Stewart,  A.  F.  McDonald,  N.  T.  Guyman,  L.  Johnson,  C. 
Sanford,  and  W.  J.  Earl.  I  am  pretty  certain  there  were  others  present, 
but  I  cannot  now  name  them.  Oh,  yes  I  Potter  and  Durfee  were  present. 
They  came  in  with  blankets  wrapped  around  them.  In  this  council  there 
was  a  good  deal  of  secret  talking,  tv/o  or  three  individuals  getting  close 
together,  and  talking  in  suppressed  tones,  which  I,  being  dull  of  hearing, 
did  not  wholly  understand.  I  understood,  however,  when  Potter  requested 
of  the  Bishop  the  privilege  to  kill  Parrish  wherever  he  could  find  '  the 
damned  curse,'  and  the  Bishop's  reply,  *  Shed  no  blood  in  Springville.' 

"  During  this  council,  to  the  best  of  my  recollection,  I  scarcely  spoke 
a  word.  I  understood  that  blood  would  probably  be  shed,  not  in  Spring- 
ville, but  out  of  it.  I  did  in  my  heart  disapprove  of  the  course,  but  I  was 
in  the  current  and  could  not  get  out,  and  policy  said  to  me :  ^  Hold  your 
tongue  for  the  present.'  This  was  Saturday  night,  and,  as  well  as  I  re- 
member, I  heard  no  more  of  the  affair  till  the  next  (Sunday)  night  one 
week;  that  is,  eight  days  after. 

"  I  knew  nothing  of  the  plan  nor  of  the  deeds  until  near  midnight, 
when  I  was  awakened  and  requested  to  go  and  hold  an  inquest  over  some 
dead  bodies.  W.  J.  Earl,  one  of  the  city  aldermen,  and  my  predecessor 
in  the  magisterial  office,  made  this  requirement  of  me,  and  undertook  to 
dictate  to  me  in  selecting  a  jury.  I  considered  my  position  for  a  moment, 
and  concluded  to  suffer  myself  to  be  dictated  to,  unless  an  attempt  should 
be  made  to  lead  me  to  the  commission  of  crime.  In  that  case  I  felt  that 
I  would  try  mighty  hard  to  back  out. 

"I  obeyed  my  manager,  W.  J.  Earl,  in  selecting  the  jury.  Having 
summoned  a  part  of  the  number  requisite,  and  being  told  by  Earl  that 
the  jury  could  be  filled  out  after  we  got  there,  we  proceeded  along  the 
main  road,  south,  about  one  mile  from  the  public  square,  to  the  corner  of 
a  field,  known  as  '  Child's  Corner.'  Here  lay  the  bodies  of  William  R. 
Parrish  and  G.  G.  Potter  (Duff  Potter).  They  had  evidently  been  killed 
in  the  road,  and  dragged  to  the  place  where  they  lay.  I  proceeded  to  fill 
up  and  qualify  the  jury.  The  examination  took  place  under  my  own  ob- 
servation. It  was  a  protracted  one — a  minute  record  being  kept  by  A.  F. 
McDonald,  foreman.  Before  we  got  through  with  young  Parrish,  Beason 
(so  called)  was  discovered  dead,  about  fifteen  rods  southeast  of  the  other 
bodies.  The  verdict  was,  'That  they  came  to  their  deaths  by  the  hands 
of  an  assassin  or  assassins  to  the  jury  unknown.' 

"  The  bodies  were  hauled  to  the  school-house  by  George  McKinzie, 
who,  by  somebody's  direction,  I  suppose,  was  on  the  ground  with  his  team 
f       and  wagon.    The  bodies  were  guarded  through  the  night  by  the  police. 

"  The  next  morning  the  Bishop  sent  word  to  me  to  bury  the  bodies, 
which  I  did,  and  made  out  the  bill  according  to  the  charges  of  the  men 
employed.  I  was  told  to  take  charge  of  the  goods,  chattels,  and  clothing 
of  the  murdered  men,  which  I  did,  and  in  due  time  delivered  every  article 


466 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


to  their  families,  except  a  butcher-knife,  claimed  by  Mrs.  Parrish,  which  I 
did  not  suppose  belonged  to  her,  and  which  I  would  not  give  to  her  (pro- 
fessing ignorance  of  its  whereabouts)  till  I  could  get  directions  from  the 
Bishop.    She  never  got  the  knife  ;  it  was  subsequently  lost  in  my  family. 

Some  considerable  time — I  don't  know  how  long — after  the  murder, 
I  spoke  to  Bishop  Johnson  concerning  the  above-named  knife.  I  suppose, 
from  the  fact  that  when  the  knife  came  into  my  possession  it  was  all  over 
blood,  that  it  had  been  used  by  the  assassin ;  but  the  Bishop  thought  dif- 
ferently. During  our  chat  about  the  knife  and  the  murder,  the  Bishop 
asked : 

"  '  Do  you  know  who  done  that  job  ? ' 
"  I  replied,  *  N'o.'    He  then  asked  • 
"  *  Have  you  any  idea  ? ' 

"  '  Can't  you  guess  ? ' 
"  I  answered,  *  I  guess  I  could.' 
"  He  then  said,  *  Well,  guess.' 
"  '  I  guess  William  Bird.' 

"  He  replied,  '  You  are  pretty  good  at  guessing.' 

"  I  know  nothing  which  would  naturally  have  caused  me  to  suspect 
William  Bird,  even  as  much  as  some  others;  but  there  was  an  internal 
prompting  right  at  the  moment,  and  I  spoke  accordingly. 

"  I  suppose  I  had  as  well  say  something  about  the  notorious  *  court '  in 
which  Durfee  and  O.  Parrish  were  tried  for  the  murder  of  Potter  and  the 
Parrish es.  H.  H.  Kearns,  Captain  of  the  Police,  came  to  me  on  Monday, 
the  next  day  after  the  murder,  and  told  me  that  I  must  hold  court  some 
time  that  afternoon,  and  examine  Durfee  and  young  Parrish  in  regard  to 
the  murder,  as  he  had  them  prisoners  on  that  account.  I  understood  that 
it  was  only  to  be  done  as  a  show  or  kind  of  a  *  put-off.'  I  ordered  the 
prisoners  before  me,  and,  as  I  was  directed,  swore  them  to  tell  the  truth 
ni  the  case  then  under  consideration.  Durfee  made  his  statement  first, 
which  was  about  what  has  hitherto  been  revealed.  He,  of  course,  told 
what  he  had  been  instructed  to  tell.  Parrish,  as  might  have  been  expect- 
ed, chose  not  to  know  anything  of  consequence.  It  was  certainly  wise  in 
him  to  be  ignorant. 

"  It  would  have  been  in  order,  while  on  the  subject  of  the  *  knife,'  to 
state  that  which  I  will  now  state.  Before  the  Bishop  and  I  had  got 
through  our  chat.  Bird  came  in  sight,  and  the  Bishop  called  to  him.  He 
came  to  us,  and,  during  our  conversation,  coolly  and  deliberately  made 
the  following  statement : 

"  *  When  Potter  fell,  I  clinched  Parrish  and  killed  him  with  my  knife.' 

"  I  know  that  Parrish  was  killed  with  a  knife.  Potter  was  killed  with 
what  appeared  to  be  one  load  of  four  balls  from  a  shot-gun,  entering  just 
under  his  left  breast.  Beason  Parrish  was  also  killed  by  one  or  two  shots 
in  his  body,  the  particular  locality  not  now  remembered. 

"  Thus  I  have  written  all  that  I  can  think  of  of  that  tragical  affair. 


STEWART'S  CONFESSION. 


467 


I  am  perfectly  aware  that  that  portion  of  the  community,  who  have  no 
knowledge  of  the  undercurrents  and  wire-workings  of  Mormcmism,  will 
consider  me  a  'poor  concern '  for  suflfering  myself  to  be  swayed  in  my  official 
duties  by  ecclesiastical  dignitaries,  for  suffering  myself,  in  the  case  above 
mentioned,  to  be  governed  by  the  Bishop.  But  I  perfectly  understood 
that,  to  act  without  counsel,  or  to  disobey  counsel,  was  to  transgress;  and, 
if  I  had  never  understood  it  before,  I  could  not  but  understand  it  then, 
by  the  example  of  the  three  dead  bodies  right  before  my  eyes,  that  '  the 
way  of  the  transgressor  is  (was)  hard.' 

"  I  might  make  some  revealments,  but  they  would  not  be  very  impor- 
tant, concerning  the  case  of  Mr.  Forbes.  I  may  make  them  at  some  future 
time. 

"  I  will  now  close.  I  am,  etc.,  your  humble  servant, 

"J.  M.  Stewakt.^'* 

That  all  this  was  the  work  of  the  "  Eeformation,"  and  its 
teaching  about  killing  apostates  "  to  save  them,"  there  can  be 
no  doubt ;  but,  in  making  this  assertion,  it  is  also  right  to 
say  that  it  is  extremely  difficult  to  believe  that  the  actuating 
spirit  of  those  murders  sprang  from  "  loving  one's  neighbour 
"  as  oneself,"  after  the  fashion  of  the  Tabernacle  teaching'  al- 
ready quoted.  The  surroimdings  of  the  philosophy  and  logic 
of  Brigham  about  "  helping  those  who  need  help,"  and  shed- 
ding the  blood  of  those  who  want  their  blood  to  be  shed,"  is 
all  wanting  in  the  Springville,  Payson,  Pondtown,  and  other 
murders. 

There  is  lacking  all  the  beautiful  romance,  the  heroism,  the 
martyrdom,  about  the  manner  in  which  Parrish  took  liis  "  cut- 
"  ting-off;"  and  Bird,  instead  of  severing  his  windpipe  with  a 
sweetly-scented  penknife,  seems  to  have  hacked  him  to  death 
with  a  more  fatal  weapon  which  butchers  are  wont  to  use. 

Mrs.  Parrish  affirms,  on  affidavit,  that  her  husband  "  was 
"  no  believer  in  the  doctrine  of  hilling  to  save^  as  taught  by 
"  the  teachers."  There  is,  also,  in  the  after-confession  of  Dur- 
fee,  the  revelation  of  a  very  strong  suspicion  that,  notwith- 
standing he  was  employed  to  bring  about  the  death  of  Parrish, 
he  too  might  have  been  included  in  that  scheme  of  "  salvation 
"  and  exaltation  with  the  gods." 

The  Japanese  have  preserved  among  them,  from  very  re- 
mote ages,  a  romantic  way  of  redeeming  one's  name  from  the 

*  Valley  Tan,  August  24,  1859. 


468 


THE  ROOKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


stain  of  dishonour,  by  the  unpleasant  practice  of  "  hari-kari." 
On  such  occasions,  the  unfortunate,  who  is  to  expiate  his  of- 
fence by  the  instruments  of  death  within  his  own  hands,  in- 
vites his  friends  to  witness  the  event,  and  the  highest  function- 
uries  in  the  land  honour  him  with  their  presence,  and  go  there 
to  testifj^  that  the  transgressor  died  nobly  and  without  the  un- 
dignified squirming  of  a  muscle  of  his  frame. 

But  the  modern  Mormon  has  not  reached  that  degree  of 
Oriental  refinement  in  seeking  for  himself  dignity  in  the  heav- 
ens. To  that  ancient  illustration  of  heroism  in  the  East  a  con- 
trast is  presented  in  the  Rocky  Mountains : 

"Bird  was  lying  in  the  corner  of  the  fence;  as  Parrish  and  Potter 
walked  along  the  fence,  he,  Bird,  said  he  shot  Potter,  whom  he  supposed 
to  be  Parrish ;  that  after  he.  Bird,  had  shot,  he  got  up  and  stepped  out  to 
where  Parrish  stood,  and  Parrish  spoke  and  wanted  to  know  if  it  was  him 
that  had  shot;  he  said  that  Parrish  had  his  gun  in  his  hand,  and  laid  it 
down,  and  they,  Parrish  and  Bird,  clinched  together.  As  they  clinched, 
Bird  drew  his  knife,  and  worked  the  best  he  could  in  stabbing  Parrish. 
Bird- said  after  Parrish  was  down  tie  gave  him  a  lick  which  cut  his  throat. 
He  never  said  anything  about  any  other  person  being  there  helping  him. 
Bird  said  after  he  got  through  with  the  old  man  he  took  Potter's  gun  and 
his  own,  and  got  in  the  corner  of  the  fence  again  to  be  ready  for  us.  He 
said  he  lay  there  till  we  came  up — the  two  Parrish  boys  and  myself.  Then 
he  said  he  fired,  and  he  saw  one  fall ;  he  said  he  was  afraid  that  the  per- 
son he  had  shot  would  run  off,  and  he  fired  at  him  again. 

"  When  Orrin  and  I  started,  he  said  he  came  out  from  the  fence  and 
shot  at  Orrin  ;  he  said  he  saw  me,  or  he  supposed  it  was  me,  when  I  ran 
into  the  hollow ;  he  asked  me  if  I  heard  him  call  for  me,  I  told  him  I 
did  ;  he  wanted  to  know  why  I  did  not  come  to  him.  1  told  him  /  did 
not  like  to^  that  I  did  not  know  what  it  meant  in  regard  to  their  shooting. 

"  The  next  morning  after  the  murder,  I  heard  Bishop  Johnson  and 
Bird  talking  together,  and  he  blamed  Potter  and  Bird  for  not  going  farther 
away  with  them ;  the  Bishop  said  he  wanted  I  should  be  satisfied  about 
the  afi'air,  and  not  tell  who  was  in  it,  that  if  I  did  they  would  serve  me  the 
same  way.''''  * 

In  the  introduction  of  new  doctrines  and  practices  in  the 
Mormon  Church  there  has  always  been  more  or  less  of  confu- 
sion, which  in  time  has  been  better  arranged.  Perhaps  the 
"  gods  "  will  yet  fix  out  this  killing  to  save,"  and  render  it, 
at  least  in  appearance,  if  in  nothing  else,  better  than  the 
crudest  cannibalism,  as  illustrated  by  Bird. 

*  Durfee's  confession.  » 


KISSED  HER  AND  CUT  HER  THROAT. 


469 


The  italicized  portions  of  that  confession  are  very  refresh- 
ing. Fancy  that  kind  of  business  meeting  with  the  approval 
of  the  God  of  Christendom  !  Imagine  Bird,  with  his  coat  off,  his 
sleeves  rolled  up,  and  a  great  butcher-knife,  "  worhing  his  hest " 
at  the  poor  old  Mr.  Parrish,  giving  him  a  '^lich  across  his 
"  throat^'^  and  when  he  got  through  "  with  that  affectionate, 
soul-saving  work,  taking  up  the  gun  of  the  assassinated  man 
for  the  purpose  of  using  it  to  murder  his  sons  I 

Durfee  had  certainly  good  reasons  to  get  out  of  the  way 
when  invited  by  Bird  to  stay.  He  was  not  so  very  certain  that 
his  sands  of  life  had  not  run  out.  That  was  a  fearful  period  in 
Utah  history.  "  Judgment  had  begun  at  the  House  of  the 
"  Lord,"  and  sinners  were  closely  looked  after.* 

A  month  after  the  Parrish  murders  at  Springville,  one 
Henry  Jones  and  his  mother,  living  at  Payson  (only  a  few 
miles  from  Springville),  were  both  killed.  They  were  accused 
of  an  unnamable  offence,  and  both  were  shot.  The  mother 
was  killed  in  the  house,  and  the  son  was  pursued  and  killed  in 
a  neighbouring  settlement.  There  was  no  attempt  at  conceal- 
ment about  it.  The  Parrishes,  too,  were  properly  laid  out," 
arrayed  in  the  robes  of  the  priesthood,"  and  were  the  sub- 
jects of  a  sermon.  They  are  to  come  forth  in  the  first  resur- 
rection, for  they  paid  the  atoning  penalty,  and  are,  therefore, 
entitled  to  the  honours  of  the  immortalized  Saints  ! 

There  are  a  few  notable  cases  in  Utah  history,  but  only  a 
few,  that  have  properly  illustrated  the  blood-atonement  doc- 
trine, as  taught  by  Brigham. 

In  one  instance,  it  is  related  that  one  of  the  wives  of  a 
polygamist  was  unfaithful  during  his  absence  when  he  was  on 
a  mission.  On  his  return,  the  "  Eeformation  "  was  in  full 
•blast,  and  the  unhappy  wife  believed  that,  from  this  faux  pas^ 

*  On  aflSdavit,  Joseph  Bartholomew  related  before  Judge  Cradlebaugh  that  re- 
peated efforts  were  made  to  kill  him  and  Durfee,  as  they  had  been  indiscreet  in  speak- 
ing of  this  Springville  murder,  and  were  evidently  apostate  in  spirit.  There  can  be 
very  little  sympathy  for  such  men,  even  when  their  story  is  true.  In  the  Mountain 
Meadows  Massacre,  when  men  were  called  out  as  a  militia,  without  knowing  their 
destiny  and  the  work  to  be  done ;  and  when,  as  in  some  instances,  even  knowing 
the  work,  men  were  afraid  of  their  lives  if  they  refused,  there  can  be  honest  sympa- 
thy ;  but,  for  such  men  as  would  deliberately  decoy  an  unsuspecting  friend  to  the 
shambles,  there  can  be  no  honest  tears  shed.  If  Bird  had  "  got  through  "  with  a 
few  more  of  his  assistants,  the  world  would  have  wagged  quite  as  well. 


470 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


she  was  doomed  to  lose  her  claim  to  motherhood  over  the  chil- 
dren which  she  had  already  borne ;  that  she  would  be  cast 
aside  in  eternit}^  as  well  as  in  time,  by  her  husband ;  that,  in 
fact,  she  would  only  "  be  an  angel,  and  with  the  angels  stand ; "  * 
and  that  she  could  not  reach  the  circle  of  the  gods  and  god- 
desses unless  her  blood  was  shed.  She  consented  to  meet  the 
penalty  of  her  error,  and  while  her  heart  was  gushing  with 
affection  for  her  husband  and  her  children,  and  her  mind  ab- 
sorbed with  faith  in  the  doctrine  of  human  sacrifice,  slie  seated 
herself  upon  her  husband's  knee,  and  after  the  warmest  and 
most  endearing  embrace  she  had  ever  known — it  was  to  be  her 
last — when  the  warmth  of  his  lips  still  lingered  about  her  glow- 
ing cheek,  with  his  own  right  hand  he  calmly  cut  her  throat 
and  sent  her  spirit  to  the  keeping  of  the  gods.  That  kind  and 
loving  husband  still  lives  near  Salt  Lake  City,  and  preaches 
occasionally  with  great  zeal.    He  seems  happy  enough. 

One  of  the  elders  at  Council  Bluffs,  in  a  dispute  over  some 
trifling  matter,  warned  one  of  the  brethren  not  to  cross  a  cer- 
tain boundary -line  in  his  field  or  garden.  He  braved  the  threat, 
and  the  other  shot  him  dead.  The  murderer  offered  to  expi- 
ate his  crime,  but  for  years  no  one  was  found  willing  to  "  help 
"him,"  and  he  lived  on  miserably  under  the  influence  and 
teaching  of  the  blood  atonement."  He  seemed  to  be  un- 
happy when  living  with  the  Saints,  and  was  equally  so  when 
among  the  Gentiles;  finally  he  returned  to  Zion,  and  engaged 
in  business  in  Salt  Lake  City.  One  evening  he  was  walking 
quietly  home,  the  firing  of  a  pistol  was  heard,  and  the  dead 
body  of  a  man  was  soon  after  picked  up.  A  report  was  circu- 
lated that  John  G.  .  .  .  n  had  committed  suicide.  But  another, 
and  probably  more  correct  account,  was  believed  by  those  who 
knew  of  his  "  sin  unto  death."  f  f 

*  The  Saints,  arguing  from  the  words  of  St.  Paul,  "  Know  ye  not  that  ye  shall 
"judge  angels,"  place  those  celestial  beings  much  lower  in  the  "  Kingdom  of  heaven" 
than  the  souls  of  redeemed  and  sanctified  men  and  women.  The  Mormon  revela- 
tions clearly  define  that  Gentiles  if  they  behave  themselves  in  the  next  world  may 
be  permitted  to  occupy  the  position  of  servants  or  angels  "  to  the  Saints.  Brig- 
ham  and  Heber  used  to  calculate  that  some  Presidents  of  the  United  States  would 
yet  be  their  "  boot-blacks,"  and  might  be  otherwise  honoured  to  do  the  "  chores  " 
for  the  apostolic  families  in  the  Millennium  and  afterwards. 

f  "  Verily,  verily  I  say  unto  you,  if  a  man  marry  a  wife  acccording  to  my  word  " 
(that  is, -in  polygamy  and  by  virtue  of  the  requirements  of  this  revelation),  "  and 


SHEDDING  BLOOD  FOR  LOYE.  471 

Though  John  was  no  coward  beyond  the  consciousness  of 
guilt,  he  probably  had  an  aversion  to  getting  "  a  committee 
"  appointed,"  as  the  apostle  Grant  recommended,  and  going 
to  an  appointed  place  and  there  having  his  "  blood  shed  "  by 
that  kindly  committee.  A  specified  time  and  place  and  exe- 
cutioners could  not  well  be  pleasant  to  think  of,  and  John  was 
supposed  to  have  arranged  with  some  friend  who  "  loved  him 
"  as  himself,"  to  take  him  unawares  and  "  spill  his  blood." 
John  was  properly  conveyed  to  the  cemetery,  and  the  veil  fell 
upon  his  career. 

In  this  and  in  preceding  chapters,  phases  of  Utah  history, 
illustrative  of  very  doubtful  principles  promulgated  by  the 
Mormon  priesthood,  have  been  freely  dealt  with ;  but  the  nu- 
merous charges  of  murder  in  Utah  could  not  possibly  be  inves- 
tigated here,  and  are  very  properly  remitted  to  the  labours  of 
some  future  prosecuting  attorney.  Enough,  however,  has 
been  shown  to  exhibit  to  the  Mormon  people  the  disaster  that 
must  inevitably  ensue  to  any  people  who  make  murder  an 
auxiliary  of  their  faith,  and  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  the  Govern- 
ment of  the  United  States  will  yet  take  such  action  in  these 
murders  as  will  teach  the  guilty  that  this  vile  wrong,  and  the 
standing  threat  against  the  unpopular  Gentile  and  the  "apos- 
tate,"  will  not  go  unpunished. 

they  are  sealed  by  the  Holy  Spirit  of  promise,  according  to  mine  appointment." 
(that  is,  at  the  Mormon  altar),  and  he  or  she  shall  commit  any  sin  or  transgres- 
sion of  the  new  and  everlasting  covenant  whatever,  an^i  all  manner  of  blasphemies, 
and  if  they  commit  no  murder  wherein  they  shed  innocent  blood,  yet  shall  they 
come  forth  in  the  first  resurrection,  and  enter  into  their  exaltation,  but  they  shall 
BE  DESTROYED  IN  THE  FLESH,  and  shall  be  delivered  unto  the  buffe  tings  of  Satan, 
unto  the  day  of  redemption,  saith  the  Lord." — Revelation  "  on  Polygamy,  Sec- 
tion IX. 

29 


CHAPTER  XLV, 


THE  FAITH  OF  THE  SAINTS.— The  Propliet's  Creed  given  to  tlie  Public— The 
Doctrines  taught  to  the  Saints — Spirits  in  Prison — Baptism  for  the  Dead — Brig- 
ham  Young  teaches  that  Adam  is  the  God  of  this  "World — Brigham  and  all  the 
Mormons  are  to  make  New  "Worlds  and  become  Gods — A  New  Version  of  Para- 
dise Lost  and  Paradise  Eegained— Origin  of  the  Devil — The  Mormon  Account  of 
the  Origin  of  the  African  Eace. 

The  most  devoted  of  the  intelligent  adherents  of  the  cause 
of  Brigham  Young,  who  dare  to  look  calmly  at  facts,  will 
hardly  dispute  that  the  vitality  of  the  Mormon  faith,  intro- 
duced by  its  founder  Joseph  Smith,  had  reached  its  climax 
within  the  first  quarter  of  a  century  from  the  date  of  its  or- 
ganization, and  that  from  that  period  onward  the  Mormon 
Church  has  subsisted  upon  its  organization  and  not  upon  life- 
giving  principles. 

The  believers  in  the  new  faith  were  organized  in  1830 : 
they  were  only  six  in  number,  but  they  were  full  of  their  mis- 
sion, and,  in  their  way,  wholly  devoted  to  Christ.  Their  hero- 
ism in  the  proclamation  of  their  doctrines  never  was  surpassed 
in  any  age  or  in  any  country,  by  any  other  disciples  or  mis- 
sionaries of  any  faith.  They  were  pure  in  thought,  and  burned 
with  zeal  for  the  redemption  of  mankind.  The  results  were  a 
grand  increase  of  numbers  of  disciples  begotten  in  their  own 
faith,  for  in  nothing  probably  more  than  in  religious  enthu- 
siasm does  "  like  beget  like." 

As  the  reader  has  seen  in  this  review  ot  Jiistory,  Joseph 
Smith  had  ambition  enough  for  temporal  aggrandizement  and 
rule,  but  the  people  who  surrounded  him  and  his  were  strong 
enough  to  resist  and  repulse  the  power  that  insidiously  sought 


ARTICLES  OF  MORMON  FAITH. 


to  crush  tLem.  What  Joseph  might  have  done  with  the  better 
"  opportunities  "  of  his  successor,  may  be  open  to  question  ;  but 
it  is  asserted  by  the  defenders  of  Brigham  that  the  former  would 
have,  in  the  love  of  power,  which  isolation  in  the  Kocky  Moun- 
tains has  so  signally  favoured  in  the  latter,  done  more  outrageous 
things  than  are  even  charged  to  the  name  of  Young.  Such  might 
have  been  the  case.  Joseph  Smith  had  within  himself,  doubtless, 
all  the  ambition  for  greatness  with  which  his  religious  fancies 
clothed  his  mind,  but  there  was  nothing  instinctively  cruel  and 
remorseless  in  him.  lie  could  personally  err,  he  could  repent, 
confess  his  wrong-doing,  and  sue  for  forgiveness.  With  such 
qualities  the  force  of  circumstances  would  have  taught  him 
better  ways;  but  the  isolation  that  favoured  the  weak  with 
protection  from  "  persecution  "  was  equally  provident  in  fur- 
nishing the  opportunity  for  the  development  of  whatever  was 
dormant  of  the  quality  of  aggressiveness. 

Mormonism,  therefore,  may  be  said  to  have  exhibited  in  the 
preceding  chapters,  commencing  with  that  upon  the  ''Refor- 
"  mation,"  followed  by  the  dark  ways  of  murder,  then  rebellion 
against  the  Government,  what  were  the  first  demonstrations 
of  the  change  from  the  "  love  of  Christ  shed  abroad  in  the 
"  heart  "  to  the  mad  ambition  of  a  temporal,  absolute  "  king- 
"  dom  "  that  should  cru^h  every  opposing  power. 

Nine-tenths  of  the  Mormons  who  slaughtered  the  Arkansas 
emigrants  in  1857,  would,  ten  years  before  that  time,  have 
started  on  a  mission  to  preach  to  these  same  persons  at  their 
own  firesides  in  Arkansas,  and  would  have  sought  by  every 
possible  labour  and  personal  sacrifice  to  imbue  them  with  the 
faith  of  Jesus  Christ  and  the  blessings  which  the  heavens  were 
pouring  out  upon  the  Latter-Day  Saints.  These  Mormon 
preachers  would  have  suffered  hunger  and  every  kind  of  pri- 
vation while  preaching  "  without  purse  and  scrip  "  in  order  to 
save  those  very  people  of  Arkansas,  and  deliver  them  from 
"  the  wickedness  of  the  Gentiles."  How  these  same  men, 
capable  of  having  been  formerly  missionaries  of  peace,  were  able 
ten  years  later  to  butcher  them  in  Utah,  is  the  evidence  of 
the  pernicious  teachings  of  the  Salt  Lake  Tabernacle.  With 
such  a  reversion  in  their  practical  religion,  a  summary  of  the 
original  faith  and  the  after-work  of  the  leaders  seems  here  to 


474 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


find  a  place  preparatory  to  a  further  statement  of  the  develop- 
ment of  theocracy  in  the  mountains. 

Fully  believing  in  the  divinity  of  his  mission,  Joseph  Smith, 
in  1842,  furnished  for  publication  a  sketch  of  "  The  Kise, 
"  Progress,  Persecutions  and  Faith  of  tlie  Latter-Day  Saints." 
After  threading  together  the  chief  incidents  of  his  life,  he 
closes  his  statement  with  the  following  points  of  faith : 

"  We  believe  in  God,  the  Eternal  Father,  and  in  His  Son,  Jesus  Christ, 
and  in  the  Holy  Ghost. 

"We  believe  that  men  will  be  punished  for  their  own  sins,  and  not  for 
Adam's  transgression. 

"We  believe  that  through  the  atonement  of  Christ  all  mankind  may 
be  saved  by  obedience  to  the  laws  and  ordinances  of  the  Gospel. 

"  We  believe  that  these  ordinances  are :  First,  Faith  in  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ;  second,  Repentance  ;  third.  Baptism  by  immersion  for  the  remis- 
sion of  sins ;  fourth,  Laying  on  of  Hands  for  the  Gift  of  the  Holy  Ghost. 

"  We  believe  that  a  man  must  be  called  of  God,  by  '  prophecy  and  by 
laying  on  of  hands '  by  those  who  are  in  authority  to  preach  the  Gospel 
and  administer  in  the  ordinances  thereof. 

"  We  believe  in  the  same  organization  that  existed  in  the  primitive 
Church,  viz. :  apostles,  prophets,  pastors,  teachers,  evangelists,  etc. 

"  We  believe  in  the  gift  of  tongues,  prophecy,  revelation,  visions,  heal- 
ing, interpretation  of  tongues,  etc. 

"  We  believe  the  Bible  to  be  the  Word  of  God,  as  far  as  it  is  translated 
correctly ;  we  also  believe  the  Book  of  Mormon  to  be  the  Word  of  God. 

"  We  believe  all  that  God  has  revealed,  and  that  He  does  now  reveal, 
and  we  believe  that  He  will  yet  reveal  many  great  and  important  things 
pertaining  to  the  Kingdom  of  God. 

"  We  believe  in  the  literal  gathering  of  Israel  and  in  the  restoration 
of  the  Ten  Tribes.  That  Zion  will  be  built  upon  this  continent.  That 
Christ  will  reign  personally  upon  the  earth,  and  that  the  earth  will  be  re- 
newed and  receive  its  paradisaic  glory. 

"  We  claim  the  privilege  of  worshipping  Almighty  God  according  to 
the  dictates  of  our  conscience,  and  allow  all  men  the  same  privilege,  let 
them  worship  how,  where,  or  what  they  may. 

"  We  believe  in  being  subject  to  kings,  presidents,  rulers,  and  magis- 
trates, in  obeying,  honouring,  and  sustaining  the  law. 

"  We  believe  in  being  honest,  true,  chaste,  benevolent,  virtuous,  and 
in  doing  good  to  all  men  ;  indeed,  we  may  say  that  we  follow  the  admo- 
nition of  Paul,  '  We  believe  all  things,  we  hope  all  things,'  we  have 
endured  many  things  and  hope  to  be  able  to  endure  all  things.  If  there 
is  anything  virtuous,  lovely,  or  of  good  report,  or  praiseworthy,  we  seek 
after  these  things.  Respectfully,  etc.,    Joseph  Smith."  * 

*  Time^  and  Seasons^  vol.  iii.,  p.  '706. 


SALVATION  FOR  THE  DEAD. 


475 


To  preach  this  doctrine  he  adds : 

"Proud  of  the  cause  which  they  have  espoused,  and  conscious  of  their 
innocence  and  of  the  truth  of  their  system,  amidst  cahimny  and  reproach 
have  the  elders  of  this  Church  gone  forth  and  planted  the  Gospel  in  almost 
every  State  in  the  Union.  It  has  penetrated  our  cities,  it  has  spread  over 
our  villages,  and  has  caused  thousands  of  our  intelligent,  noble,  and  patri- 
otic citizens  to  obey  its  divine  mandates,  and  be  governed  by  its  sacred 
truths.  It  has  also  spread  into  England,  Ireland,  Scotland,  and  Wales  ;  in 
the  year  1840,  when  a  few  of  our  missionaries  were  sent,  over  five  thou- 
sand joined  the  standard  of  truth ;  there  are  numbers  now  joining  in 
every  land. 

"  Our  missionaries  are  going  forth  to  different  nations,  and  in  Ger- 
many, Palestine,  New  Holland,  the  East  Indies,  and  other  places,  the 
standard  of  truth  has  been  erected ;  no  unhallowed  hand  can  stop  the 
work  from  progressing.  Persecutions  may  rage,  mobs  may  combine, 
armies  may  assemble,  calumny  may  defame,  but  the  truth  of  God  will  go 
forth  boldly,  nobly,  and  independently,  till  it  has  penetrated  every  conti- 
nent, visited  every  clime,  swept  every  country,  and  sounded  in  every  ear, 
till  the  purposes  of  God  shall  be  accomplished,  and  the  great  Jehovah 
shall  say  the  work  is  done." 

While  the  Prophet  presented  these  articles  of  faith  for  the 
edification  of  the  general  public,  he  held  in  reserve  "  higher 
"  truths  "  which  the  Saints  at  that  time  alone  were  entitled 
to  know,  and,  as  it  is  the  privilege  of  every  prophet  to  receive 
revelation,  Brigham  has  in  some  material  points  greatly  added 
to  the  original  creed  promulgated  by  Joseph. 

The  Mormon  understanding  of  salvation,  glory,  and  im- 
mortality, embraces  a  general  series  of  compliances  with  cer- 
tain laws,  and  obedience  to  certain  ordinances. 

Shortly  before  Joseph's  death  he  revealed  to  the  faithful 
that  a  great  work  devolved  upon  the  living  Saints  for  their 
kindred  who  had  gone  before  them  to  the  other  world,  and,  as 
the  Prophet  has  laid  it  out,  it  was  indeed  no  small  undertak- 
ing. 

First,  all  men  and  women  must  have  faith  in  redemption 
wrought  out  by  Jesus  Christ,  and  must  be  baptized  by  immer- 
sion "  in  the  name  of  the  Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Ghost,"  in 
order  that  their  own  individual  sins  may  be  washed  away. 
This  being  the  happy  condition  of  mind,  and  the  ordinances 
complied  with,  the  hands  of  the  elders  are  laid  upon  the 
heads  of  the  disciples  that they  may  receive  the  Holy  Ghost.'' 


476 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


In  due  time  every  man  is  also  to  receive  the  priesthood  of 
Aaron  and  Melchisedec,  and  thereby  become  entitled  to  com- 
mune with  the  heavens,  and,  when  they  have  accepted  the 
''Celestial  Law"  of  Marriage  —  i.  e.,  polygamy  —  and  have 
passed  through  the  ordinances  of  the  ''Endowments,"  they 
are  presumed  to  be  fairly  started  for  "  honour,  glory,  and  eter- 
"nal  lives  with  the  gods" — a  progression  whicli  the  apostle 
Orson  Hyde  illustrates,  as  shown  in  the  following  chapter. 

In  all  this  profession  of  feith,  sincerely  entertained  by  the 
modern  Saint,  there  is  associated  the  obligation  of  the  substi- 
tutional labour  of  "  the  living  for  the  dead,"  in  order  that  the 
latter,  who  knew  not  Joseph  Smith  and  Mormonism,  may  yet 
be  taken  out  of  the  clutches  of  the  devil,  and  be  finally  re- 
deemed and  glorified  with  the  believing  Latter-Day  Saints. 

All  the  Mormon  elders  who  leave  this  mundane  sphere,  in- 
stead of  "  entering  into  the  rest  prepared  for  the  righteous," 
are  understood  to  go  on  a  preaching  mission,  on  the  other  side 
of  the  veil,  in  order  to  wake  up  all  their  relatives  who  have 
been  held  for  long  ages  "  in  prison,"  because  they  "  obeyed  not 
"  the  Gospel  in  the  fiesh." 

As  the  Mormon  law  takes  no  account  of  faith  by  itself,  the 
spirits  of  the  dead  who  in  that  shadowy  region  accept  and  be- 
lieve in  the  mission  of  Joseph  Smith,  from  the  preaching  of 
these  dead  elders,  are  all  still  accounted  to  be  unbaptized,  and 
consequently  cannot  be  admitted  into  "  the  kingdom."  To 
obviate  that  inconvenience,  Joseph  received  a  revelation  in- 
structing him  that,  if  the  living  Saints  would  go  forth  into  the 
water  and  be  immersed  for  their  dead  relatives  and  friends, 
that  act,  being  recorded  on  the  books  of  the  priesthood  here 
below,  the  transfer  of  the  names  to  the  other  world  would  im- 
mediately aflfect  the  condition  of  the  converted  spirit. 

That  revelation  had  a  very  pleasing  efi*ect  upon  the  Saints 
in  JSTauvoo.  It  was  very  gratifying  to  be  able  to  helj)  out  of 
"  prison  "  parents,  brothers,  sisters,  relatives  of  every  degree, 
and  near  and  dear  friends  who  had  lived  and  died  before  the 
great  Latter-Day  work  had  begun.  In  their  transports,  before 
they  had  well  considered  the  seriousness  of  the  business,  there 
was  an  eagerness  for  the  waters  of  the  Mississippi  that  flowed 
so  majestically  past  their  loved  Nauvoo,  and  there  by  the 


"SPIRITS  IN  PRISON." 


477 


banks  of  that  river  the  brethren  and  sisters  gave  the  names  of 
the  dead  whom  they  loved,  and  by  the  elders  were  led  into  the 
stream  and  immersed  in  their  behalf. 

Under  the  most  pleasing  circumstances  of  life,  difficulties 
will  sometimes  occur,  and  the  baptisms  in  the  river  were  soon 
discovered  to  be  premature  and  incomplete.  Maidens  had 
gone  forth  and  been  baptized  for  their  grandfathers ;  youths 
had  exhibited  an  equal  affection  and  interest  for  grandmothers ; 
widows  were  baptized  for  departed  husbands ;  and  living  hus- 
bands were  equally  delighted  to  "  deliver  from  their  prison- 
"  house  "  those  with  whom  they  had  had  earlier  enjoyments  in 
life. 

It  took  but  little  reflection  for  Joseph  to  perceive  that  that 
mode  of  proceeding  would  work  confusion.  To  say  the  least 
of  it,  there  was  some  awkwardness  in  laying  hands  upon  Mary 
Jane  to  ordain  her  an  elder  in  the  stead  of  her  ITncle  James ! 
and  sealing  upon  Mary  Jane  all  the  rights  and  privileges  be- 
longing to  the  manhood  of  James — embracing  therein  the 
addition  of  other  wives,  the  power  to  continue  lives  in  spirit, 
and  to  become  "  the  father  of  generations  !  "  It  was  equally 
inconvenient  to  baptize  Richard  in  the  name  of  Martha,  and 
for  the  former  using  her  name  to  receive  on  his  head  the  lay- 
ing on  of  hands,  and  the  blessings  of  the  priesthood,  conferring 
upon  him,  for  her,  the  favours  of  the  heavens — inchiding  the 
greatest  of  all  earthly  blessings  for  a  lady  who  loves  her  lord. 
It  was  confusing  for  a  young  man  to  be  appointed  to  be  "  a 
"  mother  in  Israel." 

Joseph  was  soon  armed  with  another  revelation,  and  from 
one  of  his  places  of  concealment  he  announced  that  the  work  of 
baptism  for  the  dead  should  be  done  in  a  more  perfect  way :  he 
had  "  had  a  few  additional  views  in  relation  to  the  matter." 
He  began  to  comprehend  that  it  was  a  task  of  some  magnitude 
for  the  living  to  be  baptized  for  all  the  dead  ;  and,  small  as 
Nauvoo  was,  in  point  of  population,  in  1842,  there  was  too 
much  work  for  one  recorder  to  do  correctly,  and  as  a  tran- 
script of  the  book  kept  in  Nauvoo  was  to  settle  the  question 
of  imprisonment  or  glory  and  salvation  in  the  other  world,  the 
machinery  of  record-keeping  ought  to  be  more  extensive.  In- 
stead of  one  of  the  brethren  noting  imperfectly  by  the  light 


478 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


of  the  moon,  or  a  lantern-candle,  who  had  come  to  tlie  Missis- 
sippi to  be  baptized  that  the  dead  might  be  delivered,  there 
was  to  be  a  recorder  appointed  in  every  ward  of  the  city,  not  a 
bungling,  careless  brother,  but  one  "  who  is  well  qualified  to 

take  accurate  minutes,  and  let  him  be  very  particular  and 
"  precise  in  taking  the  whole  proceedings."    Again,  he  says  : 

Let  all  the  records  be  had  in  order,  that  they  may  be  put  in 
"  the  archives  of  my  Holy  Temple,  to  be  held  in  remembrance 
"  from  generation  to  generation,  saith  the  Lord  of  Hosts." 
Thus,  whatsoever  the  priesthood  "  record  on  earth  shall  be 
"  recorded  in  heaven,"  and  whatsoever  the  priesthood  "  do  not 
"  record  on  earth  shall  not  be  recorded  in  heaven."  In  refer- 
ence to  these  books  he  says : 

"  And,  further,  I  want  you  to  remember  that  John  the  Revel ator  was 
contemplating  this  very  subject  in  relation  to  the  dead  when  he  declared, 
as  you  will  find  in  Revelation  xx.  12:  '  And  I  saw  the  dead,  small  and 
great,  stand  before  God ;  and  the  books  were  opened  ;  and  another  book 
was  opened,  which  was  the  book  of  life ;  and  the  dead  were  judged  out 
of  those  things  which  were  written  in  the  books,  according  to  their 
works.' " 

In  support  of  the  general  principle  of  this  baptizing  the 
living  for  the  dead,  he  adduced  that  passage  from  St.  Paul, 
which  has  puzzled  so  many  commentators  [1  Corinthians  xv. 
29]  :  "  Else  what  shall  they  do  which  are  baptized  for  the  dead, 
"  if  the  dead  rise  not  at  all  ?  why  are  they  then  baptized  for 
^'  the  dead  ?  "  He  also  quotes  the  fifth  and  sixth  verses  of  the 
last  chapter  of  Malachi :  "  Behold,  I  send  you  Elijah  the 
"  Prophet,  before  the  coming  of  the  great  and  dreadful  day  of 
"  the  Lord  ;  and  he  shall  turn  the  heart  of  the  fathers  to  the 
"  children,  and  the  heart  of  the  children  to  their  fathers,  lest 
"  I  come  and  smite  the  earth  with  a  curse ; "  and  from  this 
passage  he  argues : 

"  It  is  sufficient  to  know  in  this  case  that  the  earth  will  be  smitten 
with  a  curse,  unless  there  is  a  welding-link  of  some  kind  or  other,  be- 
tween the  fathers  and  the  children,  upon  some  subject  or  other,  and  be- 
hold, what  is  that  subject  ?  It  is  the  baptism  for  the  dead.  For  we 
without  them  cannot  be  mkde  perfect ;  neither  can  they  without  us  be 
made  perfect.  Neither  can  they  or  us  be  made  perfect  without  those  who 
have  died  in  the  gospel  also  ;  for  it  is  necessary  in  the  ushering-in  of  the 
dispensation  of  the  fulness  of  times;  which  dispensation  is  now  begin- 


BAPTISM  FOR  THE  DEAD. 


479 


ning  to  usher  in,  that  a  whole  and  complete  and  perfect  nnion,  and  weld- 
ing together  of  dispensations,  and  keys,  and  powers,  and  glories,  should 
take  place,  and  be  revealed  from  the  days  of  Adam  even  to  the  present 
time." 

With  such  a  task  before  them,  the  Mormons  are  to  trace 
back  all  the  families  of  their  own  names,  evidently  guided  by 
the  adage  that  "  blood  is  thicker  than  water,"  and  in  due  time, 
under  the  better  registration,  brothers  will  go  forth  to  be  bap- 
tized for  the  remission  of  the  sins  of  all  their  male  progenitors 
bearing  the  same  name.  Each  one  will  also  be  ordained  for 
all  his  deceased  relatives,  that  they  all,  separately  and  distinct- 
ly, may  bear  the  priesthood  ;  and  as  plurality  of  wives  is  the 
marital  condition  of  "  the  gods,"  the  living  Saint  will  also  have 
a  proper  number  of  wives  sealed  to  him,  for  each  one  of  his 
deceased  kinsmen,  that  they  may  abound  in  good  works  as 
well  as  in  grace.  The  living  sister-Saint  has  also  to  pass 
through  all  the  same  ordinances  in  the  same  order,  and  is  to 
go  on  from  the  first  step  at  the  baptism  for  her  sisterly  ances- 
try, till  she  has  climbed  the  ladder  of  salvation,  and  been 
blessed  and  sealed  to  one  of  the  living  brothers,  in  order  that 
the  redeemed  sister  in  the  spirit-world  may  become  one  of  the 
wives  of  somebody  in  eternity. 

The  magnitude  of  this  v^ovk  naturally  suggested  that,  while 
fathers,  mothers,  grandsires,  and  grandames,  kind  uncles  and 
aunts,  and  promising  brothers  and  sisters,  might  easily  be  re- 
membered and  traced,  there  was  a  great  probability  of  some 
good  souls  converted  to  Mormonism  in  the  other  world  being 
left  out  in  the  cold  from  lack  of  remembrance.  The  uncer- 
tainty, too,  as  to  who  would  consent  to  be  converted  in  the 
other  world,  and  accept  all  these  substitutional  ordinances,  was 
very  naturally  a  question  for  consideration.  But  Joseph 
could  cut  any  Gordian  knot,  and  here  he  gives  the  trenchant 
blow : 

"  The  great  and  grand  secret  of  the  whole  matter,  and  the  summum 
lonum  of  the  whole  subject  that  is  lying  before  us,  consists  in  obtaining 
the  powers  of  the  Holy  Priesthood.  For  him  to  whom  these  keys  are 
given,  there  is  no  difficulty  in  obtaining  a  knowledge  of  facts  in  relation 
to  the  salvation  of  the  children  of  men,  both  as  well  for  the  dead  as  for 
the  living." 


480 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


Joseph  was  equal  to  any  emergency,  and  his  people  were 
ready  to  believe  all  that  he  announced. 

Bat  the  Temple  had  to  be  built  within  a  certain  time,  in  or- 
der that  the  baptisms  and  ceremonies  for  the  dead  might  be  pro- 
perly administered ;  and  as  the  Lord  "  had  announced  that,  if 
the  Nauvoo  Temple  was  not  completed  within  a  specified  time, 
the  living  Mormons,  and  their  dead  also,  would  be  rejected," 
the  poor,  sickly,  half -starved,  ill-clad  citizens  of  Nauvoo  worked 
like  beavers  on  that  Temple,  and  donated  every  thing  they  could 
to  rush  up  the  structure ;  and  yet,  after  all  their  toil,  it  is 
claimed  by  the  Mormons,  under  the  guidance  of  the  son  of  the 
Prophet  Joseph,  that  Brigham  Young  and  the  people  did  not 
finish  the  Temple,  and,  as  a  consequence,  the  Mormon  chief 
and  all  the  Eocky  Mountain  Saints,  and  all  the  converted  in 
the  other  w^orld,  are  directly  and  unmistakably  "  rejected." 
That  is  pretty  hard  ! 

The  literal  resurrection  of  the  bodies  of  the  Saints,  and  the 
after-inhabiting  of  this  world,  when  puriSed  by  fire  and  celestial- 
ized,  was  also  a  favourite  doctrine  among  the  Mormon  preachers 
for  a  long  period  of  years.  At  first,  they  seemed  to  know  all 
about  these  matters  to  the  minutest  details,  but  of  late  years 
the  subject  has  been  rarely  mentioned.  The  last  reference  to 
it  was  the  enunciation  of  Brigham  that  Joseph  Smith  was 
"  to  be  the  first  person  resurrected,"  and  after  his  framework 
was  knit  together  again,  and  was  clothed  with  immortalized 
flesh,  he  was  to  proceed  to  "resurrect"  those  who  had  laboured 
valiantly,  and  died  for  the  Latter-Day  faith,  each  one  according 
to  his  rank  in  the  priesthood,  and  then  he  would,  doubtless,  at 
aa  early  day,  proceed  to  "  resurrect "  all  his  wives,  beginning 
with  the  best  beloved  one,  of  course,  and  continuing  to  the  last, 
each  one  in  her  order,"  according  to  the  degree  of  favour 
with  which  the  suggestive  mind  of  the  "  resurrected  "  Prophet 
regarded  her.  The  children  of  each  of  these  wives  would 
come  next  "  in  their  order."  The  Prophet  is  to  give  to  the  first 
elders  whom  he  clothes  with  immortality  "  the  keys  of  the  res- 
"urrection,"  and  they  will  in  turn  proceed  to  the  pleasant  la- 
bour of  calling  forth  from  the  long-silent  tomb  their  own 
households  and  particular  favourites ;  and  thus  the  power  to 
"  resurrect "  is  to  be  handed  down  from  one  person  to  another 


WASHINGTON  AMONG  THE  MORMON  SAINTS! 


481 


till  the  grave  lias  given  up  its  dead  for  "the  first  resiirrec 
tion." 

After  all  the  Saints  have  been  "resurrected,"  the  best  Gen- 
tiles will  next  be  attended  to,  and  they  will  be  leisurely  brought 
from  their  graves.  There  will,  however,  be  an  order  for  their 
moving  "bone  to  bone,  and  sinew  to  sinew"  according  to 
merit.  The  Gentiles  who  aided  the  Prophet  in  the  hour  of  his 
trial,  as  some  few  did  with  financial  assistance,  will  be  first  on 
the  baptismal  record,  and  will  be  favoured  with  priority  in 
coming  from  the  tomb ;  and  this  is  the  fulfilling  of  that  text 
which  saith :  "  Make  to  yourselves  friends  of  the  mammon 
"  of  unrighteousness,  that  when  ye  fail  they  may  receive  you 
"  into  everlasting  habitations."  Such  men  as  the  Honourable 
Senator  of  Illinois,  w^ho  had  so  long  been  the  friend  of  the 
Prophet,  would  have  been  early  and  well  cared  for  in  some 
of  Joseph's  everlasting  habitations,  had  he  not  delivered  the 
Springfield  speech ;  and  that  President  of  the  United  States 
who  made  Brigham  Governor  of  Utah  is  certain  to  be  received 
with  the  greatest  kindness  in  the  kingly  domain  of  the  sue- 
cesser  of  Joseph. 

It  will  be  gratifying  to  the  American  nation  to  learn  that 
General  George  Washington  has  already  been  kindly  remem- 
bered by  the  Saints,  and  that  he  is  no  longer  in  "  the  prison- 
"  house  "  with  Hamlet's  father — 

"  Doomed  for  a  certain  time  to  walk  the  niglit, 
And,  for  the  day,  confined  to  fast  in  fires." 

The  "  Father  of  his  Country  "  is  now  happy  in  sweet  commun- 
ion with  Joseph  Smith  and  the  Latter-Day  elders/^ 

The  distinguished  dead  of  all  nations  are  thus  certain  to  be 
awakened  early  from  "  their  last  long  slumbers,"  as  the  disci- 
ples are  gathered  to  Zion  from  all  the  kingdoms  of  the  world ; 

*  At  a  mass-meeting  of  sisters  in  the  Tabernacle,  January  13,  1870,  to  resolve 
and  admonish  Congress  against  the  passage  of  the  Cullom  bill,  punishing  the  prac- 
tice of  polygamy,  an  aged  sister,  rejoicing  in  the  Revolutionary  blood  that  flowed  in 
her  veins,  made  allusion  to  her  father  fighting  "beside  General  Washington." 
"  How  old  are  you,  sister  McMinn  ?  "  inquired  the  "  prcsiJentess."  "  I  am  eighty- 
four,"  was  the  reply.  Then,  by  way  of  comfort  to  the  kind  old  lady,  that  she  might 
know  that  her  father's  commander  was  in  a  good  place,  sister  Kimball  added ;  *•  I 
"would  observe  that  General  Washington  is  a  member  of  this  Church  and  kingdom. 
"  I  was  present  when  Judge  Adams,  of  Springfield,  was  baptized  for  Washington." 


482 


THE  KOCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


and,  as  each  nation  has  its  "  idols,"  there  will  be  no  possible 
chance  of  forgetfulness. 

Fully  believing  in  this  literal  resurrection  of  the  body,  the 
Saints  are  carried  to  their  graves  "  clothed  with  the  robes  of 
"  the  priesthood,"  such  as  they  hope  to  be  seen  in  when  they 
burst  the  bands  of  the  tomb,  and  exclaim :  O  grave,  where 
"  is  thy  victory  ? " 

About  ten  years  ago,  an  assistant  grave-digger,  Jean  Bap- 
tiste,  an  Italian  by  birth,  threw  the  people  of  Salt  Lake  City 
into  terrible  confusion  and  excitement.  Tempted  by  the  care- 
fully prepared  clothing  of  the  interred,  he  carried  on  for  a  long 
time  the  disrobing  of  the  dead.  The  discovery'of  this  fact  pro- 
duced the  most  painful  sensation  that  any  community  ever  ex- 
perienced. The  fearful  grief  of  mothers  at  the  thought  of  their 
sweet  little  ones  lying  naked  in  their  graves  is  beyond  descrip- 
tion. No  language  could  depict  their  heartfelt  mourning. 
When  Baptiste's  house  was  searched,  and  the  clothing  of  the 
dead  was  taken  to  a  public  place  for  identification,  all  business 
was  suspended  in  the  city.  Nothing  was  spoken  of  but  the  sad 
outrage.  The  women  in  their  poignant  grief  would  have  torn 
Baptiste  into  shreds  had  he  not  been  protected  by  the  iron  bars 
of  a  prison.  Brigham  preached  a  timely  sermon,  and  assured 
the  heart-bruised  and  weeping  mothers  that  all  would  be  right, 
that  the  power  of  "  the  Lord  "  was  equal  to  everything,  and 
that,  in  the  morning  of  the  resurrection,  the  mothers  would 
greet  their  little  ones  arrayed  in  suitable  garments — all  would 
be  well.  The  people  were  soothed,  though  their  faith  was 
seriously  tried,  and  in  the  current  of  events  this  painful  inci- 
dent was  forgotten.  Jean  Baptiste  was  taken  somewhere — ^no 
one  knows  whither.  Romantic  stories  of  his  ears  being  cut 
off,  of  his  being  branded  on  the  forehead  "Eobber  of  the 
"dead,"  and  of  his  being  sent  to  wander  on  an  island  of  the 
Lake,  were  put  in  circulation  ;  but  the  probabilities  are  that  he 
"  ceased  to  breathe."  He  was  to  the  community  "  a  monster," 
and  none  have  cared  to  ask  what  had  become  of  him. 

A  grave  diflSculty  at  one  time  arose  as  to  whether  the  super- 
ficial crust  of  the  earth  would  be  sufliciently  extensive  for  all 
the  inhabitants  of  the  world,  when  "resurrected,"  to  find 
standing-room  upon  it ;  but  that  astute  philosopher  and  apos- 


A  "GALLERY"  ROUND  THE  WORLD. 


483 


tie,  Orson  Pratt,  went  to  work  and  solved  the  question.  He 
levelled  all  the  mountains,  and  raised  all  the  valleys,  according 
to  the  promise  of  the  ancient  Hebrew  prophet,  who  foretold 
that  the  hills  should  be  laid  low,  the  valleys  exalted,  the  rough 
places  made  smooth,  and  the  crooked  places  straightened. 
Without  the  slightest  difficulty  he  arranged  a  magnificent  and 
more  extended  globe,  freed  from  mountains,  deserts,  and  waste- 
places,  and  then,  to  his  own  satisfaction,  demonstrated  that 
there  would  be  ground  enough  to  allow  an  acre  and  a  quarter 
for  each  "  resurrected  "  Saint  who  had  ever  lived,  from  the 
morning  of  creation  to  the  day  of  doom  ;  so  that  each  might 
be  provided  with  a  snug  little  farm.  The  best  argum^ent,  how- 
ever, was  that  which  was  actually  advanced  by  a  Mormon 
elder  at  a  public  discussion  in  England.  The  Elder  was  non- 
plussed by  a  great  array  of  figures,  wdiich  his  opponent  had 
produced  to  prove  that  the  surface  of  the  earth  was  incapable 
of  becoming  the  everlasting  habitation  of  the  "  resurrected." 
While  the  elder's  fingers  were  trying  to  "  resurrect"  an  argu- 
ment from  the  roots  of  his  hair,  another  elder  gravely  whis- 
pered to  him :  "  Tell  your  opponent  that  if,  after  all  this  work 
"  of  reconstruction,  the  world  is  not  large  enough  to  contain 
"  the  teeming  myriads  which  sprang  from  its  bosom,  t/ie  Lord 
"  will  huild  a  gallery  around  it^  and  thus  supply  the  deficien- 
"  cy."    That  ended  the  discussion. 

But,  with  all  these  beautiful  thoughts  of  a  materialized 
body  resurrection,  Orson  Hyde  once  well-nigh  made  sad  havoc. 
This  apostle  broke  in  upon  the  reveries  of  the  resurrection 
with  an  argument  in  favour  of  a  "baby  resurrection.'' 

Brother  Orson  is  troubled  with  a  dreamy,  speculative  mind, 
and,  though  he  could  not  comprehend  the  materialistic  philoso- 
phy of  the  decayed  particles  of  the  human  body,  after  they  had 
evaporated,  and  had  in  turn  amalgamated  with  the  earth,  the 
grass,  the  vegetation,  and  had  been  in  these  forms  partaken  of 
by  the  cow,  the  ox,  and  the  ass^  and  in  the  air  had  been  inhaled 
by  all  sorts  of  mortals — coming  together  again  in  human  form 
— he  concluded  that  it  was  at  least  within  his  comprehension 
that  babies  were  born. 

The  physical  nature  of  the  President  of  the  apostles  was 
altogether  harmonious  with  the  practicabilities  of  this  latter 


484 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


philosophy ;  and,  besides,  he  saw  in  the  baby  resurrection  " 
an  additional  argument' in  favour  of  polygamy.  But  Brigham 
hastened  after  Orson  and  speedily  squelched  his  baby  resur- 
"  rection."  It  is  very  doubtful,  however,  if  Orson  does  not 
still  believe  tliat  David,  king  of  Israel,  Moses,  Elijah,  and  other 
distinguished  folks  may  not  yet  find  a  resurrection  somewhere 
within  the  extensive  folds  of  his  numerous  family. 


Orson  Hyde,  President  of  the  Twelve  Apostles. 


The  modern  Saints'  view^s  of  Deity  were  at  this  time  re- 
duced to  the  greatest  simplicity.    The  "  God  "  of  the  Universe, 
in  the  language  of  one  of  the  apostles,  is  "  like  a  well-to-do 
farmer  !  "  Doubtless,  an  English  farmer — 

A  fine  old  English  gentleman, 
One  of  the  olden  time — "  * 

ruddy  in  health,  w^ith  a  good  roast-beef  appetite,  and  not  at  all 
averse  to  "  prime  old  malt,"  or,  patterned  from  an  earlier  day, 
he  might  be  fond  of  "  sack  " — the  charm  of  Falstaff 's  life. 

Consistent  with  this,  the  modern  apostle  has  no  difficulty  in 
accounting  for  the  second  person  in  the  Trinity.    The  im- 

*  Solomon  says  there  are  certain  persons  who  should  only  be  answered  in  their 
own  style,  and  the  prophet  Elijah  had  no  delicacy  in  ridiculing  the  prophets  of 
Baal.  The  amusing  nonsense  of  the  Mormon  faith  needs  not,  therefore,  be  an> 
swered  by  weeping. 


ADAM  IS  BRIGHAM'S  GOBI 


485 


"  maculate  conception  "  is  rudelj  dispensed  with  as  an  unne- 
cessary doctrine.  God  the  Father  is  credited  with  being  as 
directly  the  Father  of  Jesus  Christ  as  Brigham  Young,  senior, 
claims  to  be  the  father  of  Brigham  Young,  junior.'^'  While  no 
one  in  the  whole  Christian  world  has  ever  before  ascribed  to 
Jesus  marital  relations,  the  Mormons  have  sought  in  His  life 
for  a  support  for  their  own  plural  marriages,  and  to  their 
satisfaction  they  have  discovered  that  He  had  both  wives  and 
children.    The  fruitful  apostle  Hyde  says : 

"  If  at  the  marriage  at  Cana  of  Galilee,  Jesus  was  the  bridegroom  and 
took  unto  him  Mary,  Martha,  and  the  other  Mary  whom  Jesus  loved,  it 
shocks  not  our  nerves.  If  there  were  not  an  attachment  and  familiarity 
between  our  Saviour  and  these  women  highly  improper,  only  in  the  rela- 
tion of  husband  and  wife,  then  we  have  no  sense  of  propriety,  or  of  the 
characteristics  of  good  and  refined  society.  Wisely  then  was  it  concealed  ; 
but,  when  the  Saviour  poured  out  his  soul  unto  death,  when  nailed  to  the 
cross,  he  saw  his  seed  of  cliildren^  but  who  shall  declare  his  generation  f  " 

In  another  part  of  this  work,  a  quotation  has  already  been 
made  from  the  apostle  Heber  C.  Kimball,  who  materialized 
the  Holy  Ghost  into  the  person  of  a  man,  holding  to  Jesus  the 
same  relation  of  Counsellor  as  Heber  did  to  Brio-ham  Youno*. 

With  such  doctrinal  conclusions  in  his  mind,  it  was  easy 
for  Brigham  Young  to  announce : 

*'Now  hear  it,  O  inhabitants  of  the  earth,  Jew  and  Gentile,  Saint  and 
sinner  1    When  our  father  Adam  came  into  the  Garden  of  Eden,  he  came 

INTO  IT  WITH  A  CELESTIAL  BODY,  and  BROUGHT  EVE,  ONE  OP  HIS  WIVES, 

WITH  HIM.  He  helped  to  make  and  organize  this  world.  He  is  Michael 
the  Archangel,  the  Ancient  of  Days  !  about  whom  holy  men  have  written 
and  spoken.  He  is  our  Father  and  our  God,  and  the  only  God  with 
WHOM  WE  HAVE  TO  DO.  Every  man  upon  the  earth,  professing  Christians  or 
non-professing,  must  hear  it,  and  will  know  it  SOONER  OR  LATER."  t 

At  a  later  date,  he  repudiated  the  Bible  narrative  of  Crea- 
tion : 

"  Ton  helieve  Adam  was  made  of  the  dust  of  this  earth.  THIS  I  DO 
NOT  BELIEVE.  .  .  Tou  can  write  that  information  to  the  States  if  you 
please — that  I  have  publicly  declared  that  I  do  not  believe  that 

PORTION  OF  THE  BiBLE  AS  THE  CHRISTIAN  WORLD  DO.     I  NEVER  DID, 

AND  I  NEVER  WANT  TO.    Because  I  have  come  to  understanding,  and 


*  The  details  and  arguments  are  better  confined  to  Mormon  publications  than 
cited  here.  f  Tabernacle,  April  9,  1852. 


486 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


BANISHED  FEOM  MY  MIND  ALL  THE  BABY-STOEIES  MY  MOTHER  TAUGHT 
ME  WHEN  I  WAS  A  CHILD."* 

One  step  more  was  wanted,  and  the  apostle  Heber  C.  Kim- 
ball took  it  when  he  announced  that  Brigham  himself  was 
"  God  "  to  the  people. 

Brigham  very  considerately  told  his  audience  only  a  part  of 
the  story  of  the  new  deity  which  he  then  introduced  to  the 
world  for  worship,  as  there  were  terrible  consequences  follow- 
ing any  one's  unbelief.    He  says  : 

"  Let  all  who  hear  these  doctrines  pause  before  they  make  light  of 
them,  or  treat  them  with  indifference, they  will  prove  their  salvation 
OR  damnation  ; " 

and,  with  a  consciousness  of  the  estimate  that  would  be  placed 
on  such  a  revelation,  he  adds : 

"Were  I  to  tell  you  the  whole  truth,  Nasjohemy  would  be  nothing  to 
it,  in  the  estimation  of  the  superstitious  and  over-righteous  of  mankind." 

Growing  out  of  this  materialized  Adam  deity  of  "  flesh  and 
"  bones,"f  springs  the  other  doctrine  of  the  Mormons  that  they 
are  all  yet  to  be  gods  ;  for,  when  this  earth  is  celestialized  and 
is  made  the  home  of  the  resuscitated  Saints,  it  becomes  a  sort 
of  nursery  for  the  peopling  of  other  worlds. 

The  marital  relation  of  the  Saints  existing  in  the  celestial- 
ized world  is,  to  the  very  fullest  extent,  unrestricted  polygamy, 
and  the  offspring  of  the  celestialized  Saints  furnishes  the  spir- 
itual life  of  embryo  men  and  women.  Brigham  in  his  theory 
of  the  Saints  making  worlds,  peopling  them,  and  in  due  time 
becoming  gods,  has  entered  very  clearly  into  all  particulars, 

*  Tabernacle,  October  23,  1853. 

f  The  Mormons  believe  in  three  distinct  states  of  existence.  The  first  is  a  pure-, 
ly  spiritual  existence  before  people  come  into  this  world.  The  second  is  a  mortal 
existence  in  this  world — the  flesh-and-J^ooc?  arrangement.  The  third  is  a  resur- 
rected" existence  and  is  identically  the  same  as  the  earthly  existence,  only  the  blood 
is  drained  out  of  the  system,  and  the  arteries  of  the  life-giving  fluid  are  supplied 
with  spirit,  and  thus  Jesus  said  to  his  affrighted  disciples  :  "  Handle  me  and  see,  for 
a  spirit  hath  not  flesh  and  holies  as  ye  see  me  have."  Jesus  afterwards  partook  of 
some  "  broiled  fish  and  an  honeycomb  ;  "  therefore  the  Mormons  believe  in. a  very 
tangible  heaven  where  there  shall  be  eating,  drinking,  and  the  usual  enjoyment  of 
the  pleasant  things  of  this  life,  which  will  last  for  ever,  as  blood,  the  source  of  mor- 
tality, is  dispensed  with. 


BRIGHAM'S  STORY  OF  CREATION. 


487 


and  taking  his  own  life  and  progress  as  an  illustration  it  is  very 
easily  comprehended. 

Passing  over  his  infantile  joys  and  sorrows,  and  the  brief 
period  of  ''eleven  days  and  a  half "  at  school,  he  chose  the 
honest  profession  of  a  painter  and  glazier :  in  due  time  he  be- 
came a  Mormon,  a  preacher,  and  a  prophet.  He  takes  unto 
himself  many  wives,  and  begets  many  children.  If  the  world 
holds  out  long  enough,  he  will  probably  be  "  gathered  to  his 
"fathers,"  when — like  Moses — he  has  attained  the  ripe  age 
of  one  hundred  and  twenty  years.  He  then  goes  to  the  "  spirit- 
"  world,"  and  engages  anew  in  the  missionary  business.  After 
a  time  Joseph  Smith  becomes  "  resurrected  " — how,  when,  and 
by  whom  this  is  to  be  done,  is  not  yet  understood,  or,  if  under- 
stood, it  is  preserved  among  "  the  mysteries  " — he  will  then 
"  resurrect  "  Brigham  Young,  with  others,  as  already  stated  in 
a  preceding  portion  of  this  chapter.  When  Brigham's  wives 
are  resurrected,  having  been  "married  to  him  for  eternity  "  as 
well  as  "  married  for  time,"  their  family  relations  with  the 
Prophet  will  be  renewed,  and  they  will  beget  millions  and 
myriads  of  "  spirits."  "Whether  these  ethereal  young  folks 
have  apartments  with  their  parents,  or  float  about  in  space 
without  any  particular  local  habitation,  is  not  of  great  present 
importance ;  they  have,  however,  to  themselves,  a  very  tangi- 
ble existence  and  opportunities  of  developing  into  very  excel- 
lent men  and  women,  or  otherwise,  as  they  may  kick  up  rows, 
quarrel,  and  the  worst  of  them  be  sent  to  "  hell." 

In  course  of  time  Brigham  sees  that  he  has  begotten  a  very 
respectable  family,  numbering  probably  myriads  of  spirits,  and, 
during  that  period  of  family  increase,  he  has  himself  been  pro- 
gressing extensively  in  the  "  knowledge  of  the  gods  ;  "  he  has 
been  learning  how  to  control  the  elements,  and  how  to  com- 
mand them  to  come  together  and  take  the  shape  and  form 
which  he  msij  desire.  When  he  has  sufficiently  mastered  this 
education  and  become  sensible  of  his  power,  he  will  say  to 
some  one :  "  Let  us  go  to,  and  make  a  world,  upon  which  the 
"spirits  of  my  family  may  find  the  opportunity  of  living  in 
"  bodies  of  grosser  matter,  and  thereby  gain  valuable  ex-peri- 
"  ence."  The  command  is  given  to  the  elements,  and  they, 
obedient  to  the  word,  gather  together  in  a  globub.r  form,  and 
30 


488 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


a  new  world  is  created.  Brigham  and  his  friends  who  have 
assisted  him  to  create  this  world  find  it  rather  unfinished  in 
the  first  stage  of  its  formation,  but  they  continue  to  make  im- 
provements, and  in  course  of  time  succeed  in  beautifying  and 
adorning  it.  They  take  with  them  the  seeds  of  trees  of  every 
kind,  from  the  celestialized  world  on  which  they  dwell,  and 
plant  them  in  the  soil  of  the  new  world,  together  with  the 
seeds  of  grasses  and  of  flowers,  and  of  everything  that  grows 
which  is  pleasing  to  the  eye,  agreeable  to  the  smell,  etc.  They 
control  the  waters,  and  direct  them  where  to  flow ;  they  place 
in  the  rivers  and  in  the  seas  fish  of  every  kind.  Fowls  of  the 
air,  beasts  of  the  field,  and  all  things  and  creatures  which,  are 
necessary  to  make  a  world  and  furnish  it — these  are  brought 
from  the  celestialized  world  upon  which  Brigham  dwells. 

The  supposition  now  is,  that  the  task  of  this  new-world- 
making  comes  to  an  end,  and  those  who  were  engaged  in  the 
labour  are  fully  satisfied  with  it,  and  pronounce  it  "  all  very 
"good." 

Then  Brigham  says  to  his  favourite  wife:  "Let  us  go  down 
"  and  inhabit  this  new  home ; "  and  they  do  so.  And  in  this 
way  some  future  Moses  will  call  them  Adam  and  Eve.  For  a 
time  the  noble  pair  will  get  along  very  well  and  comfortably  ; 
but  the  "  old  serpent,''  or  a  monkey  as  some  may  have  it,  will 
creep  along  and  insinuate  kindly  mischief  to  Eve,  and  with  the 
sweetness  of  her  sex  she  will  innocently  partake  of  some  for- 
bidden fruit  and  be  expelled  from  their  garden  of  Eden.  Adam 
[Brigham]  up  to  this  time  will  have  done  nothing  to  ofiend  or 
to  incur  any  one's  displeasure,  and  he  very  naturally  will  be 
troubled  about  Eve's  unpleasant  position.  The  penalty  of 
Eve's  transgression  vnll  entail  her  expulsion  from  the  garden, 
and  as  a  consequence  there  would  be  a  separation,  for  Adam 
[Brigham]  has,  as  yet,  done  nothing  to  deserve  being  driven 
out  of  the  garden.  The  situation  will  be  very  awkward,  but 
Adam  [Brigham]  will  comprehend  it  at  a  glance,  will  see  that 
it  will  never  do  for  "  man  to  be  alone ;  "  that  the  object  in  cre- 
ating the  new  world  would  thus  be  frustrated ;  that,  if  Eve 
leaves,  there  will  be  no  possibility  of  any  terrestrial  bodies 
being  made  for  his  myriads  of  spirits  that  will  then  be  waiting 
to  come  down  and  "  tabernacle  in  the  flesh."    After  mature 


"ADAM  FELL,  THAT  MEN  MIGHT  BE." 


489 


reflection,  he  will  express  to  Eve  how  much  he  loves  her,  and 
how  much  he  desires  to  carry  out  the  original  programme  for 
the  benefit  of  their  little  ones  in  the  celestial  world,  who  were 
anxiously  waiting  for  earthly  tabernacles.  The  conclusion 
reached  will  be  that  Adam  [Brigham],  in  order  to  enjoy  Eve's 
society  and  be  driven  out  of  the  garden,  must  also  partake  of 
the  forbidden  fruit.  Adam  [Brigham]  will  then  taste  of  it, 
and  share  Eve's  destiny.  The  first  Adam  did  taste  of  it ;  hence 
the  meaning  of  that  remarkable  passage  in  the  Book  of  Mor- 
mon— ''  Adam  fell,  that  men  might  be."  In  other  words,  if 
Adam  had  stopped  in  the  garden,  and  Eve  had  been  driven  out, 
the  chances  of  family  increase  would  have  been  very  unsatis- 
factory— men  would  never  have  been  born  ;  and  in  this  strain 
argues  the  American  prophet  Nephi : 

"  Now,  behold,  if  Adam  had  Dot  transgressed,  he  would  not  have  fallen, 
but  he  would  have  remained  in  the  garden  of  Eden.  And  all  things 
which  were  created  must  have  remained  in  the  same  state  which  they 
were  after  they  were  created ;  and  they  must  have  remained  for  ever,  and 
had  no  end.  And  they  would  have  had  no  children ;  wherefore  they 
would  have  remained  in  a  state  of  innocence,  having  no  joy,  for  they  knew 
no  misery  ;  doing  no  good,  for  they  knew  no  sin."  * 

The  lucidity  of  this  passage  is  not  very  remarkable,  but  the 
deduction  to  be  made  from  it  in  connection  with  the  peopling 
of  worlds,  is  that  when  Brigham  gets  on  to  the  new  world 
which  he  has  yet  to  make,  and  his  wife  eats  the  forbidden 
fruit,  he  will  do  so  also — this  is  all  previously  arranged  f — and 

*  Book  of  Mormon,  page  58. 

f  Everything  about  this  programme  may  not  be  entirely  sequent  and  consistent, 
but  grains  of  allowance  here  and  there  will  enable  the  reader  to  comprehend  the 
gist  of  the  argument,  and  see  how  readily  certain  minds  could  take  in  this  story. 
The  prophet  Nephi  conveys  the  idea  that  everything  would  have  remained  stationary^ 
had  Eve  not  partaken  of  the  forbidden  fruit,  and  there  would  have  been  no  one 
born  ;  therefore  the  very  purpose  of  creating  the  earth  as  a  habitation  for  others 
besides  Adam  and  Eve  would  have  been  frustrated.  To  get  out  of  that  little  diffi- 
culty, and  to  afford  Adam  ever  after  the  reflection  that  it  was  his  own  voluntary  act 
that  drew  down  upon  him  and  creation  the  curse  of  toil  and  strife,  he  is  placed  in  a 
position  where  the  charms  of  Eve,  and  the  hope  of  children,  overcome  the  prospec- 
tive aches  and  pains  of  transgression,  and  he  consents  to  carry  out  the  original  pro- 
gramme of  the  "  gods."  It  seems  hardly  fair  to  abuse  Adam  for  this  original  sin, 
as  the  consequences  to  follow  were  "joy,"  "  good ;  "  and  "  misery  "  and  "  sin  "  were 
but  the  shading  of  the  picture.  From  this  statement  it  will  be  readily  concluded  that 
Adam  "  fell  upward !  " 


490 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


as  a  curse  falls  upon  him,  upou  her,  and  upon  everything 
around  them,  in  the  course  of  a  thousand  years  the  "cursed" 
character  of  their  food  will  tell  upon  their  systems,  and  they 
will  go  down  into  their  graves.  They  will  then,  however, 
have  had  a  lengthened  opportunity  of  preparing  numerous 
earthly  tabernacles,  and  of  seeing  their  spirit-children  come 
from  the  other  world.  Brigham  by  some  means  will  get  back 
to  his  celestial  abode,  and  will  ever  afterwards  keep  an  eye 
upon  his  children  in  the  new  world.  They  will  in  process  of 
time  forget  all  about  him,  whence  they  came,  and  whither 
they  are  going.  He  will  send  messages  to  some  of  them  occa- 
sionally, and  keep  up  as  much  relationship  with  them  as  they 
will  permit.  Finally  a  scheme  will  be  laid  to  bring  them  all 
back  again  into  his  presence.  The  eldest  son  of  the  family 
will  be  intrusted  with  the  mission,  and  faith  in  his  name  only 
will  secure  the  favour  of  the  "father." 

Brigham,  by  this  time  in  his  progressive  life,  has  become  a 
"  god,"  and  is  the  "  Being  "  whom  all  the  children  born  on  his 
created  world  should  worship.  This  is  his  logic  in  giving  now 
to  the  Latter-Day  Saints  the  man  Adam  of  the  garden  of  Eden 
for  their  deity. 

What  has  here  been  stated  of  Brigham's  progressive  life, 
from  the  dawn  of  his  childhood  till  he  reaches  the  godhead,  is 
equally  the  programme  of  "  the  least  oi  the  Saints."  Every 
one  of  them  is  destined,  some  time  or  other,  to  make  a  world, 
to  go  down  with  an  Eve  and  people  it,  and  pass  through  all  the 
routine  that  has  here  been  traced.  The  Mormon  faith  is,  as 
the  reader  will  perceive,  quite  extensive. 

To  account  for  the  existence  of  "  Lucifer,  Son  of  the  Morn- 
"  ing,"  and  the  variety  of  races  of  men  upon  the  earth,  spring- 
ing from  the  same  parents,  the  Mormon  Prophet  relates  that 
"  the  spirits  "  in  their  "  first  estate  "  held  a  grand  convention 
to  arrange-  about  how  they  were  best  to  manage  the  proposed 
mundane  education  while  in  corporeal  form.  As  the  story 
goes,  everything  in  this  lower  world  was  to  be  much  as  it  has 
been.  Jesus,  being  "  the  first-begotten  of  the  spirits,"  was  by 
seniority  permitted  the  leading  speech  in  that  convention.  He 
proposed  to  have  Adam  his  father,  and  Eve  his  mother,  come 
down  as  before  related,  and  do  as  they  did  ;  and  that  then  he 


ORIGIN  OF  THE  DEVIL  AND  THE  AFRICAN.  491 


also  would  come  down  among  his  brothers  and  sisters,  in  the 
fulness  of  time,  and  teach  them  the  truths  that  would  ele\'^ate 
and  redeem  them  from  their  errors,  "  save  them  from  their 
sins,"  and  bring  them  back  to  his  father's  presence,  purified 
by  the  experience  of  affliction.  Lucifer  was  one  of  the  princes 
of  Adam's  spirit-race — the  second  son  of  Adam  in  that  world. 
He  was  jealous  of  the  popularity  which  Jesus,  his  brother,  had 
acquired  on  account  of  the  scheme  proposed  by  him,  and  he 
himself  proposed  to  ^'  save  men  in  their  sins."  Lucifer  appears 
to  have  been  a  jovial  but  proud  personage,  who  thought  that 
the  acquisition  of  experience  and  pleasure  might  go  hand-in- 
hand.  His  proposition  was  immensely  satisfactory  to  about 
one-third  of  the  spirits,  and  they  set  to  work  to  oppose  the 
scheme  of  Jesus.  Ultimately  a  fight  ensued  ;  the  most  deter- 
mined on  either  side  nailed  their  colours  to  the  mast,"  and 
fought  on  bravely  and  without  any  disposition  to  surrender. 
During  this  contest  there  were  a  number  of  spirits  who  would 
not  fight  on  either  side,  but  looked  on  as  neutrals.  When  the 
contending  parties  came  to  the  closing  struggle,  Lucifer  was 
whipped,  and  with  "a  third  of  the  host  of  heaven"  he  was 
driven  out  of  that  blessed  region  and  was  forced  to  take  up 
his  abode  in  a  place  that  has  since  become  familiarly  known  as 
"hell." 

There  is  no  attempt  made  in  this  mythological  Mormon 
story  to  account  for  all  the  numerous  races  of  men  upon  the 
globe,  for  that  was  too  great  a  task  even  for  Joseph's  mind. 
But  the  modern  prophet  settled  the  origin  of  the  Caucasian  and 
the  African  races.  The  white  race  comprises  all  who  fought 
with  or  for  Jesus  in  heaven,  when  Lucifer  rebelled  and  was 
cast  out,  and  therefore  they  merited  an  honourable  body.  The 
Africans  are  the  neutrals  who  did  not  perform  quite  enough  in 
the  fight  to  necessitate  their  being  driven  into  the  "  nether 
"regions  "  with  Lucifer;  neither  were  they  for  anything  they 
had  done  entitled  to  an  honourable  body ;  hence,  they  came 
into  this  world  through  the  lineage  of  Ham,  the  son  of  Noah — 
for  he  was  a  wicked  youth."^    Africans  can  enter  the  Mormon 

*  The  Mormons,  to  account  for  persons  being  "  possessed  of  devils,"  and  for  the 
"  devils,"  on  one  occasion,  possessing  a  herd  of  swine  and  running  into  the  sea,  al- 
lege that  the  spirits  "  who  kept  not  their  first  estate  "  are  so  anxious  even  for  mo- 


492 


THE  EOCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


Church  and  can  be  baptized  like  white  people,  but  they  "  are 
"  not  worthy  to  receive  the  priesthood."  With  such  a  faith,  it 
was  very  consistent  that  slavery  and  polygamy  should  exist  to- 
gether in  Utah.  From  this  theory  of  existence,  it  is  very  easy 
to  perceive  how  Brigham  Young  has  made  Mormonism  a  reli- 
gion hostile  to  all  earthly  governments  and  professions  of  faith. 
The  following  chapter  on  "  the  Kingdom  of  God  "  brings  this 
subject  to  its  practical  results. 

The  grandeur  of  the  universe,  and  the  infinity  of  its  won- 
derful and  glorious  organizations,  that  have  filled  the  noblest 
minds  with  veneration  and  awe,  never  disturbed  the  soul  of 
Brigham  Young.  The  arrogance  of  unchallenged  authority 
grows  rapidly  upon  its  flattered  possessor,  and  easily  carries 
him  from  the  level  of  human  beings.  How  near  must  Brig- 
ham Young  have  imagined  himself  to  deification  when  he  an- 
nounced that  Adam  was  God  !  And  what  a  humiliating  spec- 
tacle has  the  Mormon  Church  presented  to  the  world,  in  resting 
quietly  and  submissively  for  nearly  twenty  years  under  such 
threats  of  damnation!  while,  to  the  credit  of  the  Saints,  be  it 
said,  they  have  as  a  people  refused  to  abandon  their  faith  in 
"  the  God  of  their  fathers."  The  mass  of  the  Mormon  people 
do  not  believe  the  doctrine  of  the  Adam  deity,  but  of  them 
all,  one  only,  Orson  Pratt,  has  dared  to  make  public  protest 
against  that  doctrine." 

No  community  of  people  in  Christendom,  no  church  organ- 
ization upon  earth,  could  have  listened  to  the  dogmatic  enun- 
ciation of  a  new  god  for  the  people's  worship,  without*  remon- 
strance. In  Utah  some  pricked  up  their  ears,  but  the  masses 
were  unmoved. 

Orson  Pratt,  for  presuming  to  teach  a  deity  contrary  to 
Brigham's  Adam,  was  for  years  upon  the  point  of  being  sev- 
ered from  the  Church;  at  last,  ten  years  ago,  he  was  tried 
for  rebellion.  On  that  occasion — the  Author  well  remembers 
it — Orson  Pratt  showed  a  manliness  and  Christian  determina- 
tion to  cling  to  the  truth,  that  earned  for  him  the  admiration 

meDtary  occupation  of  bodily  powers  that  they  were  eren  ready  to  occupy  the 
bodies  of  the  swine.  These  "  devils  "  seem  to  be  very  short-sighted,  for,  if  they  had 
turned  into  the  mountains  instead  of  into  the  sea,  they  could  have  longer  enjoyed 
their  habitations. 


ORSON  PRATT  BEFORE  THE  COUNCIL. 


493 


of  every  soul  that  dared  to  think  and  love  the  God-given  lib- 
erty of  an  untrammelled  mind.  His  defence,  his  mien,  his  at- 
titude, when,  before  Brigham  and  the  apostles,  he  lifted  up  his 
hand,  and  with  upturned  face  called  God  and  angels  to  wit- 
ness that  he  was  ready  to  meet  the  doom  of  his  opposition, 
rather  than  violate  his  conscience  and  his  faith,  was  the  sub- 
limest  spectacle  of  humanity  in  its  noblest  phase  that  the  Au- 
thor ever  witnessed.  It  was  the  grandeur  of  the  martyr's  soul 
made  manifest.  As  the  apostle  stood  in  Brigham's  little  -of- 
fice, surrounded  by  the  other  apostles  of  his  quorum,  not  a 
voice  was  heard  in  his  support,  not  a  word  was  whispered 
either  to  encourage  him  or  relieve  his  racked  and  harrowed  soul 
as  he  keenly  realized  the  fact  that  he  risked  his  apostleship  and 
fellowship  with  the  Church. 

When  he  had  expressed  his  thorough  comprehension  of  the 
responsibility  of  his  position,  he  told,  in  words  of  unmistaka- 
ble earnestness,  that  when  the  teachings  of  the  Bible,  together 
with  the  revelations  of  the  Prophet  Joseph,  came  into  collision 
with  the  teachings  of  Brigham  Young,  it  was  the  decision  of 
his  soul  that,  whatever  the  cost  might  be,  he  "  would  cling  to 
"  the  former." 

It  was  before  a  small  assembly  that  he  was  tried,  and  it  was 
for  some  a  favour  to  be  there ;  but,  small  in  number  as  the  au- 
ditory was,  there  were  hearts  moved  with  admiration  for  the 
man  who  dared  to  announce,  under  such  circumstances,  that 
truth  was  to  him  greater  than  Brigham,  and  that  his  self-re- 
spect was  nobler  than  his  apostleship.  Galileo  before  the  bar 
of  the  Inquisition  was  no  grander  sight. 

Poor  Orson  !  what  a  sad  future  was  near  him. 

Brigham  branded  him  with  natural  stubbornness  and  told 
him  that  he  had  always  been  ungovernable,  and  had  given 
trouble  to  Joseph  in  his  day,  and  to  that  he  added  that  the 
brave  apostle  would  yet  supplicate  for  forgiveness  at  his  feet. 
Poor  Orson  !  it  was  martyrdoni  to  him.  One  soul,  at  least,  in 
that  auditory  felt  keenly  for  him,  and,  when  the  council  closed, 
one  person  rushed  after  him,  to  clasp  his  hands  and  bless  him 
for  his  God-fearing  independence  of  soul. 

But  alas !  within  thirty-six  hours  that  brave,  honest,  truth- 
ful apostle  stood  in  the  Tabernacle  before  an  assembly  of  thou- 


494 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


sands,  and  confessed  the  error  of  his  ways  in  opposing  the  head 
of  the  Church !  Ever  afterwards  he  would  keep  silence  upon 
the  subject !  Yet,  Orson  Pratt  is  no  coward  ;  for  his  concep- 
tions of  truth  he  would  gladly  give  his  life,  if  duty  called  for 
an  assertion  of  that  truth  ;  but  he  had  not  the  faith  to  sacrifice 
others.  Six  or  seven  wives,  a  score  or  more  of  children,  de- 
pendent for  bread  on  his  apostleship  and  his  relationship  with 
the  Church — a  long  life's  labour  in  the  cause  of  Mormonism, 
dearer  to  his  soul  than  all  else,  all  to  be  thrown  to  the  winds, 
and  for  him  himself  to  be  branded  with  the  stigma  of  "  apos- 
"  tacy,"  was  more  than  he  could  then  bear.  Those  who  be- 
lieved with  him  in  the  falsity  of  Brigham's  doctrine,  honoured 
him  for  displaying  the  heroism  that  bearded  the  lion  in  his 
den,  and  probably  some  have  accepted  his  Galileo-like  submis- 
sion as  a  dire  necessity,  for  Orson  still  clings  with  unchanging 
devotion  to  the  faith  of  the  God  of  his  youth. 

Orson's  submission  was  painful  to  his  friends,  but  the 
thoughtful  hoped  for  the  growth  and  development  of  his  soul 
outside  the  iron  cast  of  infallible  priesthood.  From  the  hour 
of  that  trial  he  was  silently  accounted  an  "  Apostate,"  and  for 
years  there  was  considered  to  be  no  temerity  in  digging  "  at 
him  from  the  pulpit.  He  was  sent  to  Europe  on  mission,  and 
treated  with  marked  neglect  by  the  ruling  authorities — men 
far  beneath  him  in  moral  and  intellectual  qualities.  He  bore 
it  all  in  silence,  and  returned  to  Utah  determined  to  stand  by 
his  convictions  of  truth  against  the  Adam  deity.  His  associate 
apostles  tried  to  shake  him  out  of  their  Quorum,  and  in  their 
councils  they  did  everything  to  bring  his  stubbornness "  to 
the  point  of  disfellowship.  After  two  weeks  of  nightly  coun- 
cils— while  Brigham  and  his  twelve  were  journeying  through 
the  northern  settlements  in  1868 — the  point  was  reached. 
Orson  would  not,  however,  recant,  even  before  the  threat  of 
disfellowship,  but  Brigham,  at  the  last  moment,  entered  the 
council,  and  arrested  the  final  action.  Brigham  needs  Orson's 
sermons  on  the  Book  of  Mormon,  Polygamy,  and  the  prophe- 
cies, and  he  fears  his  influence  with  the  people. 


CHAPTER  XLYI. 


THE  MOEMON  THEOCKAGY.— All  Earthly  Government  is  Eebellion— The  King- 
dom of  God  in  Utah — The  Gentiles  to  be  Destroyed — Why  the  Mormons  pray 
for  the  Overthrow  of  the  Eepublic — Believers  to  deed  all  their  Property  to  Brig- 
ham  Young,  "the  Lord's"  Kepresentative  on  Earth — The  Families  of  the  Saints 
to  be  Adopted  by  the  Apostles — Brigham's  Word  equal  to  that  of  God — Orson 
Hyde  illustrates  the  Kingdoms  of  the  "  Gods." 

Everywhere  among  the  Saints  "  the  Kingdom  "  is  a  house- 
hold word.  It  figures  in  every  sermon,  is  read  of  in  every 
iepistle,  and  in  every  business  of  life  it  has  some  bearing.  In 
adversity  and  in  success,  in  poverty  and  in  wealth,  in  every 
position  and  sphere  of  action,  "  the  Kingdom  "  is  credited  with 
something.  When  refractory  members  of  the  Church  are 
threatening  to  "  take  their  own  way,"  the  Saints  are  taught 
obedience  to  "  the  Kingdom  "  as  the  highest  duty,  and  are  in- 
structed that  to  secure  salvation  it  must  be  "the  Kingdom  of 
"  God  or  nothing." 

A  cooperative  dry-goods  and  grocery  stock-holders'  meet 
ing  could  not  well  be  held  in  Utah  without  some  mention  be- 
ing made  of  "  the  Kingdom."  Even  in  the  opening  prayer 
preceding  a  dance,  "  the  Kingdom  "  is  delicately  remembered. 
Breaking  ground  for  a  canal  or  railroad  is  an  exceedingly  ap- 
propriate occasion  to  descant  upon  its  expansion.  The  arrival 
of  an  emigrant  train  was,  in  former  years,  an  important  time 
for  unfurling  its  banner.  An  agricultural  fair  is  considered 
particularly  suitable  for  holding  up  "  the  Kingdom  "  for  admi- 
ration ;  and  Brigham's  travels  through  the  settlements  are 
truly  Pentecostal  showers  of  joy  and  rejoicing  for  the  proces- 
sional youngsters  who  are  yet  to  "  carry  off  the  Kingdom." 

The  visitor  in  Utah  may  have  diflSculty  in  discovering  any 


496 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


special  characteristics  of  "  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven  "  in  the 
streets  of  Salt  Lake  City^  or  in  the  other  cities  and  settlements 
of  the  Territory  of  Utah,  but  the  Saints  none  the  less  honestly 
believe  that  "  the  Kingdom  "  spoken  of  by  all  the  prophets 
since  the  world  began  is  there  and  nowhere  else.  In  this  pre- 
vailing sentiment  is  to  be  found  the  explanation  of  their  con- 
tempt for  all  earthl}^  governments — "  theirs  is  the  Kingdom." 

The  apostle  Orson  Pratt  is  on  this  point  very  lucid  and 
forcible,  and  expresses  clearly  the  faith  of  the  Mormons.  He 
says : 

"  The  Kingdom  of  God  is  an  order  of  government  established  by  di- 
vine authority.  It  is  the  only  legal  government  that  can  exist  in  any  part 
of  the  universe.  All  other  governments  are  illegal  and  are  unauthorized. 
....  Any  people  attempting  to  govern  themselves  by  laws  of  their  own 
making,  and  by  ojOicers  of  their  own  appointment,  are  in  direct  rebellion 
against  the  Kingdom  of  God  For  seventeen  hundred  years  the  na- 
tions upon  the  Western  Hemisphere  have  been  entirely  destitute  of  '  the 
Kingdom  of  God  ' — entirely  destitute  of  a  true  and  legal  government,  en- 
tirely destitute  of  officers  legally  authorized  to  rule  and  govern.  All  the 
emperors,  kings,  princes,  and  presidents,  lords,  nobles,  and  rulers,  during 

that  long  night  of  darkness  have  acted  without  authority  Their 

authority  is  all  assumed — it  originated  in  man.  Their  laws  are  not  from 
the  Great  Lawgiver,  but  the  productions  of  their  own  false  governments  ; 
their  very  foundations  were  laid  in  rebellion,  and  the  whole  superstruc- 
ture, from  first  to  last,  is  a  heterogeneous  mass  of  discordant  elements  in 
direct  opposition  to  the  Kingdom  of  God,  which  is  the  only  true  Govern- 
ment which  should  be  recognized  in  earth  or  in  heaven."  * 

Forty  pages  are  devoted  by  elder  Pratt  to  this  subject,  set- 
ting forth  everything  about  "  the  Kingdom  "  that  he  could 
group  together  under  that  designation.  After  establishing  to 
his  own  satisfaction  that  "  the  Kingdom  "  had  been  given  to 
the  Saints,  he  concludes  his  argument  with  the  important  an- 
nouncement: 

"  The  Almighty  has  decreed  to  rend  and  break  in  pieces  all  earthly 
governments,  to  cast  down  thrones,  to  turn  and  overturn,  and  break  up 
the  nations,  to  send  forth  his  messengers  and  make  a  way  for  the  estab- 
lishment of  the  everlasting  Kingdom,  to  which  all  others  must  yield,  or 
be  prostrated — never  more  to  rise.  Awake !  then,  oh,  ye  nations,  for  with 
you  the  Lord  hath  a  controversy !  His  Kingdom  is  now  for  the  last  time 
organized  upon  the  earth.    All  nations  are  invited  to  become  citizens — it 

*  "  The  Kingdom  of  God,"  part  i.,  p.  1. 


THE  STORY  OF  "THE  KINGDOM.'* 


497 


is  the  only  government  of  safety  or  refuge  upon  all  the  earth.  It  hath 
its  seat  in  the  everlasting  mountains  *  [Utah] — its  dreadful  majesty  shall 
strike  terror  to  the  hearts  of  kings  in  the  day  of  His  power,"  etc.  t 

After  these  quotations,  the  reader  should  be  apprised  that 
elder  Pratt  is  a  remarkably  quiet,  retiring,  modest  man,  and 
one  of  the  advanced  mathematicians  of  the  age.  His  language 
is  not  intended  to  be  that  of  the  firebrand  or  the  revolutionist, 
for  he  is  neither.  His  sentiments  are  the  offspring  of  modern 
revelation,  and  the  eloquence  of  an  inspired  priesthood. 


The  Apostle  Orson  Pratt. 


A  faith  founded  upon  such  sentiments  as  these  is  trained  to 
read  in  the  political  revolutions  of  earthly  powers  the  prepara- 
tory workings  of  "the  Lord"  for  the  overthrow  of  all  stable 

*  There  is  no  ambiguity  in  this  language,  there  should  be  no  spirituahzing  of  it. 
The  whole  priesthood  and  people  believed  it  literally,  and  have  laboured  in  expecta- 
tion of  seeing  the  authority  of  "  the  Kingdom  "  recognized  by  the  whole  world — as 
much  as  ever  was  that  of  ancient  Kome  in  her  palmiest  days.  On  the  24th  of  July, 
1856  [the  ninth  anniversary  of  the  arrival  of  the  pioneers  in  Salt  Lake  City],  in 
the  presence  of  all  the  Saints,  Brigham's  Counsellor,  Grant,  addressed  the  Almighty 
in  the  following  choice  language  : 

"  May  we  accomplish  the  great  work  thou  didst  commence  through  thy  servant 
Joseph.  May  we  have  power  over  the  wicked  nations,  that  Zion  maij  he  the  seat  of 
government  for  the  universe^  the  law  of  God  be  extended,  and  the  sceptre  of  right- 
eousness swayed  over  this  wide  world." 

t  "  The  Kingdom  of  God,"  part  iv.,  p,  16, 


498 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


governments,  in  order  to  make  way  for  the  advancement  and 
growth  of  the  Mormon  Kingdom  : 

"  Thrones  shall  totter,  Babel  fall, 
Satan  reign  no  more  at  all ; 
Saints  shall  gain  the  victory, 
Truth  prevail  o'er  land  and  sea ; 
Gentile  tyrants  sink  to  hell ; 
Now 's  the  day  of  Israel  1 "  * 

Every  malignant  and  corrupting  influence,  every  disaster- 
political  and  natural — which  tends  to  the  disintegration  of  so- 
cietj^,  is  regarded  as  a  sign  of  the  coming  end.  A  desolating 
plague  abroad,  the  ghastly  cholera  at  home,  the  earthquake  in 
its  throes  engulfing  cities  and  holocausts  of  human  victims,  the 
raging  tempests  of  the  ocean — drowning  in  their  wild  roar  the 
dying  shriek  of  multitudes,  the  fierce  tornado,  the  stormy 
thunderbolts  of  heaven,  the  warring  of  the  elements,  and  the 
confiict  of  human  passions  —  all,  according  to  the  Mormon 
teaching,  tend  but  to  one  great  purpose — the  establishment  of 
"  the  Kingdom."  JSTor  are  the  minor  details  of  life  less  signifi- 
cant. A  railway  catastrophe,  a  steamboat  explosion,  a  desolat- 
ing fire,  or  any  other  calanwty  which  may  bring  tribulation  to 
the  hearts  of  men — one  and  all  are,  to  the  Saint,  so  many 
cheering  confirmations  of  his  faith,  and  intimations  of  the  tri- 
umphant recognitions  of  that  same  "  Kingdom." 

The  mass  of  the  Mormon  people  would  shudder  at  witness- 
ing these  calamities,  and  could  their  energy  save  their  fellow- 
creatures,  they  would  as  hastily  fly  to  the  rescue  as  any  other 
people,  but  their  instincts  would  then  be  at  war  with  the  teach- 
ings which  they  had  accepted.  This  very  Orson  Pratt,  the  elo- 
quent exponent  of  the  Mormon  faith,  apart  from  Mormonism, 
never  would  cherish  the  fiendish  delight  of  rejoicing  in  the 
tribulation  of  others ;  but  when  he  believes  that  God  is  pun- 
ishing the  nations  for  the  rejection  of  Joseph 'Smith,  he  is  per- 
fectly consistent.  The  peroration  to  his  tract  on  "  the  King- 
"  dom  of  God  "  is  a  perfect  gem  : 

"  Awake,  for  troublous  times  are  at  hand  !  Nations  shall  no  longer  sit 
at  ease  1  The  troubled  elements  shall  foment,  and  rage,  and  dash  with 
tremendous  fury  1    A  voice  is  heard  unto  the  ends  of  the  earth  1    A  sound 

*  Hymn  Book,  p.  35. 


THE  "KINGDOM"  OF  THE  SAINTS  ON  EARTH. 


499 


of  terror  and  dismay !  A  sound  of  nations  rushing  to  battle — fierce  and 
dreadful  is  the  contest — mighty  kingdoms  and  empires  melt  away  !  The 
destroyer  has  gone  forth — the  pestilence  that  walketh  in  darkness.  The 
plagues  of  the  last  days  are  at  hand,  and  who  shall  be  able  to  escape  ? 
None  but  the  righteous— none  but  the  upright  in  heart — none  but  the 
children  of  the  Kingdom.  They  shall  be  gathered  out  from  among  the 
nations — they  shall  stand  in  holy  places,  and  not  be  moved  !  But  among 
the  wicked,  men  shall  lift  up  their  voices  and  curse  God  because  of  his 
sore  judgments,  and  die.  And  there  shall  be  a  voice  of  mourning  and 
lamentation  unto  the  ends  of  the  earth  ;  for  the  cup  of  the  indignation  of 
the  Almighty  shall  he  poured  out  without  mixture  of  mercy j  because  they 
would  not  receive  his  messengers,  but  hardened  their  hearts  against  the 
warning  proclamation — against  the  gospel  of  the  Kingdom— and  against 
the  great  preparatory  work  for  the  universal  reign  of  the  King  of  kings 
and  Lord  of  lords." 

When  the  fratricidal  war  between  the  Northern  and  South- 
ern States  filled  the  nation  with  monrning,  Utah  alone  rejoiced. 
Every  flash  that  thrilled  along  the  telegraph  wires  announcing 
a  terrible  battle  and  the  immolation  of  tens  of  thousands,  was 
welcome  to  the  Saints,  and  inspired  the  Tabernacle  orators 
with  higher  flights  of  eloquence,  and  clothed  therr  with  greater 
prophetic  power.  Though  the  Northern  representatives  in  Con- 
gress had  not  offered  as  much  opposition  to  the  aff'airs  of  Utah 
as  those  from  the  South,  the  sympathy  of  Brigham  and  the 
apostles  was  wholly  with  the  Confederates.  Brigham  wanted 
to  see  the  Union  severed.  The  Prophet  Joseph  had  predicted 
it,  and,  very  consistently,  Brigham  desired  to  see  the  fulfilment 
of  the  prophecy  ;  besides,  had  secession  from  the  Union  been 
successful  in  1861,  it  would  have  been  seized  upon  by  Brigham 
as  a  precedent  for  the  withdrawal  of  Utah  from  the  Federacy 
whenever  he  deemed  it  safe  to  run  up  his  independent  bunting, 
and  verify  the  poet's  dream  : 

"  High  on  the  mountains  the  ensign  we  see  ; 
Fall'n  is  the  Gentile  power, 
Soon  will  their  reign  be  o'er, 
Tyrants  must  rule  no  more, 
Israel  is  free  I  "  * 

The  inspiration  of  building  up  this  literal  kingdom  has  not 
only  been  demoralizing  and  pernicious  in  sentiment,  but  it  has 

*  Hymn  77. 


500 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


literally  robbed  the  Mormons  of  the  blessings  of  Christianity, 
and  sent  them  back  to  the  worst  ages  of  Hebrew  barbarism  to 
collect  the  materials  of  their  faith.  For  one  sentiment  of  peace 
towards  all  mankind  uttered  by  Christ,  to  be  heard  from  the 
lips  of  modern  apostles  in  the  Mormon  Tabernacle,  the  audi- 
ences there  have  listened  to  ten  thousand  from  the  men  of 
blood  and  war  who  revelled  in  the  destruction  of  the  enemies 
of  ancient  Israel.  In  the  written  faith  Christ  is  the  head  of 
the  Mormon  Church  ;  in  its  practical,  every-day  history  "  the 
God  of  Battles  "  is  the  inspiring  deity.  The  "  Lamb  of  God  " 
is  displaced  by  "  the  Lion  of  the  Lord,"  and  the  Throne  of 
Grace  is  forgotten  in  ^'  the  might  of  the  Kingdom." 

To  build  up  this  theocracy  every  effort  has  been  made,  and 
ingenuity  has  been  taxed  to  the  uttermost  for  the  furtherance 
of  this  idea,  even  at  the  sacrifice  of  the  most  sacred  principles 
of  individual  honour  and  happiness. 

This  frenzied  lust  of  power,  more,  perhaps,  than  passion, 
was  the  foundation  of  Brigham  Young's  vehement  advocacy  of 
the  practice  of  polygamy.  That  he  could  build  up  "  the  King- 
dom "  faster  at  home  by  the  natural  increase  of  the  Saints  than 
he  could  by  the  proselytizing  of  the  missionaries  abroad,  was 
his  favourite  expression.  All  were  urged  from  the  pulpit  to 
the  discharge  of  their  duties  to  "  the  Kingdom,"  and  on  silver- 
haired,  tottering  age  was  this  obligation  placed,  as  much  as 
upon  the  man  of  early  or  middle  life,  while,  incredible  as  it  may 
seem,  the  Legislature  provided  for  the  legitimate  marriage  of 
boys  at  fifteen  and  girls  at  twelve  years  of  age  !  Nothing  was 
to  stand  in  the  way  of  the  increase  of  "  the  Kingdom."  A 
son  might,  if  he  preferred  it,  marry  his  half-sister,  and  a  father 
might  take  unto  himself  the  daughter  of  his  wife ;  it  was  all 
right — if  for  "  the  Kingdom."  Nothing  seemed  so  meritorious 
in  the  eyes  of  the  leaders  as  a  loving,  youthful  pair  beginning 
life's  journey  in  a  tent,  or  in  a  wagon-bed,  if  they  were  not 
fortunate  enough  to  possess  the  shelter  of  adobe  walls  and  a 
shingle  roof,  and  thrice  blessed  and  honoured  was  he  who  had 
faith  to  take  a  Rachel  and  a  Leah  to  the  altar  at  the  same  mo- 
ment, and  be  for  ever  indifferent  to  the  injunctions  that  "  these 
"  twain  shall  be  one  flesh." 

"  Build  up  the  Kingdom,  build  up  the  Kingdom,"  has 


"CONSECRATING"  THE  BELIEVER'S  GOODS. 


501 


been  the  unceasing  call  of  the  priesthood,  and  "  the  Lord  "  has 
blessed  the  labours  of  the  faithful  till  Utah  is  swarming  with 
the  lambs  of  the  flock  in  every  settlement,  from  Bear  Lake 
in  the  north  to  the  sunny  regions  of  the  Colorado  in  the  south. 

But  all  this  preaching  and  marrying  were  but  the  prelim- 
inaries, the  stepping-stones  that  all  the  world  could  see  and 
comprehend.  Beyond  these  were  found  greater  supports  to 
"  the  Kingdom  "  in  "  consecration  "  and  "  adoption." 

The  Saints  are  taught  that  "  the  Lord  "  requires  of  them  a 
tithing  of  all  they  possess  in  this  world,  and  after  that  an  an- 
nual tenth  of  their  increase.  But  that  is  only  preliminary  to 
greater  blessings  that  "  the  Lord  "  has  in  store  for  them,  for 
when  they  have  increased  in  faith  "  the  Lord  "  will  afford  them 
the  opportunity  of  "  consecrating  "  to  Him  all  that  they  possess. 
Their  houses  and  lands,  their  chairs  and  tables,  their  horses  and 
pigs,  their  hammers  and  saws,  their  buggies  and  wagons,  and 
all  and  everything  that  they  own  or  hope  to  own,  to  be  deeded 
over  to  "  the  Lord's  "  Trustee  in  Trust — Brigham  Young  ;  and 
thereafter  the  bishops  will  sit  in  judgment  to  assign  to  Jones 
one  talent,  to  Smith  five,  to  Young  ten,  and  so  on,  according 
to  their  necessities,  and  their  several  abilities  to  use  and  in- 
crease that  over  which  "  the  Lord  "  has  made  them  stewards. 
All  this  is  for  "  the  Kingdom's  sake." 

Illustrative  of  the  systematic  manner  in  which  "  the  Lord  " 
manages  earthly  affairs,  the  following  bona  jide  consecration 
document  is  valuable. 

'^BE  IT  KNOWN  BY  THESE  PRESENTS  that  I,  JESSE  W. 
FOX,  of  Great  Salt  Lake  City,  in  the  County  of  Great  Salt  Lake,  and 
Territory  of  Utah,  for  and  in  consideration  of  the  sum  of  One  Hundred 
($100)  Dollars,  and  the  good  will  which  I  have  to  the  CHURCH  OP 
JESUS  CHRIST  OF  LATTER-DAY  SAINTS,  give  and  convey  unto 
BRIGHAM  YOUNG,  Trustee  in  trust  for  said  Church,  his  successor  in 
office,  and  assigns,  all  my  claim  to  and  ownership  of  the  following  de- 
scribed property,  to  wit : 

One  house  and  lot,  bein^  lot  6,  block  60,  plat  C,  G.  S.  Lake  City ;  value  of  said  house  and 


lot  $3,000 

One  city  lot,  as  platted  in  plat  E,  being-  lot  2,  block  6,  value   100 

East  half  of  lot  1,  block  12,  five  acres,  plat  O.,  8.  L.  Co.,  value   50 

Lot  1,  block  14,  Jordan  plat,  containing  nine  acres,  value   75 

Two  cows,  50,  two  calves  15  dollars   65 

One  mare.  100  dollars,  one  colt,  50  dollars   150 

One  watch,  20  dollars,  one  clock,  12  dollars   32 

Clothing,  300  dollars,  beds  and  bedding,  1 25  dollars   425 

One  stove,  20  dollars,  household  furniture,  210  dollars   230 


Total  amount,  Twenty-onfe  hundred  and  twenty-seven  Dollars  $2,127 


502 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


— together  with  all  the  rights,  privileges,  and  appurtenances  thereunto  be- 
longing or  appertaining  ;  I  also  covenant  and  agree  that  I  am  the  lawful 
claimant  and  owner  of  said  property,  and  will  warrant  and  for  ever  defend 
the  same  unto  the  said  TRUSTEE  IN  TRUST,  his  successor  in  office, 
and  assigns,  against  the  claims  of  my  heirs,  assigns,  or  any  person  whom- 
soever. JESSE  W.  FOX. 


Tereitoky  of  Utah,  County  of  Great  Salt  Lake. 

"  I,  E.  Smith,  Judge  of  the  Probate  Court  for  said  county,  certify  that 
the  signer  of  the  above  transfer,  personally  known  to  me,  appeared  this 
second  day  of  April,  A.  D.  1857,  and  acknowledged  that  he,  of  his  own 


The  transfer  by  deed  of  all  personal  property  and  estate  to 
the  Church  is  designated  in  modern  revelation  "  The  Order  of 
"Enoch."  To  have  called  it  "  The  Order  of  Joseph  Smith," 
or  by  the  name  of  any  modern  apostle  or  prophet,  would  have 
aroused  no  enthusiasm  in  the  devotional  mind ;  but  associating 
it  with  Enoch  lent  to  the  Order  "  the  enchantment  of  dis- 
tance. Enoch  had  been  distinguished  for  devotion  and  piety, 
and  had  been  triumphantly  translated  from  this  wicked  world 
and  vale  of  tears.  The  inference  was  clear — those  who  "  con- 
"  secrated  "  were  entitled  to  Heaven's  choicest  favours  when 
"  the  Kingdom  "  was  triumphant. 

The  preaching  in  the  Tabernacle  and  in  the  ward  meetings 
throughout  Utah,  at  the  date  of  Mr.  Fox's  consecration,  was 
almost  wholly  devoted  to  the  Order  of  Enoch,  and  many  be- 
lieving souls  placed  all  they  possessed  for  ever  beyond  their 
own  personal  control  and  robbed  their  children  of  their  right- 
ful inheritances."^  But  the  majority  of  the  Saints  could  not  be 
brought  to  consign  themselves  to  the  tender  mercies  of  the 

*  In  an  unguarded  moment  of  inspiration,  Brigham  declared  that  "  The  Order 
"  of  Enoch  "  was  an  excellent  barrier  to  Apostacy.  Tie  the  calf  at  home,"  said  he, 
"  and  the  cow  is  sure  to  return."  "  Where  a  man's  treasure  is,  there  will  his  heart 
"  be  also."  Let  but  a  man's  property  be  "  consecrated,"  and  it  is  not  only  alienated 
from  his  heirs,  but  is  beyond  the  recall  of  the  donor  himself  should  he  ever  regret 
his  "  consecration  "  or  apostatize  from  "  the  Kingdom."  He  has  tied  himself  up 
for  ever,  and  over  his  own  property  he  becomes  a  steward  or  mere  "tenant  at  will." 
To  leave  the  Territory  was  an  impossibility:  he  had  nothing  to  sell.  He  must  re- 
main, or  go  forth  a  beggar.  There  are  now  several  cases  in  the  courts  of  Utah  in 
which  children  are  seeking  to  recover  from  the  "Trustee  in  Trust"  the  title  to 
their  deceased  father's  property. 


Witnesses : 


(  Henry  McEwan, 
)  John  M.  Bollwinkel. 


choice,  executed  the  foregoing  transfer. 


E.  SMITH." 


THE  MORMON  LAW  OF  ADOPTION. 


503 


priestliood,  and  thus  the  purposes  of  "  the  Lord  "  had  to  be  de- 
ferred. 

Had  the  Saints  accepted  this  "  Order  of  Enoch,"  and  trans- 
ferred into  the  hands  of  Brigham  Young  all  that  they  pos- 
sessed, the  slavery  of  Utah  would  have  been  without  parallel 
in  the  history  of  the  world.  Mediaeval  serfdom  and  the  tyr- 
anny of  feudal  barons  and  feudal  kings  might  be  harmonious 
with  their  times ;  but  to  entertain  the  wild  dream  of  reversing 
the  order  of  progress  and  civilization  and  establishing,  in  the 
free  Republic  of  America,  in  the  nineteenth  century  of  the 
Christian  era,  the  basest  degradation  of  the  human  intellect 
would  be  beyond  all  conception  were  it  not,  in  the  Mormon 
theory  of  "  consecration,"  proved  indeed  too  ti:ue. 

To  effectively  establish  this  great  '^Kingdom,"  Brigham 
Young,  after  the  death  of  Joseph  Smith,  introduced  among 
the  Mormons  the  "law  of  adoption,"  which  for  shrewdness 
challenges  all  comparison. 

This  law  of  adoption  assumes  that  Joseph  Smith  was  ap- 
pointed and  ordained  from  before  the  creation  of  the  world  to 
be  the  head  and  ruler  of  "  the  Last  Dispensation."  Adam, 
Noah,  Abraham,  Moses,  Elijah,  and  Jesus  had  each  their  place 
in  the  world's  history  as  great  men  to  whom  special  dispensa- 
tions had  been  accorded ;  but  to  Joseph  was  given  "  the  Dis- 
"  pensation  of  the  Fulness  of  Times,"  which,  by  bringing  into 
harmony  the  labours  of  the  prophets  and  apostles  of  all  ages 
should  be  the  crowning  work  of  the  heavens  above  and  of  the 
earth  beneath. 

The  declaration — "No  man  cometh  to  the  Father  but  by 
"  me  "  was  applied  by  modern  apostles  to  Joseph  Smith,  and 
now  to  Brigham  Young,  and  should  he  have  a  thousand  suc- 
cessors, it  would  be  considered  as  equally  applicable  to  them 
all.  Rome  never  dreamed  of  a  completeness  of  mental  subju- 
gation which  might  be  compared  with  the  actualities  of  the 
Mormon  Temple. 

Of  Brigham's  relation  to  the  people,  his  second  counsellor — 
Grant — said : 

"  He  holds  the  keys  of  life  and  salvation  upon  the  earth  ;  and  you  may 
strive  as  much  as  you  please,  but  not  one  of  you  will  ever  go  tTirough  the 
straight  gate  into  the  Kingdom  of  God^  except  those  that  go  through  "by  that 
31 


504 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


man  and  Ms  Irethren^  for  they  will  be  the  persons  whose  inspection  you 
must  pass."  * 

Heber,  the  first  counsellor,  was,  if  possible,  still  more  em- 
pbatic : 

"  I  have  often  said  that  the  word  of  our  leader  and  Prophet  is  the  Word 
of  God  to  this  people.  We  cannot  see  God,  we  cannot  hold  converse  with 
Him,  but  He  has  given  us  a  man  that  we  can  talk  to,^and  thereby  hnow  His 
will,  just  as  well  as  if  -  God  himself  were  present  with  us.  I  am  no  more 
afraid  to  risk  my  salvation  in  the  hands  of  this  man,  than  I  am  to  trust 
myself  in  the  hands  of  the  Almighty.  He  will  lead  me  right  if  I  do  as  ht 
says  in  every  particular  and  circumstance."  t 

Before  leaving  Nauvoo  these  assumptions  took  practical 
shape  in  the  "  sealing,"  by  the  law  of  adoption,  of  heads  of 
families  to  Brigham  and  the  apostles  in  the  Temple.  This 
doctrine  was  first  whispered  by  one  person  to  another  as  a 
great  mystery,  just  as  polygamy  had  previously  been  silently 
introduced.  After  this  whispering  had  done  its  work  in  a  con- 
fused way,  the  apostles  met  with  the  Quorums  of  priesthood 
and  taught  them  that  the  Kingdom  "  had  been  given  unto 
Joseph,  and  it  was  necessary,  in  order  to  obtain  salvation, 
that  all  the  Saints  should  be  sealed  to  one  another,  and  finally 
to  him. 

The  marriages  of  the  Gentile  world  being  utterly  unauthor- 
ized, it  becomes  necessary  for  married  persons,  on  accepting 
Mormonism,  to  come  before  the  altar  and  be  sealed  by  the 
Mormon  high  priesthood  as  husband  and  wife — the  previous  re- 
lationship being  without  the  sanction  of  "  the  Lord."  Until  this 
initiation,  the  children  born  in  Gentile  wedlock  are  "  aliens  from 
"  the  commonwealth  of  Israel : "  children  born  after  the  sealing 
of  the  father  and  mother  at  the  attar  are  the  rightful  heirs  with 
Isaac  to, all  the  blessings  of  "the  Kingdom."  To  place  the 
former  children  on  an  equality  with  the  latter,  they  must  be 
sealed  before  the  altar  by  the  rites  of  the  priesthood  to  their 
own  fathers  and  mothers.  That  family  contract  being  quite 
satisfactory,  the  father  and  mother  now  find  that  they  them- 
selves are  without  legitimate  parentage;  for  the  same  logic 
that  made  their  children  aliens  places  them  also  in  the  same 
awkward  predicament.    To  extricate,  therefore,  the  husband 

*  Deseret  News^  December,  1856.  f  Ibid.^  October  1,  1856. 


BRIGHAM'S  QUEEN  OF  "THE  KINGDOM."  505 


and  wife  from  this  dilemma,  Brigham  taught  that  it  was  the 
privilege  of  the  Saints  to  be  adopted  into  the  families  of  the 
twelve  apostles,  and  they  were  all  to  be  sealed  to  Joseph,  and 
Joseph  was  to  be  sealed  to  Christ.  This  was  the  briefest  way 
of  reaching  a  full  salvation. 

For  the  attainment  of  this  object^  the  building  of  the  Tem- 
ple at  Nauvoo  was  hastened,  and  the  faithful  Saints  were  in- 
vited to  receive  "  endowments,"  and  those  who  were  worthy 
and  desired  it,  to  be  sealed  to  the  apostles.  This  was  not 
simply  a  ceremony  ;  a  proper  filial  care  for  the  parents  was 
enjoined,  and  the  adopted  son  of  Brigham  was  to  be  as  obe- 
dient and  devoted  to  his  adopted  father's  interest  as  the  off- 
spring of  his  own  loins. 

At  this  time  Brigham  exhibited  his  usual  weakness  for  a 
favourite.  A  very  handsome  lady,  who  had  forsaken  a  luxu- 
rious home  at  Boston,  to  dwell  among  the  Saints  in  JSTauvoo, 
was  at  that  period  the  idol  of  his  eyes.  His  faithful  and  de- 
voted wife^ — the  companion  of  his  youth  and  the  mother  of  his 
children — was  overlooked  for  the  educated  and  attractive  Mrs. 
C  .  This  lady  became  for  a  time  the  Queen  of  "  the  King- 
dom." ^ 

When  the  believing  Saint  approached  the  altar,  and  Brig- 
ham became  his  father  by  adoption,  Mrs.  0  at  the  same 

time,  and  by  the  same  ceremony,  became  his  mother :  the  wife 
of  the  adopted  son  in  like  manner  vowed  fealty  to  Brigham  as 
her  father,  and  to  Mrs.  C  as  her  mother. 

To  impress  the  idea  of  this  ladder  of  salvation  and  exalta- 
tion in  the  kingdom  in  this  world,  and  in  that  which  is  to 
come,  upon  the  minds  of  the  British  Saints,  the  apostle  Orson 
Hyde  published,  in  1846,  in  the  Millennial  Star^  the  following 
illustration : 

"  The  above  diagram  shows  the  order  and  unity  of  the  Kingdom  of 
God.  The  Eternal  Father  sits  at  the  head,  crowned  King  of  kings  and 
Lord  of  lords.  Wherever  the  other  lines  meet,  there  sits  a  King  and  Priest 
unto  God,  bearing  rule,  authority,  and  dominion  under  the  Father.    He  is 

*  To-day  that  queenly  lady  lives  in  Salt  Lake  City,  left  "  severely  alone : " 
a  sad  picture  of  deserted  greatness.  Another  took  her  place  in  the  Prophet's  affec- 
tions, and  again  a  third  has  supplanted  the  favoured  second,  and  she  also  lives  in 
painful  neglect. 


506 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


one  with  the  Father,  because  his  kingdom  is  joined  to  his  Father's,  and 
becomes  part  of  it. 


THE 

ETERNAL  FATHER. 


ORSON  Hyde's  diagram  of  the  celestial  kingdom. 


The  most  eminent  and  distinguished  prophets,  who  have  laid  down 
their  lives  for  their  testimony  (Jesus  among  the  rest),  will  be  crowned  at 
the  head  of  the  largest  kingdoms  under  the  Father,  and  will  be  one  with 
Christ,  as  Christ  is  one  with  the  Father,  for  their  kingdoms  are  all  joined 
together;  and  such  as  do  the  will  of  the  Father,  the  same  are  his  mothers, 
sisters,  and  brothers.  He  that  has  been  faithful  over  a  few  things  will  be 
made  ruler  over  many  things  :  he  that  has  been  faithful  over  ten  talents 
shall  have  dominion  over  ten  cities,  and  he  that  has  been  faithful  over  five 
talents  shall  have  dominion  over  five  cities,  and  to  every  man  will  be  given 
a  kingdom  and  dominion  according  to  his  merit,  powers,  and  ability  to 
govern  and  control.  It  may  be  seen  from  the  above  that  there  are  king- 
doms of  all  sizes,  and  an  infinite  variety  to  suit  all  grades  of  merit  and 
ability.  The  chosen  vessels  unto  God  are  the  kings  and  priests  that  are 
placed  at  the  head  of  these  kingdoms.  These  have  received  their  wash- 
ings and  anointings  in  the  Temple  of  God  on  this  earth ;  they  have  been 
chosen,  ordained,  and  anointed  kings  and  priests,  to  reign  as  such  in  the 
resurrection  of  the  just.  Such  as  have  not  received  the  fulness  of  the 
priesthood  (for  the  fulness  of  the  priesthood  includes  the  authority  of  both 
king  and  priest),  and  have  not  been  anointed  and  ordained  in  the  Temple 
of  the  Most  High,  may  obtain  salvation  in  the  celestial  kingdom,  but  not 
a  celestial  crown.  Many  are  called  to  enjoy  celestial  glory,  but  few  are 
chosen  to  wear  a  celestial  crown,  or  are  worthy  to  be  rulers  in  the  Celes- 
tial Kingdom." 


CHAPTER  XLYII. 


THE  BOOK  OF  ABE  AH  AM.— An  Extraordinary  Document— The  Prophet  buys 
Egyptian  Mummies — Translates  Papyri  found  with  them — Another  Translation 
by  a  Scientist — Delusion,  Deception,  or  Folly?— "Was  Joseph  Smith  a  "  Spirit 
Medium  ? " 

DuRDTG  the  lifetime  of  the  Mormon  Prophet  much  impor- 
tance was  attached  to  his  "  translation "  of  the  papyri  found 
with  some  Egyptian  mummies,  which  he  designated  "  The 
"  Book  of  Abraham."  The  translation  has  been  extensively 
published  in  the  Mormon  papers,  both  in  England  and  Amer- 
ica, and  has  probably  been  translated  into  different  languages 
in  Europe  where  the  elders  have  found  converts.  In  addition 
to  its  newspaper  publicity  it  formed  the  chief  attraction  of  a 
pamphlet  published  in  Liverpool  in  1851,  by  the  apostle  Eich- 
ards,  under  the  title  of  The  Pearl  of  Great  Price  " — a  title 
which,  by  the  way,  the  profane  regarded  as  more  applicable  to 
its  cost  than  its  quality. 

The  Mormons  were  taught  to  regard  the  finding  of  the 
mummies,  the  papyri,  and  the  translation,  as  a  manifestation 
of  "  the  Lord  "  working  indirectly  in  a  providential  way  with 
"  his  servant  Joseph  ;  "  thus  corroborating  his  claim  to  be  an 
inspired  translator,  and  confirming  the  faith  of  the  Saints  by 
the  supposed  harmony  of  his  teaching  with  that  of  Abraham. 
The  apostle-editor,  Richards,  was  himself  so  impressed  with 
the  stamp  of  divinity  apparent,  as  he  thought,  in  the  contents 
of  the  "  Pearl  of  Great  Price,"  including  the  Book  of  Abra- 
ham, that  he  conceived  it  impossible  for  any  one  to  carefully 
peruse  the  revelations,  "  translations,"  and  narratives  therein 
"  without  being  deeply  impressed  with  a  sense  of  the  divine 
"  calling  of  the  man  through  whom  they  have  been  communi- 
"  cated  to  the  world." 


508 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


When  Joseph,  according  to  his  statement,  translated  the 
Book  of  Mormon  from  the  gold-plates,  no  one  was  ever  per- 
mitted to  see  him  at  his  work:  he  sat  at  the  other  side  of  a 
blanket,"^  which  served  as  a  curtain  to  separate  him  from  his 
amanuensis,  and  in  that  position  he  dictated  to  the  latter  the 
contents  of  the  book.  The  facsimile  of  the  original  charac- 
ters on  the  plates,  found  in  another  chapter,  was  not  accom- 
panied with  its  English  translation,  nor  was  it  sufficiently  ex- 
tensive of  itself  to  engage  the  attention  of  the  savants  who 
might  have  expressed  an  opinion  concerning  its  genuineness  ; 
but  in  the  Book  of  Abraham  w^hich  has  confirmed  so  much  the 
faith  of  the  Saints  in  the  Book  of  Mormon,  Joseph  furnishes 
the  learned  wath  an  opportunity  for  testing  his  claim  to  the 
gift  of  interpretation. 

The  correctness  or  incorrectness  of  his  so-called  translation 
of  the  gold-plates  admitted  of  neither  corroboration  nor  detec- 
tion. These  men,  "  because  of  their  great  faith,"  were  permit- 
ted to  see  the  plates,  and  an  angel "  told  them  that  the  trans- 
lation was  correct.  Eight  other  men  of  Joseph's  acquaintance 
were  chosen  "  to  w^itness  "  to  the  world  that  they  had  seen  the 
plates,  and  hefted  "  them,  and  that  the  engraved  characters 
liad  the  appearance  of  ancient  workmanship.    Beyond  this,  all 

*  The  critics  state  that  Joseph  had  on  his  side  of  the  curtain  the  "  lost  maim- 
"  script "  of  Solomon  Spaulding,  which  he  interpolated  with  extracts  from  the  Old 
and  New  Testaments,  adding  to  them  his  own  crude  knowledge  of  Methodism,  and 
thus  palmed  upon  his  credulous  scribes,  Harris  and  Cowdery,  the  Book  of  Mormon. 
This  is  the  prevailing  view  of  the  opponents  of  Mormonism  as  to  the  origin  of  that 
book.  But  it  may  yet  be  accepted  that  Joseph's  seclusion  behind  the  curtain  with 
his  crystal  "  interpreters  "  answers  to  the  dark  seances  so  common  in  the  experience 
of  modern  Spiritualism.  There  is  much  in  Joseph's  history  to  confirm  such  a  the- 
ory. He  has  frequently  been  charged  with  pretending  to  give  revelations  through 
"  a  peep-stone  "  which  he  placed  in  his  hat,  then  putting  his  face  against  the  hat 
and  excluding  all  light  therefrom,  in  that  manner  is  said  to  have  read  the  language 
of  the  heavens.  The  Author  is  acquainted  with  a  gentleman  who,  when  he  was  a 
boy,  was  frequently  in  the  company  of  Joseph  at  Nauvoo,  as  his  father  was  very 
intimate  with  the  Prophet.  This  gentleman  is  what  is  now  called  clairvoyant,  and 
relates  that  Joseph  frequently  put  his  " Urim  and  Thummim,"  "interpreters,"  or 
*'  peep-stones,"  or  whatever  else  they  might  be  called,  into  his  hat  when  the  boy 
was  visiting  him,  and  by  looking  upon  them  as  Joseph  did,  he  claims  to  have  had 
wonderful  panoramic  visions.  There  are  multitudes  of  persons  throughout  the 
world — many  in  Utah  now — who  claim  perfect  familiarity  with  this  "  peep-stone  " 
business,  and  the  better  Joseph  Smith  is  known,  the  nearer  he  approaches  those 
"  gifted  "  persons,  and  the  easier  is  he  understood. 


STORY  OF  THE  EGYPTIAN  MUMMIES. 


509 


is  faith.  In  the  publication  of  the  hieroglyphics  and  their 
translation  in  the  Book  of  Abraham  it  is  quite  otherwise. 

Hundreds  of  scholars  have  made  the  science  of  hieroglypii- 
ics  a  special  study,  and  without  difBculty  can  read  the  inscrip- 
tions on  the  tombs  of  the  Ptolemies  and  Pharaohs  and  decipher 
the  picture-writing  upon  the  walls  of  the  ruined  temples  at. 
Thebes.  Impressed  with  the  interest  of  a  corroboration  or  a 
contradiction  by  science  of  Josepli's  inspired  translation  of  the 
papyri  found  with  the  mummies,  two  French  travellers,  MM. 
Eemy  and  Brenchley,  during  a  visit  to  Utah  in  1855,  gathered 
up  the  Prophet's  story,  and  in  the  work  published  by  these  gen- 
tlemen in  1860,  in  Paris,  two  translations  are  given. 

Some  time  in  July,  1833,  these  mummies,  with  other  curi- 
osities, were  on  public  exhibition  at  Kirtland,  at  that  time  the 
headquarters  of  the  Prophet.  When  the  proprietor  of  the 
mummies  exliibited  to  Joseph  the  papyri  found  with  them,  he 
unhesitatingly  gave  an  interpretation  of  them,  and  in  return 
the  showman  handed  to  the  inspired  man  the  following  cer- 
tificate : 

"  This  is  to  make  known  to  all  who  may  be  desirous  concerning  the 
knowledge  of  Mr.  Joseph  Smith,  junr.,  in  deciphering  the  ancient  Egyp- 
tian hieroglyphic  characters  in  my  possession,  which  I  have  in  many 
eminent  cities  shown  to  the  most  learned,  and  from  the  information  that 
I  could  ever  learn  or  meet  with,  I  find  that  of  Mr.  Smith,  junr.,  to  corre- 
spond in  the  most  minute  matters. 

"Michael  H,  Chandler, 
"  Travelling  with  and  Proprietor  of  Egyptian  mummies. 

The  reader  will  not  fail  to  remark  the  impudence  of  such 
a  document.  What  possible  value  could  be  attached  to  the 
statement  of  an  ignorant  showman  about  the  "  deciphering  " 
of  a  language  of  which  he  had  not  the  slightest  knowledge  ? 
But  Chandler  wanted  a  customer  for  his  mummies,  and  the 
Saints  purchased  them  for  Joseph  a  few  days  afterwards,  "  and 
"  much  to  our  joy,"  says  the  Prophet,  "  we  found  that  one  of 
these  rolls  contained  the  writings  of  Abraham,  another  the 
"  writings  of  Joseph,"  etc.  ...  "  Truly  we  can  say  that  the 
"  Lord  is  beginning  to  reveal  the  abundance  of  truth,"  etc. 
In  1842,  the  inspired  translation  was  first  published  in  the 
Times  and  Seasons,  with  the  accompanying  preface  : 


510 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


"  Who  these  ancient  inhabitants  of  Egypt  were  I  do  not  at  present  say. 
The  record  of  Abraham  and  Joseph,  found  with  the  mummies,  is  beauti- 
fully written  on  papyrus  with  black,  and  a  small  part  red  ink,  or  paint, 
in  perfect  preservation.  The  characters  are  such  as  you  find  upon  the 
cofl3ns  of  mummies,  hieroglyphics,  etc.,  with  many  characters  and  letters 
like  the  present  [though  probably  not  quite  so  square]  form  of  the  He- 
brew without  points.  The  records  were  obtained  from  one  of  the  cata- 
combs in  Egypt,  near  the  place  where  once  stood  the  renowned  city  of 
Thebes,  by  the  celebrated  French  traveller  Antonio  Sebolo  in  the  year 
1831.  He  procured  a  license  from  Mehemet  Ali,  then  viceroy  of  Egypt, 
under  the  protection  of  Chevalier  Drovetti,  the  French  consul,  in  the 
year  1828,  and  employed  433  men  four  months  and  two  days — if  I  under- 
stand correctly,  Egyptian  or  Turkish  soldiers — at  from  four  to  six  cents 
per  diem  for  each  man,  entered  the  catacombs,  June  7th,  1831,  and  pro- 
cured eleven  mummies.    There  were  several  hundred  mummies  in  the 

same  catacomb  On  his  way  from  Alexandria  he  put  in  at  Trieste, 

and  after  ten  days'  illness  expired  in  1832.  Previous  to  his  death  he 
made  a  will  of  the  whole  to  his  nephew,  Mr.  Michael  H.  Chandler  (then 
in  Philadelphia),  whom  he  supposed  to  have  been  in  Ireland.  According- 
ly the  whole  were  sent  to  Dublin,  and  Mr.  Chandler's  friends  ordered  them 
to  New  York,  where  they  were  received  at  the  custom-house  in  the 
spring  or  winter  of  1833.  In  the  month  of  April  of  the  same  year  Mr. 
Chandler  paid  the  duties  and  took  possession  of  his  mummies.  Mr=. 
Chandler,  who  expected  to  find  diamonds  or  other  valuables,  was  disap- 
pointed. He  was  immediately  told,  while  yet  in  the  custom-house,  that 
there  was  no  man  in  the  city  who  could  translate  the  roll ;  but  was  re- 
ferred by  the  same  gentleman  to  Mr.  Joseph  Smith,  junr.,  who,  continued 
he,  possesses  some  kind  of  power  or  gifts  by  which  he  had  previously  trans 
lated  similar  characters.  I  was  then  unknown  to  Mr.  Chandler,  neithe: 
did  he  know  that  such  a  book  or  work  as  the  Records  of  the  Nephites  had 
been  brought  before  the  public.  He  took  his  collection  on  to  Philadel- 
phia, where  he  obtained  his  certificate  of  the  learned  (see  Messenger  and 
Advocate,  p.  235),  and  thence  came  on  to  Kirtland.  Thus  I  have  given  a 
brief  history  of  the  manner  in  which  the  writings  of  Abraham  and 
Joseph  have  been  preserved,  and  how  I  came  into  possession  of  the  same 
— a  correct  translation  of  which  I  shall  give  in  its  proper  place."  * 

When  the  travellers,  Messrs.  Remy  and  Brenchley,  returned 
to  Paris,  they  placed  the  hieroglyphics  in  the  hands  of  a  young 
savant  of  the  Museum  of  the  Louvre,  M.  Theodule  Deveria, 
whose  translation  is  here  placed  parallel  with  that  of  the 
Prophet  Smith : 

*  "  Autobiog;raphy  of  Joseph  Smith." 


^o.  I. 


THE  BOOK  OF  ABRAHAM. 


513 


No.  I. 


HIEEOGLYPHICS  REPRESENTING  THE  RESUEEEGTION  OF  OSIEIS. 
INTEBPRETATION 


By  tlie  Mormon  Prophet, 
Fig.  I.  The  angel  of  the  Lord. 


n.  Abraham  fastened  upon  an  al- 


kar. 

in.  The  idolatrous  priest  of  El- 
kenah  attempting  to  offer  up  Abra- 
ham as  a  sacrifice. 

IV.  The  altar  for  sacrifice  by  the 
idolatrous  priest  standing  before  the 
gods  of  Elkenah,  Libnah,  Mahmack- 
rah,  Korash,  and  Pharaoh. 

y.  The  idolatrous  god  of  Elke- 
nah. 

YI.  The  idolatrous  god  of  Lib- 
nah. 

YII.  The  idolatrous  god  of  Mah- 
mackrah. 

YIII.  The  idolatrous  god  of  Ko- 
rash. 

IX.  The  idolatrous  god  of  Pha- 
raoh. 

X.  Abraham  in  Egypt. 

XI.  Design  to  represent  the  pil- 
lars of  heaven  as  understood  by  the 
Egyptians. 

XII.  Raukeeyang,  signifying  ex- 
panse, or  the  firmament  over  our 
heads  ;  but  in  this  case,  in  relation 
to  this  subject,  the  Egyptians  meant 
it  to  signify  8Jiauma%  to  be  high,  or 
the  heavens,  answering  to  the  He- 
brew Shaumahyeem. 

M.  Deveria  observes,  with  respect  to  this  papyrus,  that  he 
never  saw  the  resurrection  of  Osiris  represented  in  funerary 
MSS.  He  is  of  opinion  that,  if  it  exists,  it  must  be  extremely 
rare,  and  that  if  the  present  figure  be  not  a  modern  imitation 
of  the  great  bas-reliefs  in  which  this  mythological  scene  is  rep- 


By  the  Hieroglyphists, 
Fig.  I.  The  soul  of  Osiris,  under 
the  form  of  a  hawk  (which  should 
have  a  human  head). 

II.  Osiris  coming  to  life  on  his 
funeral  couch,  which  is  in  the  shape 
of  a  lion. 

III.  The  god  Anubis  (who  should 
have  a  jackal's  head)  efiecting  the 
resurrection  of  Osiris. 

lY.  The  funereal-bed  of  Osiris, 
under  which  are  placed  the  four  se- 
pulchral vessels  called  canopes^  each 
of  them  surmounted  by  the  head  of 
the  four  genii. 

Y.  Kebh-son-iw,  with  a  hawk's 
head. 

YI.  Tioumautew,  with  a  jackal's 
head. 

YII.  Hapi,  with  a  dog's  head. 
YIII.  Amset,  with  a  human  head. 

IX.  The  sacred  crocodile,  symbol- 
ic of  the  god  Sebet. 

X.  Altar  laden  with  offerings. 

XI.  An  ornament  peculiar  to 
Egyptian  art. 

XII.  Customary  representation  of 
ground  in  Egyptian  paintings.  (The 
word  Shauman  is  not  Egyptian,  and 
the  Hebrew  word  is  badly 
copied. 


514 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


resented,  it  lias  at  all  events  been  altered,  for  Annbis  should 
have  a  jackal's  head. 

No.  II. 

INTERPRETATION 


By  the  Mormon  Prophet 
Fig.  I.  Kolob,  signifying  the  first 
creation,  nearest  to  the  celestial,  or 
the  residence  of  God.  First  in  gov- 
ernment, the  last  pertaining  to  the 
measurement  of  time.  The  measure- 
ment according  to  the  cele3tial  time 
signifies  one  day  to  a  cubit.  One 
day  in  Kolob  is  equal  to  a  thousand 
years,  according  to  the  measurement 
of  this  earth,  which  is  called  by  the 
Egyptians  Jah-oh-eh. 


II.  Stands  next  to  Kolob,  called 
by  the  Egyptians  Oliblish,  which  is 
the  next  grand  governing  creation, 
near  to  the  celestial,  or  the  place 
where  God  resides  ;  holding  the  key 
of  power,  also,  pertaining  to  other 
planets ;  as  revealed  from  God  to 
Abraham,  as  he  offered  sacrifice  up- 
on an  altar  which  he  had  built  unto 
the  Lord. 


III.  Is  made  to  represent  God,  sit- 
ting upon  his  throne,  clothed  with 
power  and  authority :  with  a  crown 
of  eternal  light  upon  his  head :  rep- 
resenting, also,  the  grand  key-words 
of  the  Holy  Priesthood,  as  revealed 
to  Adam  in  the  Garden  of  Eden,  as 
also  to  Seth,  Koah,  Melchizedek, 
Abraham,  and  all  to  whom  the 
Priesthood  was  revealed. 


By  the  Hieroglyphists. 
Fig.  I.  The  spirit  of  the  four  ele- 
ments (according  to  Champollion), 
or  rather  of  the  four  winds,  or  the 
four  cardinal  points ;  the  soul  of  the 
terrestrial  world.  This  god  is  al- 
ways represented  with  four  rams' 
heads,  and  his  image  has  certainly 
been  altered  here. — They  have  also 
evidently  made  a  very  clumsy  at- 
tempt at  copying  the  double  human 
head  of  the  god  figured  above,  fig. 
2,  instead  of  the  four  rams'  heads. 
The  word  Jah-oh-eh  has  nothing 
Egyptian  in  it  ;  it  resembles  the 
Hebrew  word  TT]n"^  badly  trans- 
scribed. 

II.  Ammon-Ra,  with  two  human 
heads,  meant  probably  to  represent 
both  the  invisible  or  mysterious  prin- 
ciple of  Ammon,  and  the  visible  or 
luminous  principle  of  Ra,  the  sun ; 
or  else  the  double  and  simultaneous 
principle  of  father  and  son ;  which 
characterizes  divinity  in  the  religion 
of  ancient  Egypt. — The  word  Olib- 
lish is  no  more  Egyptian  than  those 
already  met  with,  nor  than  those 
which  are  to  be  found  in  the  Mor- 
mon explanation. 

III.  The  god  Ra,  the  sun,  with  a 
hawk's  head,  seated  in  his  boat.  In 
the  field  the  two  symbolical  figur- 
ing, according  to  M.  de  Roug6,  the 
fi;xed  points  of  an  astronomical  pe- 
riod. 


HYPOCEPHALUS,  OR  FUNERARY  DISK,  TO  WHICH  THE  51 
OF  LIFE  OR  VITAL  HEAT  IN  THE  MUMMIES,  ANDfF 


THE  HIEROGLYPHICS  TRANSLATED. 


515 


By  the  Mormon  Prophet 

IV.  Answers  to  the  Hebrew  word 
Eaukeeyang^  signifying  expanse,  or 
the  firmament  of  the  heavens;  also 
a  numerical  figure,  in  Egyptian,  sig- 
nifying one  thousand ;  answering  to 
the  measuring  of  the  time  of  Olib- 
lish,  which  is  equal  with  Kolob  in 
its  revolution,  and  in  its  measuring 
of  time. 

Y.  Is  called  in  Egyptian  Enish- 
go-on-dosh  ;  that  is,  one  of  the  gov- 
erning planets  also ;  and  is  said  by 
the  Egyptians  to  be  the  sun,  and  to 
borrow  its  light  from  Kolob  through 
the  medium  of  Kae-e-vanrash,  which 
is  the  grand  Key,  or  in  other  words, 
the  governing  power,  which  governs 
fifteen  other  fixed  planets  or  stars, 
as  also  Floeese,  or  the  moon,  the 
earth,  and  the  sun,  in  their  annual 
revolutions.  This  planet  receives  its 
power  through  the  medium  of  Kli- 
flos-is-es,  or  Hah-ko-kau-beam,  the 
stars  represented  by  numbers  22  and 
23,  receiving  light  from  the  revolu- 
tions of  Kolob. 

VI.  Represents  the  earth  in  its 
four  quarters. 

VII.  Represents  God  sitting  upon 
his  throne,  revealing  through  the 
heavens  the  grand  Key- Words  of  the 
Priesthood  ;  as,  also,  the  sign  of  the 
Holy  Ghost  unto  Abraham  in  the 
form  of  a  dove. 

VIII.  Contains  writing  that  can- 
not be  revealed  unto  the  world ;  but 
is  to  be  had  in  the  Holy  Temple  of 
God. 

IX.  Ought  not  to  be  revealed  at 
the  present  time. 

X.  Also. 


By  the  Hieroglyphists, 

IV.  The  Hebrew  word  S-^f;-), 
Roki'a,  expansum,  solidum,  caelum, 
firmamentum,  besides  being  badly 
described,  has  no  relation  whatever 
to  this  figure,  which  represents  a 
mummified  hawk,  called  in  Egyp- 
tian Ah' em.  It  is  the  symbol  of  the 
divine  repose  of  death  ;  its  extended 
wings  have  reference  to  the  resurrec- 
tion. 

V.  The  mystic  cow^  the  great  cow^ 
symbolizing  the  inferior  hemisphere 
of  the  heavens.  It  is  called  the  mr- 
gin  cow  at  ch.  162  of  the  funerary 
ritual,  which  particularly  enjoins 
that  its  image  be  painted  on  the  hy- 
pocephalus,  and  another  image  of  it 
in  gold  on  the  throat  of  the  defunct, 
It  is  the  form  of  Hathor,  who  figures 
on  several  monuments  under  the 
name  of  noub^  gold.  Behind  the 
cow  is  a  goddess,  w^hose  head,  rep» 
resented  by  a  mystic  eye  in  a  disk, 
is  incorrectly  copied. 


VT.  The  four  funerary  genii,  the 
sons  of  Osiris,  Amset,  Hapi,  Tiou- 
mautew,  and  Kebhsoniw. 

VII.  The  form  of  Ammon,  with 
a  bird's  tail,  or  Horammon  (?).  An 
ithyphallic  serpent,  with  human 
legs,  offers  him  a  symbolical  eye. 
This  last  figure  has  certainly  been 
altered  in  the  hypocephalus  of  the 
Mormons. 

VIIL,  IX,  X.,  XI.  Four  lines  of 
the  linear  hieroglyphic  text,  which 
are  numbered  from  bottom  to  top, 
instead  of  from  top  to  bottom.  The 
meaning  is  :  0  great  God  in  SeTchem  ; 
0  great  God^  Lord  of  heaven^  earthy 
and  hell,  .  .  .  Osiris  S^es'enq,  These 


516 


THE  KOCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


By  the  Mormon  PrcpJiet.  By  the  Hieroglyphists, 

XT.  Also. — If  the  world  can  find  last  words  inform  us  that  the  person- 
out  the  numbers,  so  let  it  be.  Amen,    age  in  whose  mummy  this  hypoceph- 

alus  was  found  was  called  S'es'enq 
or  S'esonchis,  a  name  written  Sesah 
in  the  Bible,  and  of  which  there  is 
no  known  example  anterior  to  the 
twenty-second  dynasty ;  that  is,  to 
the  ninth  century  before  our  era, 
but  .which  may  be  much  posterior 
to  it. 

XII.  to  XX,  will  be  given  in  the  XII.-XV.  Four  lines  of  writing 
own  due  time  of  the  Lord.  similar  to  the  former,  of  which  they 

are  the  pendant.    They  appear  to  be 
The  above  translation  is  given  as   numbered  upside  down,  and  are  il- 
far  as  we  have  any  right  to  give,  at   legibly  copied, 
the  present  time.  XVI.  -  XYII.  Two   more  lines 

which  cannot  be  deciphered  in  the 
copy.  It  begins  above  the  god 
with  two  human  heads,  fig.  2 ;  and 
there  is  in  it  twice  mention  made 
of  a  sacred  dwelling-place  in  Heli- 
opolis. 

XIX.-XXI.  These  columns  of 
writing,  illegible  in  the  copy.  It 
is  evident  to  me  that  several  of  the 
figures  to  be  found  in  these  various 
MSS.  have  been  intentionally  al- 
tered. T.  Dbvekia. 


m.iii. 

Initial  painting  of  a  funerary  MS.  of  the  Lower  epoch, 
which  cannot  be  anterior  to  the  beginning  of  the  Koman  do- 
minion. 

INTERPRETATION 

By  the  Mormon  Prophet,  By  the  Hieroglyphists. 

Fig.  I.  Abraham  sitting  upon  Fig.  I.  Osiris  on  his  seat. 
Pharaoh's  throne  by  the  politeness 
of  the  king,  with  a  crown  upon  his 
head,  representing  the  Priesthood, 
as  emblematical  of  the  grand  Pres- 
idency in  Heaven ;  with  the  sceptre 
of  justice  and  judgment  in  bis 
band. 


^  S^K-^imiU  fvm  th(  lowfe  of  ^},vmw. 

No.  III. 


THE  PAPYRUS  CRITICISED. 


619 


By  the  Mormon  Froiiliet, 

II.  King  Pharaoh,  the  first  per- 
son on  the  left  of  our  engraving, 
whose  name  is  given  in  the  charac- 
ters above  his  head. 

III.  Signifies  Abraham  in  Egypt ; 
as  before  in  the  interpretation  of 
No.  I.,  fig.  10. 

lY.  Prince  of  Pharaoh,  King  of 
Egypt,  as  written  above  the  hand. 

Y.  Shulem,  one  of  the  king's 
principal  waiters,  as  represented  by 
the  characters  above  his  hand. 


YI.  Olimlah,  a  slave  belonging  to 
the  prince.  Abraham  is  reasoning 
upon  the  principles  of  astronomy  in 
the  king's  court. 


By  the  Hieroglyphists, 

II.  The  goddess  Isis.  The  star 
she  carries  in  her  right  hand  is  the 
sign  of  life. 

III.  Altar,  with  the  oftering  of 
the  deceased,  surrounded  with  lotus 
flowers,  signifying  the  ofibring  of 
the  defunct. 

lY.  The  goddess  Ma. 

Y.  The  deceased  led  by  Ma  into 
the  presence  of  Osiris.  His  name  is 
HoruSj  as  may  be  seen  in  the  prayer 
which  is  at  the  bottom  of  the  pic- 
ture, and  which  is  addressed  to  the 
divinities  of  the  four  cardinal  points. 

YI.  An  unknown  divinity,  proba- 
bly Anubis;  but  his  head,  which 
ought  to  be  that  of  a  jackal,  has 
been  changed. 


The  English  text  of  the  ^'Book  of  Abraham,"  published 
with  these  rude  engravings,  covers  ten  pages  in  the  Pearl  of 
"Great  Price,"  entitled  "A  translation  of  some  ancient  rec- 
"ordsthat  have  fallen  into  our  hands  from  the  catacombs  of 
"  Egypt,  purporting  to  be  tlie  writings  of  Abraham,  written 
"  by  his  own  hand  upon  papyrus."  ^ 

In  all  probability,  many  of  the  Mormons  will  be  staggered 
by  the  translation  of  M.  Deveria,  but  many  more  will  treat  it 
with  indifference.  Those  who  devote  some  consideration  to 
this  subject  will  be  very  apt  to  carry  their  thoughts  to  the 
translation  of  the  Book  of  Mormon,  where  their  confidence  in 
its  divinity  and  truthfulness  is  not  likely  by  this  circumstance 
to  be  much  increased.  Brigham  Young  has  been  in  posses- 
sion of  the  two  translations  for  several  years,  but  the  Mormon 
press  has  been  silent  on  the  opposition  of  science  to  inspira- 
tion. 

With  the  Prophet's  story  of  the  supposed  Book  of  Abra- 
ham placed  side  by  side  with  the  translation  of  the  papyrus  by 
the  scientist,  the  reader  may  possibly  conclude  that  Joseph 


*  Times  and  Seasons^  vol.  iii.,  p.  704. 


620 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


Smitli  imposed  upon  the  credulity  of  the  Saints,  and  hence 
that  the  claim  throughout  this  work  that  Joseph  was  sincere  is 
here  unsupported.  The  Author,  notwithstanding,  still  clings 
to  the  assertion  that  Joseph  believed  sincerely  that  he  was  in- 
spired, and  the  pride  with  which  he  gave  this  translation  to 
the  world  supports  that  conclusion.  Had  he  ever  doubted  the 
correctness  of  his  translation,  he  never  would  have  given  to 
the  public  the  facsimile  of  the  characters  and  his  translation 
of  them.  Joseph  Smith  at  this  time  was  over  thirty  years  of 
age,  and  had  passed  through  too  rough  an  experience  to  have 
risked  his  reputation  upon  anything  about  which  he  had  the 
slightest  doubt.  If  the  translation  of  the  scientist  is  correct, 
and  it  bears  upon  its  face  evidence  to  that  eflfect,  then  Joseph 
was  as  much  deceived  as  many  others  have  been  before  and 
since,  who  have  laid  claim  to  the  possession  of  divine  and  su- 
pernatural powers,  and  the  receiving  of  revelations.  A  notice- 
able case  is  given  elsewhere  in  this  work,  where  it  is  related 
how  Joseph  Morris  gave  to  a  handful  of  his  people,  in  a  mo- 
ment of  extreme  peril,  a  revelation  from  God  that  not  a  hair 
of  their  heads  should  be  injured,"  and  the  very  next  minute 
two  w^omen  were  killed  and  the  jaw  of  a  little  girl  blown  off,  and 
before  that  difficulty  terminated  the  very  revelator  himself  lay 
stiff  in  death  among  his  own  people,  many  of  whom  still  be- 
lieve him  to  have  been  a  prophet  and  revelator !  The  revela- 
tions of  Joseph  Smith  concerning  the  throwing  down  of  towers, 
scattering  the  watchmen,  and  the  restoration  of  the  exiles  to 
Jackson  county,  Missouri,  were  as  signally  unfulfilled,  yet  the 
Mormons  believe  them  still  to  have  been  divine,  and  Joseph  a 
revelator !  In  the  face  of  such  palpable  failures  no  rational  in- 
terpretation can  be  given  to  what  is  called  the  faith  of  the 
"  Saints,"  than  that  that  faith  being  attested  in  some  instances 
within  their  own  experience  by  positive  truths,  they  dread  to 
harbour  a  doubt  of  anything  that  comes  to  them  with  the 
same  authority,  lest  in  doing  so  they  should  ''doubt  the 
"Lord."^ 

*  Since  the  foregoing  was  written,  the  Author  has  received  the  following  com- 
munication from  a  gentleman  who  has  been  about  thirty  years  associated  with  Mor- 
monism,  and  who  personally  knew  well  the  Prophet ; 

"  Joseph  Smith  was  no  more  and  no  less  than  a  '  spirit-medium  ' — more  impres^ 
sional  than  clairvoyant  or  clairaudient.    Being  the  first  of  the  age  operated  upon 


WAS  JOSEPH  SMITH  A  "SPIRIT-MEDIUM? 


521 


During  one  of  the  periods  of  Joseph's  concealment  from 
the  officers  of  tlie  law  he  indited  an  "  Address  to  the  Church 
"  of  Jesus  Christ  of  Latter-Day  Saints,"  dated  Nauvoo,  Sep- 
tember 6th,  184:2,  in  which  he  gives  the  names  of  his  visitors 
from  the  other  world,  which  tends  to  confirm  the  supposition 
that  the  Mormon  Prophet  was  nothing  more  than  a  "  medium  " 
through  whom  it  is  claimed  the  spirits  of  the  dead  communi- 
cated.   Joseph  says  : 

"  And  again,  what  do  we  hear  ?  Glad  tidings  from  Cumorah  !  Moroni, 
an  angel  from  heaven,  declaring  the  fulfilment  of  the  prophets — the  books 
to  be  revealed.  A  voice  of  the  Lord  in  the  wilderness  of  Fayette,  Seneca 
county,  declaring  the  three  witnesses  to  bear  record  of  the  book.  The 
voice  of  Michael  on  the  banks  of  the  Susquehanna,  detecting  the  devil  when 
he  appeared  as  an  angel  of  light.  The  voice  of  Peter^  James,  and  John  in 
the  wilderness  between  Harmony,  Susquehanna  county,  and  Colesville, 
Broome  county,  on  the  Susquehanna  river,  declaring  themselves  as  pos- 
sessing the  keys  of  the  kingdom,  and  of  the  dispensation  of  the  fulness 
of  times. 

"  And  again,  the  voice  of  God,  in  the  chamber  of  old  father  Whitmer, 
in  Fayette,  Seneca  county,  and  at  sundry  times,  and  in  divers  places, 
through  all  the  travels  and  tribulations  of  this  Church  of  Jesus  Christ  of 
Latter-Day  Saints.  And  the  voice  of  Michael  the  archangel ;  the  voice  of 
Gahriel  and  of  Baphael,  and  of  divers  angels,  from  Michael  or  Adam  down 
to  the  present  time,  all  declaring  each  one  their  dispensation,  their  rights, 
their  Iceys,  their  honours,  their  majesty  and  glory,  and  the  power  of  their 
'priesthood  ;  giving  line  upon  line,  precept  upon  precept ;  here  a  little,  and . 
there  a  little — giving  us  consolation  by  holding  forth  that  which  is  to 
come,  confirming  our  hope." 

To  the  reader  unacquainted  with  the  phenomena  of  spirit- 
ualism the  claims  of  the  founder  of  Mormon  ism  to  revelation 
and  the  gift  of  interpretation  must  bear  the  stamp  of  craziness 
or  imposture,  but  the  believer  in  such  manifestations  experiences 
no  difficulty  in  comprehending  the  position  which  he  occupied. 

Probably  all  the  w^riters  on  these  phenomena,  from  the 
days  of  Emanuel  Swedenborg  to  the  present  hour,  would  ad- 
mit that  there  was  some  ground  for  the  assertion  of  the  Mor- 
mon Prophet  that  he  had  received  and  communicated  with 
visitors  from  the  unseen  world,  who  represented  themselves  to 

by  spiritual  power,  he  was  very  crude  in  his  conceptions,  both  of  the  fearacter  and 
modus  operandi  of  spiritual  communications,  and  gave  them  all  the  weight  of  divine 
revelations,  while  they  were  really  no  more  than  the  opinions  of  the  spirits  of  men 
who  had  once  lived  on  the  earth." 


522 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


be  the  personages  lie  named — save  the  highest.  But  while 
they  would  admit  the  probability  of  such  representations,  they 
would  condemn  the  use  made  of  their  communications  by  Jo- 
seph Smith ;  for  while  modern  psychomancists  seek  for  intelli- 
gence by  means  of  communication  with  the  spirits  of  the  dead, 
they  deny  to  those  spirits  any  right  to  dictate  to  them  any 
peculiar  system  of  faith  or  any  direction  of  their  actions.  In  - 
this  way  the  modern  spiritualist  asserts  that  he  moves  in  har- 
mony with  the  general  intelligence  and  science  of  his  age, 
while,  on  the  contrary,  Joseph  Smith  became  the  slave  of 
every  spirit  that  assumed  a  great  name,  and  following  without 
a  question  their  dictum,  travelled  back  to  the  barbaric  ages  in 
wliich  they  lived,  reviving  the  institutions  of  their  times — such 
as  slavery,  polygamy,  and  theocratic  sovereignty — and  thus 
placed  himself  in  direct  opposition  to  the  intelligence  of  the 
present  day. 


% 


CHAPTER  XLYIIl. 


THE  BOOK  OF  MOEMON.— Orson  Pratt's  Account  of  its  Origin— Ancient  Hebrew 
Prophecies  fulfilled — First  Inhabitants  of  America— Murder  of  Laban— Theft  of 
his  Plates — Migration  of  Israelites  from  Palestine  to  America— The  Building  of 
the  "Barges  " — Lehi  and  his  Sons — Jared's  Interview  with  "the  Lord" — Diffi- 
culties of  Navigation — The  Wonderful  Compass — Bad  Ways  of  the  Brethren — 
Landing  in  America — Nations  founded  and  Cities  built — "  Christians  "  in  Amer- 
ica One  Hundred  Years  before  Christ  was  born — A  Church  founded — Persecu- 
tions and  Preachings — Fearful  Signs,  Wonders,  and  Prophecies — Battles  between 
the  Nephites  and  Lamanites — Two  Millions  of  Men  slain  in  one  Battle — The 
Gold  Plates  hid  in  the  Hill  Cumorah — Internal  Evidence — Plagiarisms  from  the 
New  Testament  and  Shakespeare— Analysis  of  the  Book — The  Folly  of  the  Mor- 
mon Argument  upon  Evidence. 

The  circumstances  under  which  this  singular  work  was 
brought  to  the  knowledge  of  the  public,  together  with  its  claims 
to  a  divine  origin,  as  believed  by  the  Latter-Day  Saints,  have 
been  given  in  the  first  chapters  of  this  work.  Of  the  book  it- 
self, something  may  now  be  stated.  ^ 

"  The  Book  of  Mormon  claims  to  be  the  sacred  history  of  ancient 
America  written  by  a  succession  of  ancient  prophets  who  inhabited  that 
vast  continent.  The  plates  of  gold  containing  this  history  were  discov- 
ered by  a  young  man  named  Joseph  Smith,  through  the  ministry  of  a  holy 
angel.  .  .  .  With  the  plates  were  also  found  a  Urim  and  Thummim. 
Each  plate  was  not  far  from  seven  by  eight  inches  in  width  and  length, 
being  not  quite  so  thick  as  common  tin.  Each  was  filled  on  both  sides 
with  engraved  Egyptian  characters;  and  the  whole  was  bound  together 
in  a  volume  as  the  leaves  of  a  book,  and  fastened  at  one  edge  with  three 
rings  running  through  each.  This  volume  was  something  near  six  inches 
in  thickness,  a  part  of  which  was  sealed.  The  characters  or  letters  upon 
the  unsealed  part  were  small  and  beautifully  engraved.  Mr.  Smith,  by 
the  Urim  and  Thummin,  and  by  the  gift  and  power  of  God,  translated 
this  record  into  the  English  language."  * 

*  "  Divine  Authenticity,"  p.  49. 

32 


524 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


Controversial  writers  against  Mormonism  are  unanimous  in 
discarding  this  whole  story  of  angel  visits  and  gold  plates  as  a 
pure  invention,  and  they  characterize  Joseph  Smith  as  an  im- 
postor. 

The  statement  of  the  modern  Prophet  as  to  the  origin  of 
the  book  cannot,  however,  well  be  invalidated.  What  he  says 
may  be  sheer  falsehood,  and  as  such  the  world  regards  his 
statement,  but  of  itself  it  furnishes  no  opportunity  for  disproof. 
He  asserts  that  an  angel  visited  him  and  instructed  him  where 
to  find  the  plates ;  that  he  went  to  the  place  designated  on  sev- 
eral occasions  during  a  period  of  four  years,  saw  and  handled 
the  plates,  and  finally  took  them  as  instructed.  This  is  a  sim- 
ple assertion  and  admits  of  no  argument. 

That  Joseph  had  at  one  time  in  his  possession  metallic 
plates  of  some  kind,  with  engraved  characters  upon  them,  there 
appears  no  reason  to  doubt,  if  human  testimony  is  to  be  ac- 
cepted as  evidence ;  but  where  and  how  he  got  the  plates  which 
he  exhibited  to  a  number  of  persons,  and  whether  the  Book  of 
Mormon  is  a  veritable  interpretation  of  the  characters  on  those 
plates,  and  whether  or  not  the  narrative  presented  is  true  and 
of  any  importance  to  the  world,  are  subjects  purely  of  faith. 

It  is  claimed  by  the  Mormon  preachers  that  both  Joseph 
Smith  and  the  Book  of  Mormon  were  objects  of  inspired  pre- 
diction about  three  thousand  years  ago.  The  unromantic  name 
of  Smith  is  not  said  to  be  a  biblical  subject,  nor  is  that  of  Mor- 
mon stated ;  but  one  of  the  Hebrew  prophets,"^  relating  his 
vision  of  matters  interesting  to  the  scattered  Israelites,  narrates 
that,  while  an  angel  talked  w^ith  him,  another  angel  came  forth 
and  said :  "  Run,  speak  to  this  young  man^  saying,  Jerusalem 
"  shall  be  inhabited  as  towns  without  walls,"  etc.,  and  another 
inspired  prophet  f  tells  of  something  that  shall  speak  out  of 
the  ground  ....  and  thy  speech  shall  whisper  out  of  the 
"  dust."  Joseph  Smith  was  a  young  man,  and  the  golden 
plates  were  taken  out  of  the  ground ;  hence  the  argument. 

*  Zech.  ii.  4. 
\  Isaiah  xxix.  4. 

Isaiah  is  the  favourite  prophet  of  the  Mormons,  and  is  said  to  have  been 
greatly  gifted  with  comprehensive  views  of  the  Western  continent,  the  mission  of 
Joseph  Smith,  the  location  of  Salt  Lake  City,  and  the  building  of  the  Pacific  Rail- 
road ! 


THE  BOOK  OF  MORMON. 


525 


By  referring  to  these  passages  of  Scripture,  and  taking  into 
account  the  subjects  occupying  the  attention  of  Zechariah  and 
Isaiah,  the  reader  may  have  difficulty  in  seeing  the  relevancy 
of  the  predictions  to  the  Book  of  Mormon.  These  were,  how- 
ever, favourite  passages  in  the  dawn  of  the  Mormon  movement, 
and  served  the  excellent  purpose  of  exercising  the  faith  of  the 
young  converts  !  There  is  nothing  so  powerful  in  the  found- 
ing of  a  sect  as  large  doses  of  obscure  Scripture,  and  a  plentiful 
supply  of  mystery,  and  of  the  abundance  of  both  the  first  Mor- 
mons might  well  have  proudly  boasted. 

Of  the  evidences  of  the  "  Divine  Authenticity  "  of  this  book, 
Orson  Pratt  furnishes  the  student  with  ninety-six  octavo  pages, 
and  with  much  satisfaction  asserts  that  "  the  witnesses  of  the 

Book  of  Mormon  are  not  only  equal  in  number,  but  supe- 
"  rior  in  certainty  to  those  which  this  generation  have  of 
"  Christ's  resurrection."  He  concludes  a  long  series  of  elab- 
orate arguments  with  the  statement  that  "  this  generation 
"  have  more  than  one  thousand  times  the  amount  of  evidence 
"to  demonstrate  and  for  ever  establish  the  divine  authenti- 
"  city  of  the  Book  of  Mormon,  than  they  have  in  favour  of  the 

Bible." 

Elder  Pratt  has  three  grand  sermons :  the  Fulfilment  of 
prophecy  in  the  mission  of  Joseph  Smith,  Polygamy,  and  the 
Book  of  Mormon,  and,  whenever  he  ascends  the  rostrum,  he  is 
certain  to  launch  out  with  one  of  the  three.  He  ignores  all 
thought  of  opposition  to  the  last  named,  and  announces  "  that 
"  the  Book  of  Mormon  is  a  divine  revelation,  for  the  voice  of 
the  Lord  hath  declared  it  unto  me."  He  further  asserts  that 
there  are  "  many  thousands  of  witnesses  to  whom  God  has 
"  revealed  the  truth  of  the  Book  of  Mormon  by  heavenly  vis- 
"ions,  by  angels,  by  the  revelations  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  by  His 
"  own  voice  and  by  the  miraculous  gifts  and  powers  of  His 
"kingdom." 

With  the  burden  of  such  a  revelation  upon  his  soul,  this 
apostle  bears  his  "  humble  testimony  to  all  the  nations  of  the 
"  earth,"  and  warns  "  all  mankind  to  repent,"  and  enter  into 
the  Mormon  Church ;  failing  which  they  "  shall  be  damned," 
and  shall  in  no  wise  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  God,  for  this 
message  shall  condemn  them  at  "  the  last  day."    In  the  mean 


526 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


time  there  are  terrible  visitations  to  be  looked  for  among  those 
who  refuse  to  believe,,  and  no  one  is  to  escape. 

Tlie  Book  of  Mormon  forms  a  large-sized  volume  consisting 
of  between  Hve  and  six  hundred  pages  of  closely  printed  mat- 
ter. It  is  divided  into  fifteen  books,  some  of  which  are  again 
divided  into  chapters.  The  Author  has  read  most  of  the  argu- 
ments for  and  against  the  genuineness  and  authenticity  of  this 
remarkable  production.  He  does  not  desire  to  combat  or  sup- 
port any  theory,  but  as,  of  course,  the  reader  will  expect  to 
learn  something  of  the  groundwork  of  the  Mormon  faith,  he 
presents  without  unnecessary  comment  a  brief  abstract  of  the 
whole  work,  together  with  a  few  quotations  which  will  help  the 
truth-seeker  to  arrive  at  a  correct  conclusion  of  his  own. 

The  plates  from  which  the  book  is  said  to  be  "  translated  " 
are  stated  by  Nephi,  the  author  of  the  first  two  books,  to  be 
written  "  in  the  language  of  my  father,  which  consists  of  the 
"  learning  of  the  Jews  and  the  language  of  the  Egyptians  " 
[Nephi,  p.  i.].  JSTephi  possibly  understood  better  than  the 
reader  can  be  expected  to,  how  the  learning  of  the  Jews  " 
added  to  the  "  language  of  the  Egyptians "  could  form  the 
speech  of  any  people,  and  also  how  JSTephi,  himself  a  Hebrew, 
came  to  call  the  tongue  of  the  bitterly-hated  Egyptian  "  the 
"  language  of  my  father." 

The  whole  work  is  supposed  to  contain,  besides  a 
amount  of  incidental  doctrinal  matter,  the  record  of  the  ancient 
inhabitants  of  the  American  continent. 

According  to  the  Book  of  Mormon,  America  was  first  peo- 
pled by  the  family  of  one  Jared,  who  after  the  confusion  of 
tongues  at  Babel  set  out  for  this  hemisphere.  Here  they  grew 
and  multiplied,  but  in  course  of  time  became  sinful  and  finally 
exterminated  one  another  in  battles,  in  one  of  which  two  mil- 
lions of  men  are  said  to  have  been  slain.  This  took  place  six 
hundred  years  before  Christ. 

The  second  emigration  consisted  of  the  family  of  Lehi  of 
the  tribe  of  Manasseh,  who  left  Jerusalem  during  the  troubles 
of  Zedekiah's  reign  and  came  over  in  eight  "  barges."  Here 
they  fiourished  and  became  exceedingly  numerous,  but,  like 
their  predecessors,  falling  into  evil  ways,  dissensions  and  exter- 
minating wars  ensued,  ending  tragically  about  a.  d.  420. 


JEWISH  MIGRATIONS  TO  AMERICA. 


627 


Besides  these  a  third  migration  is  mentioned  of  certain 
Jews  who  came  over  about  eleven  years  after  Lehi,  with  whose 
descendants  they  mingled  and  whose  fate  they  shared.  The 
period  by  these  transactions,  reckoning  from  Jared's  migration, 
is  about  2,500  years,  or  1,000  years  from  the  migration  of  Lehi 
to  the  putting-up  of  the  gold  plates  by  Moroni  in  the  hill  Cu- 
morah.  The  details  of  the  immigration  of  Jared  and  that  of 
Lehi  are  both  given  in  extenso^  and  are  of  an  extraordinary  de- 
scription. A  brief  outline  will  interest  the  reader,  as  throw- 
ing Mormon  light  upon  that  vexed  question — the  original 
peopling  of  America. 

Jared,  who  lived  just  after  the  flood,  left  the  Tower  of  Ba- 
bel when  the  confusion  of  tongues  took  place,  and  made  for 
the  sea-shore.  The  reader  is  told  [p.  517]  that  "  Jared  and  his 
brother  were  not  confounded."  Jared  and  his  brethren  with 
their  servants  and  followers  remained  near  the  coast  about  four 
years,  and,  "  at  the  end  of  four  years,  the  Lord  came  again 
"  unto  the  brother  of  Jared,  and  stood  in  a  cloud  and  talked 
"  with  him  ''—[p.  519]. 

The  time  at  last  arrived  when  the  Jared  family  should 
leave  the  Eastern  Continent,  and  seek  for  homes  in  the  New 
World,  and  they  began  to  build  a  navy.  They  accordingly 
made  eight  "  barges,"  in  which  they  proposed  to  cross  the 
ocean.  The  following  is  a  description  of  the  outfit "- — [pp.  519^ 
520]  : 

"  And  the  Lord  said,  Go  to  work  and  build  after  the  manner  of  barges 
which  ye  have  hitherto  built.  And  it  came  to  pass  that  the  brother  of 
Jared  did  go  to  work,  and  also  his  brethren,  and  built  barges  after  the 
manner  which  they  had  built,  after  the  instructions  of  the  Lord.  And 
they  were  small,  and  they  were  light  upon  the  water,  like  unto  the  light- 
ness of  a  fowl  upon  the  water ;  and  they  were  built  like  unto  a  manner 
that  they  were  exceeding  tight,  even  that  they  would  hold  water  like 
unto  a  dish  ;  and  the  bottom  thereof  was  tight  like  unto  a  dish,  and  the 
ends  thereof  were  peaked ;  and  the  top  thereof  was  tight  like  unto  a 
dish ;  and  the  length  thereof  was  the  length  of  a  tree;  and  the  door  thereof 
when  it  was  shut  was  tight  like  unto  a  dish.  And  it  came  to  pass  that 
the  brother  of  Jared  cried  unto  the  Lord,  saying :  O  Lord,  I  have  per- 
formed the  work  which  thou  hast  commanded  me,  and  I  have  made  the 
barges  according  as  thou  hast  directed  me.  And  behold,  O  Lord,  in  them 
is  no  light,  whither  shall  we  steer  ?  And  also  we  shall  perish,  for  in  them 
we  cannot  breathe,  save  it  is  the  air  that  is  in  them ;  therefore  we  shall 


528 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


perish.  And  the  Lord  said  unto  the  brother  of  Jared,  Behold  thou  shalt 
make  a  hole  in  the  top  thereof,  and  also  in  the  bottom  thereof;  and 
when  thou  shalt  suffer  for  air,  thou  shalt  unstop  the  hole  thereof  and  re- 
ceive air.  And  if  it  be  so  that  the  water  come  in  upon  thee,  behold  ye 
shall  stop  the  hole  thereof,  that  ye  may  not  perish  in  the  flood.  And  it 
came  to  pass  that  the  brother  of  Jared  did  so,  according  as  the  Lord  com- 
manded." 

The  eight  air-tight  barges  of  the  emigrants  were  totally  des- 
titute of  light,  a  fact  which  it  appears  the  Lord  had  as  yet  not 
provided  for.  Jared  stated  the  matter  to  him  [p.  520],  and  the 
Lord  said,  "  What  will  ye  that  I  should  do  that  ye  may  have 
"  light  in  your  vessels  ?  "  at  the  same  time  informing  Jared 
that  ordinary  windows  [!]  would  be  dashed  to  pieces  by  the 
waves.  Jared  does  not  appear  to  have  continued  the  conversa- 
tion, for,  without  making  any  reply  to  the  Lord's  question,  he 
"  went  forth  into  the  mount  "  and  "  did  moulten  out  of  a  rock 
"  sixteen  small  stones ;  and  they  were  white  and  clear  even  as 
"transparent  glass ;  and  he  did  carry  them  in  his  hands  "  to 
the  Lord,  who  "  touched  "  "  one*  by  one  with  his  finger  "  [p. 
521],  and  they  miraculously  gave  forth  light  of  themselves. 
Jared  then  placed  one  at  each  end  of  every  barge. 

As  the  Lord  was  touching  these  wonderful  stones,  Jared 
saw  visibly  the  divine  finger,  and,  not  only  so,  but,  after  some 
little  preliminary  conversation,  was  more  highly  privileged 
than  ever  was  seer  before  or  since.  Moses  is  recorded  to  have 
seen  the  "  back  parts  "  of  the  Almighty,  but  might  not  see  His 
glory ;  three  Apostles  saw  Christ  transfigured,  and  even  Joseph 
Smith  saw  "  the  Lord  "  in  a  vision.  But  Jared  excelled  them 
all,  for,  although  previous  to  his  interview,  it  is  said  [p.  521], 
"he  knew  not  that  the  Lord  had  flesh  and  hlood^^  yet  now  the 
Lord  showed  Himself  unto  him,  saying  at  the  same  time,  "  I 
"  am  Jesus  Christ — I  am  the  Father  and  the  Son  ! ! !  Behold 
"  this  body  which  ye  now  behold  is  the  body  of  mj^  spirit :  and 
"  even  as  I  appear  unto  thee  to  be  in  the  spirit,  will  I  appear 
"  unto  my  people  in  the  flesh  " — [p.  521]. 

In  these  "  barges,"  after  they  "  did  also  lay  snares  "  to 
catch  fowl  and  wild  beasts,  they  placed  pairs  of  all  created  an- 
imals, after  the  fashion  of  Noah — "  all  manner  of  that  which 
"  was  upon  the  face  of  the  land  " — every  kind  of  seed,  with 


THE  BARGES  TIGHT  -LIKE  UNTO  A  DISH. 


629 


deseret "  [which  by  interpretation  is  a  honey-bee],  "  swarms 
"  of  bees,"  and  "fish  of  the  waters^^^  and  ''flocks  and  herds  " 
[p.  525].  In  addition  to  all  these,  food  and  fodder  were  also 
stored  up  for  man  and  beast  [including  the  wild  ones]  for  near- 
ly a  year !  Yet,  all  this  enormous  burthen  was  placed,  as  be- 
fore stated,  in  eight  barges,  ''  small^'^  and  "  like  unto  the  light- 
"  ness  of  a  fowl  upon  the  waters  !  !  " 

The  dish-like  barges  were  without  sails  or  rigging,  but 
were  miraculously  driven  through  the  sea  by  a  "  furious  wind," 
which  "  did  never  cease  to  blow  towards  the  promised  land 
while  they  were  upon  the  waters  ;  and  thus  they  were  driven 
"  forth  before  the  wind  "  [p.  526],  and  "  no  monster  of  the  sea 
"  could  break  them,  neither  whale  could  mar  them."  The 
voyage  occupied  344  days — very  nearly  a  year — and  when 
they  had  reached  the  promised  land,  they  bowed  themselves  in 
worship  before  the  Lord. 

On  the  American  Continent  they  grew  and  multiplied, 
founded  mighty  cities,  and  became  a  great  people ;  but,  be- 
coming exceedingly  sinful,  great  divisions  and  strife  sprang  up 
among  them,  and  they  separated  into  various  nations.  Devas- 
tating wars  depopulated  the  country,*^  and  jBnally  the  contend- 
ing parties  utterly  exterminated  each  other. 

The  second  migration  occurred  just  about  the  time  when 
the  descendants  of  the  Jaredite  emigrants  were  annihilated — 
i.  e.,  600  years  before  Christ.  According  to  the  Book  of  Mor- 
mon, Lehi,  an  Israelite  of  the  tribe  of  Manasseh,  with  his 
family,  left  Jerusalem  early  in  Zedekiah's  reign.  His  son, 
Nephi,  a  pious  young  man,  according  to  his  own  testimony  [p. 
6],  desired  to  possess  certain  plates  of  brass,  upon  which  were 
engraved  the  records  of  his  family,  the  law  of  Moses,  the 
prophets,  etc.,  which  were  in  possession  of  Laban,  his  kinsman. 
Laban  refused  to  sell  them  and  tried  to  obtain  the  property  of 
the  emigrants  without  any  transfer  of  the  plates  [p.  Y].  Nephi 
went  up  to  Jerusalem  to  see  what  could  be  done  in  the  matter, 

*  In  one  of  these  battles,  in  which  the  two  millions  of  men  were  slain,  we  are  told : 
"  And  it  came  to  pass  that  when  they  had  all  fallen  by  the  sword,  save  it  were 
Coriantumr  and  Shiz,  behold  Shiz  had  fainted  with  loss  of  blood.  And  it  came  to 
pass  when  Coriantumr  had  leaned  upon  his  sword,  that  he  rested  a  little,  he  smote 
off  the  head  of  Shiz.  And  it  came  to  pass  that,  after  he  had  smote  off  the  head 
of  Shiz,  that  Shiz  raised  upon  his  hands  and  fell ;  and  after  he  had  struggled  for 
breath,  he  died." — "  Book  of  Mormon,"  p.  549. 


530 


THE  KOCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


and  found  Laban  in  the  street  near  his  own  house,  where  "  he 
"  had  fallen  to  the  earth,  for  he  was  drunken  with  wine."  The 
good  Nephi  appears  to  have  had  some  little  compunction  about 
attacking  his  kinsman  while  he  was  in  that  helpless  condition, 
but  after  a  little  equivocation  he  resolved  to  seize  the  opportu- 
nity, and  ^^constrained  by  the  Spirit"  [p.  8],  and  arguing  "it 
"is  better  that  one  man  should  perish,  than  that  a  nation 
"should  dwindle  and  perish  in  unbelief,"  he  "took  Laban  by 
"the  hair  of  his  head,  and  smote  off  his  head  with  his  own 
"  sword."  He  then  took  Laban's  sword,  garments,  and  armour, 
and,  arrayed  in  them,  set  out  for  the  dead  man's  "  treasury." 
On  his  way  he  met  with  Laban's  servant,  and,  passing  himself 
■)ff  for  his  master,  obtained  the  objects  of  his  visit — viz.,  the 
dlates,  records,  etc. — and  enticed  the  servant  himself  away  to 
^he  outside  of  the  city,  where  he  made  him  prisoner.  For  all 
these  exploits,  Lehi  and  the  emigrant  party  gave  God  thanks. 

They  then  "  did  travel  and  wade  through  much  affliction  in 
"  the  wilderness,"  and  "  did  slay  wild  beasts,"  and  in  this  man- 
ner subsisted.  "  So  great,"  says  Nephi,  "  were  the  blessings 
"  of  the  Lord  upon  us,  that,  while  loe  did  live  ujpon  raw  meat 
"  in  the  wilderness,  our  women  did  give  plenty  of  suck  for 
"  their  children,  and  were  strong,  yea,  even  like  unto  men." 
Yet  as  they  journeyed  some  of  the  brethren  "  did  rebel  against 
"  us  ;  yea,  against  I  Nephi,  and  Sam  !  "  p.  12. — [I.  Neph.  v., 
par.  17.] 

Regardless  of  all  difficulties,  Nephi  and  his  brethren  trav- 
elled towards  the  sea-shore,  but  what  sea  it  was  can  only  be 
conjectured,  as  he  calls  all  the  rivers,  mountains,  and  other 
prominent  landmarks,  which  they  passed,  \>j  other  names  than 
those  generally  known  either  in  ancient  or  modern  geography. 
On  their  way  they  made  a  gr.eat  discovery,  which  Nephi  thus 
relates : 

"  It  came  to  pass  that  as  my  father  arose  in  the  morning  and  went 
forth  to  the  tent  door,  to  his  great  astonishment  he  beheld  upon  the 
ground  a  round  ball  of  curious  workmanship ;  and  it  was  of  fine  brass. 
And  within  the  ball  were  two  spindles :  and  the  one  pointed  the  way 
whither  we  should  go  into  the  v/ilderness." 

This  "  ball  "  elsewhere  described  as  a  "  compass  "  [p.  314] 
did  not  point  to  the  pole,  but  "  if  they  had  faith  to  believe  that 


NEPHI     CONSTRUCTS"  A  SHIP. 


531 


"  God  could  cause  that  those  spindles  should  point  the  way 
"  they  should  go,  behold  it  was  done."  This  was  a  naarvellous 
and  convenient  ball ;  it  served  alike  to  direct  them  to  good 
hunting-grounds  and  to  indicate  their  way,  and  afterwards  it 
was  their  guide  overland  and  across  the  acean.  It  also  had  an- 
other quality  and  served  as  a  divine  instructor,  for  upon  the 
"  pointers  "  were  written  from  time  to  time,  as  their  spiritual 
necessities  demanded,  various  divine  counsels  and  directions. 
One  only  of  the  pointers  served  as  a  guide :  the  use  of  the 
other  is  not  stated. 

Nephi  in  course  of  time  began  to  build  a  ship,  and  "  did 
"  make  tools  of  the  ore  which  I  did  molten  out  of  the  rock  ;  " 
and  his  brethren  said :  "  Our  brother  is  a  fool,  for  he  thinketh 
"  that  he  can  build  a  ship  :  yea,  he  also  thinketh  that  he  can 
"cross  these  great  waters,"  and  they  said  to  him,  "we  knew 
"  that  ye  could  not  construct  a  ship,  for  we  knew  that  je  were 
"  lacking  in  judgment,  wherefore  thou  canst  not  accomplish  so 
"great  a  work"  [p.  37].  Nephi,  however,  argued  with  them, 
and  "  they  were  confounded."  The  Lord  also  promised  to 
"  shock  "  them  [p.  41],  which  he  did  so  effectually  that  they 
fell  down  before  their  brother  and  were  about  to  worship  him. 
The  "  shock  "  greatly  improved  them,  and  they  then  assisted  him 
in  the  preparation  of  his  ship,  of  which  he  says  that  he  did  not 
build  it  "  after  the  manner  of  men,"  but  "  after  the  manner 
"  which  the  Lord  had  shown  unto  me."  Ill-feeling  was  for  a 
time  forgotten  ;  they  accomplished  their  task,  took  in  ample 
stores,  and  then  set  sail  in  Nephi's  vessel,  and  in  due  course 
arrived  near  the  American  coast. 

The  Jaredites  had  been  driven  to  this  country  on  the  sur- 
face and  beneath  the  water  propelled  by  the  "  furious  wind  " 
which  the  Lord  caused  to  blow  upon  their  bare  "  barges ; "  but 
this  was  not  the  case  with  the  Nephite  migration.  They  had 
sails,  etc.,  and  needed  guidance  which  they  obtained  by  means 
of  the  before-mentioned  interesting  brass  ball.  After  they 
"  had  been  driven  forth  before  the  wind  for  the  space  of  many 
"  days,"  the  brothers  of  Neplii  went  back  to  their  old  ways  again 
"  and  began  to  make  themselves  merry,  insomuch  that  they  be- 
"  gan  to  dance  and  sing  and  to  speak  with  much  rudeness."  The 
result  was  that  when  Nephi  interrupted  their  merriment  they 


532 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


were  angry  with  him,  and  he  says :  "  It  came  to  pass  that 
•'Laman  and  Lemuel  did  take  me  and  bind  me  with  cords." 
They  kept  him  bound  prisoner  for  four  days,  during  which  time 
he  states  that  they  were  ''driven  back"  [p.  43],  though  how 
lie  knew  it,  as  "  the  compass  did  cease  to  work,"  he  does  not 
state.  A  tempest  arose  and  the  hard-hearted  brethren  released 
Nephi,  who  says :  "  It  came  to  pass  that  after  they  had  loosed 
"  me,  behold  I  took  the  compass,  and  it  did  work  whither  1 
"  desired  it^  After  this  performance  the  emigrants  arrived 
safely  in  "  the  promised  land,"  and  there  settled  as  their  prede- 
cessors had  done  before  them. 

As  far  as  can  be  conjectured  from  the  story  of  the  Book  of 
Mormon,  the  journey  of  the  emigrants,  after  travelling  by  land 
along  the  coast  of  the  Red  Sea,  was  through  the  Gulf  of  Aden, 
and  by  way  of  India  and  Australasia  over  the  Pacific  eastward 
to  America,  landing  a  little  north  of  what  is  now  called  the 
Isthmus  of  Panama. 

On  reaching  this  ''isle  of  the  sea"  [p.  78]  they  tilled  the 
ground  and  erected  habitations.  They  also  found  in  the  for- 
ests both  the  cow  and  the  ox,  and  the  ass  and  the  horse,  and 
"  the  goat  and  the  wild  goat,  and  all  manner  of  wild  animals 
"  that  were  for  the  use  of  man"  [p.  44],  In  another  place  it 
is  stated  [p.  533]  of  the  Jaredites  that  they  had  "  all  manner 
"  of  cattle,  of  oxen  and  cows,  and  of  sheep  and  of  swine^  and 
"  of  goats,  and  also  many  other  kinds  of  animals  which  were 
"  useful  for  the  food  of  man  ;  and  they  had  also  horses  and 
"  asses,  and  there  were  elephants  and  cureloms  and  cumoms.'^^ 
What  the  latter  beasts  were  it  is  impossible  to  determine,  but 
scientific  men  are  unanimously  agreed  that  elephants  never 
existed  on  this  continent,  and  that  horses,  asses,  oxen,  and 
swine,  were  introduced  by  the  European  settlers  within  the 
last  three  hundred  years.  Had  they  existed  at  the  times  al- 
luded to  by  the  Mormon  writer,  some  vestiges  of  them  would 
certainly  ere  this  have  been  discovered.  Theologians  will 
stand  aghast  at  swine  being  spoken  of  among  Hebrews  as  "  use- 
^'fulfor  the  food  of  man."  But  in  all  things  these  wandering 
Israelites  appear  to  have  had  a  taste  for  repudiating  their  na- 
tionality. It  has  been  already  seen  how  they  rejected  their 
beloved   Hebrew  tongue  which  they  believed  sacred,  and 


CHRISTIANS  BEFORE  CHRIST.  633 

adopted  the  language  of  their  detested  Egyptian  oppressors. 
In  one  place  they  defile  themselves  with  swine's  flesh,  and  in 
another  place  break  the  holiest  commandments  and  commit 
murder  in  God's  service  [p.  8],  and  elsewhere  they  are  spoken 
of  as  building  temples  and  consecrating  priests  [p.  208],  and 
even  in  domestic  afiairs  forgetting  the  weights  and  measures 
of  their  fathers,  the  omer,  the  ephah,  the  hin,  the  bath,  the  cab, 
and  the  shekel,  and  using  the  "  seon,  the  senine,  the  senum, 
"  the  onti,  limnah,  ezrom,  shum,  shiblon,  shiblum,  leah,  antion, 
"  shublon,  etc." 

Soon  after  their  arrival  in  this  country  they  increased  and 
multiplied  exceedingly  and  became  a  great  nation.  They 
were,  however,  constantly  divided  among  themselves  and  en- 
gaged in  fierce  warfare  with  each  other. 

Like  the  Jews,  they  had  their  prophets  and  teachers  to 
whom  they  sometimes  listened,  but  whom  they  more  frequent- 
ly persecuted  and  put  to  death.  The  great  mission  of  these 
prophets  appears  to  have  been  to  foretell  the  coming  of  Christ. 
This  they  did,  not  in  that  shadowy  and  mystic  fashion  common 
to  the  Hebrew  prophets  of  Palestine,  but  in  the  plainest  words 
which  could  be  used.  On  page  335,  it  is  stated  that  "  all  those 
"  who  were  true  believers  in  Christ  took  upon  them  gladly  the 
"  name  of  Christ  or  Christians,  as  they  were  called,  because  of 
"  their  belief  in  Christ  who  should  come."  This  was  a  cen- 
tury hefore  the  coming  of  Christ !  This,  however,  is  not  more 
strange  than  another  passage  where  an  angel  speaks  of  "the 
mouth  of  a  Jew  "  when  speaking  of  an  Israelite  of  the  ten 
tribes,  and  that  too  before  the  Babylonish  captivity  when  the 
remnant  of  the  Israelites  were  first  called  Jews,  or  on  the  other 
hand  to  talk  of  the  "  Gospel "  and  "  Churches  "  as  long  as  600 
years  before  Christ !  These  singular  pre-historic  American 
Christians  experienced  much  the  same  difiiculties  as  the  early 
converts  of  Peter  and  Paul  in  Europe,  and  were  persecuted 
much  after  the  fashion  described  in  Fox's  "  Book  of  Martyrs  " 
[p.  179]. 

At  the  time  when  Christ  was  born  the  people  had  dwin- 
''dled  away  in  unbelief"  [a  favourite  expression  in  the  Book 
of  Mormon,  apparently  meaning  the  reverse  of  what  it  says]. 
Many  of  them  doubted  whether  Christ  would  ever  really 


534 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


come  [p.  450.].  They  were  informed  that  "  the  kingdom  of 
"heaven  was  soon  at  hand,"  and  on  the  plates  which  formed 
their  sacred  records  the  exact  time  was  minutely  foretold. 
Five  years  before  the  birth  of  Christ,  it  was  predicted  that 
"  the  night  before  he  cometh  there  shall  be  no  darkness. 
"There  shall  be  one  day  and  a  night  and  a  day,  as  if  it  were 
"one  day,  and  there  shall  be  no  night  "  [p.  426].  And  thus 
it  is  represented  to  have  been.  On  that  night,  the  land  being 
full  of  unbelievers  in  the  coming  of  Christ,  and  many  saying, 
"  It  is  not  reasonable  that  such  a  being  as  a  Christ  shall  come  " 
[p.  431],  "Nephi  cried  mightily  unto  the  Lord,"  and  in  return 
was  told,  "  On  the  morrow  come  I  into  the  world."  The 
prophet  announced  this  to  his  people,  and  "  at  the  going  down 
"  of  the  sun  there  was  no  darkness,  and  the  people  began  to  be 
"  astonished,  because  there  was  no  darkness  when  the  night 
"came".  .  .  .  and  "there  was  no  darkness  in  all  that  night, 
"  but  it  was  as  light  as  though  it  was  mid-day  "  [p.  434].  It 
is  to  be  regretted  that  all  the  ancient  European  historians  of 
those  times,  who  must  have  known  of  such  an  extraordinary 
occurrence,  even  if  they  did  not  witness  the  phenomenon  them- 
selves, have  all  without  exception  preserved  a  profound  silence 
respecting  it. 

As  might  be  expected,  the  people  were  "  so  exceedingly 
"  astonished  that  they  fell  to  the  earth  ....  and  began  to 
"fear  because  of  their  iniquity  and  unbelief"  [p.  434].  "'A 
"  new  star  also  did  appear."  Nephi  made  the  most  of  the  oc- 
casion, and  preached  and  baptized,  and  many  were  "  converted 
"  unto  the  Lord." 

This  good  work,  however,  did  not  continue  very  peaceably, 
and  wars,  disputes,  and  fightings,  followed  until  the  thirty- 
fourth  year  [p.  450],  when  there  arose  a  storm  such  as  was 
never  heard  of  either  in  ancient  or  modern  times.  Cities  were 
swallowed  up,  mountains  sunk,  multitudes  were  carried  away 
in  a  whirlwind,  and  "  the  whole  face  of  the  earth  became  de- 
^'formed^^  while  "  behold  the  rocks  were  rent  in  twainP 
After  this  "  behold  there  w^as  darkness  upon  the  face  of  the 
"  land.  .  .  .  Thick  dai'kness.  .  .  .  The  inhabitants  could  feel 
"  the  vapour  of  darkness.  .  .  .  No  light.  .  .  .  Neither  candles 
"  nor  torches.  .  .  .  Neither  could  there  be  fire  kindled  with 


CHRIST  APPEARS  TO  THE  AMERICAN  SAINTS. 


535 


"  their  fine  and  exceeding  dry  wood.  .  .  .  Neither  fire  nor 
glimmer,  neither  the  sun,  nor  the  moon,  nor  the  stars.  .  .  . 
"  It  did  last  for  the  space  of  three  days.  .  .  .  Tliere  was  great 
howling"  [p.  451].  During  the  three  days  of  darkness  the 
people  heard  voices  which  are  stated  to  have  proceeded  from 
Christ,  attendant  upon  whose  crucifixion  these  signs  are  sup- 
posed to  have  been  [p.  451]. 

After  this  a  great  assemblage  met  in  the  land  bountiful " 
[p.  455]  ;  and  while  the  people  talked  over  the  marvellous 
events  which  had  just  transpired  they  heard  a  voice,  and  they 
"saw  a  man  descending  out  of  heaven."  This  ''man"  was 
Christ,  who  announced  himself  to  them*  and  they  fell  down  and 
worshipped  him  [p.  456].  He  then  told  the  whole  multitude 
to  "  Arise  and  come  forth  unto  me  that  ye  may  thrust  yoiir 
"hands  into  my  side,  and  also  that  ye  may  feel  the  prints  of 
"  the  nails  in  my  hands  and  in  my  feet,  that  ye  may  know  that 
"  I  am  the  God  of  Israel,  and  the  God  of  the  whole  earth,  and 
"have  been  slain  for  the  sins  of  the  world"  [p.  456].  Then 
"  the  multitude  went  forth  and  did  thrust  their  hands  into  His 
"  side,  and  did  feel  the  prints  of  the  nails  in  His  hands  and  in 
"  His  feet ;  and  this  they  did  do,  going  forth  one  by  one,  until 
"  they  had  all  gone  forth."  The  multitude  in  another  place 
[p.  469]  is  said  to  have  numbered  2,500  souls !  Now,  even 
allowing  the  time  occupied  by  each  individual  to  have  been 
only  one-quarter  of  a  minute  (a  calculation  far  too  low,  when 
arrangements  for  order  and  precedence,  and  some  degree 
of  decent  respect  for  his  person  are  considered),  the  time 
occupied  must  have  been  over  ten  hours  and  a  quarter, 
and,  after  all,  it  is  difiicult  to  see  what  proof  this  thrusting 
of  hands  into  the  side  of  Christ  and  seeing  the  print  of  the 
nails  would  afford  that  he  was  Christ.  Thomas  a  Didymus 
refused  to  believe  that  his  Master  was  raised  from  the  dead 
unless  he  saw  and  touched  him  ;  but  Thomas  knew  Christ  per- 
sonally, and  the  evidence  that  he  sought  was  not  at  all  incon- 
sistent, for  he  believed  that  such  demonstration  would  convince 
him  that  what  he  saw  was  the  real  body  of  Christ  with  which 
he  was  familiar,  and  not  a  phantom.  How  touching  Christ's 
body  could  convince  the  multitude  in  America  who  had  never 
before  seen  him  that  He  was  indeed  the  "  God  of  Israel "  is 


536 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


not  so  plain.  Thomas  when  he  saw  Christ  was  more  than  sat- 
isfied, but  the  vast  multitude  in  America,  it  is  said,  actually 
did  ''thrust  their  hands  into  His  side,  and  felt  the  nail-prints 
"  in  His  hands  and  feet,"  and  this,  too,  not  by  proxy,  but  person- 
ally, for  "  this  they  did  do,  going  forth  one  hy  one^  until  they 
"  had  all  gone  forth  "  [p.  457]. 

Nephi  then  states  that  "  the  Lord  explained  to  him  and 
to  the  whole  multitude  the  office  of  baptism  with  the  most 
minute  details,  for,  in  order  that  "  there  should  be  no  disputa- 
"  tions,"  He  told  them  that  they  should  be  immersed  after 
repentance  and  expressing  a  desire  to  be  baptized  in  His  name. 
He  then  repeated  his  sermon  on  the  mount  with  numerous  ad- 
ditions, enlargements,  and  quotations,  from  the  New  Testament 
[p.  465],  and  afterwards  "  their  sick,  and  their  afflicted,  and 
''  their  lame  and  their  blind,  and  their  dumb,  and  all  they 
"  that  were  afflicted  in  any  manner,"  were  brought  before  him, 
and  "he  did  heal  them  every  one"  [p.  468].  Then  "it  came 
"  to  pass  that  he  commanded  that  their  little  children  should 
"  be  brought."  The  people  were  then  commanded  to  kneel 
"  down,"  and  "  he  prayed  unto  the  Father,  and  the  things 
"  which  he  prayed  cannot  be  written ;  "  he  wept,  and  "  he  took 
"their  little  children  one  by  one  and  blessed  them."  "And 
"  as  they  looked  to  behold,  they  cast  their  eyes  towards  heaven, 
"  and  they  saw  the  heavens  open  and  they  saw  angels  descend- 
"ing  out  of  heaven  as  it  were,  in  the  midst  of  fire  ;  and  they 
"  came  down  and  encircled  those  little  ones  about  and  they 
"  were  encircled  about  with  fire ;  and  the  angels  did  minister 
"  unto  them."  He  then  re-instituted  the  Sacrament  and  "  when 
"the  multitude  had  eaten  [i.  e.,  of  the  bread]  and  were  filled," 
he  explained  the  nature  and  administration  of  the  rite,  and 
gave  the  wine  to  the  multitude,  and  they  "  did  drink  of  it  and 
"  were  filled "  [p.  469].  His  address  was  then  continued  at 
considerable  length,  after  which  "  he  departed  from  them  and 
"  ascended  into  heaven  "  [p.  472]. 

The  next  day  the  multitude  re-assembled,  and  the  twelve 
apostles  who  had  previously  been  appointed  "  did  pray  unto 
"  the  Father  "  and  angels  came  down  and  "  did  minister  unto 
"  them,"  and  "  Jesus  came  and  stood  in  the  midst  and  ministered 
"  unto  them  "  [p.  473].    The  Sacrament  was  then  again  par- 


WONDERFUL  HISTORY  OF  ANCIENT  AMERICA.  537 

taken  of,  and  the  multitude  "were  filled  with  the  Spirit." 
Christ  then  began  a  new  sermon,  which  is  related  on  pp.  475 
to  483.  And  he  did  expound  all  things,  even  from  the  begin- 
"  ning  until  the  time  when  he  should  come  in  his  glory." 
"  And  now  there  cannot  be  written  in  this  book  even  a  hun- 
"  dreth  part  of  the  things  which  Jesus  did  truly  teach  unto 
"  the  people.  .  .  .  Behold  I  were  about  to  write  them  all  ...  . 
"  but  the  'Lox^  forbid  it." 

After  this  came  a  repetition  of  the  old  scenes  in  this  mar- 
vellous history.  The  prophets  and  apostles  taught  with  such 
effect  that  a  Church  was  again  formed,  and  by  the  year  36,  af- 
ter Christ, the  people  were  all  converted  unto  the  Lord,"  had 
all  things  in  common,  were  blessed  with  miracles  and  wonders 
[p.  492],  and  "  did  multiply  exceeding  fast,  and  became  an  ex- 
"  ceeding  fair  and  delightsome  people."  But  the  evil  spirit 
returned  among  them.  They  became  luxurious  and  proud,, 
and  began  to  be  divided  into  classes  ;  division  and  strife  arose 
among  them ;  the  righteous  decreased  in  numbers,  while  the 
wicked  increased;  and  "  all  dwindled  in  unbelief  from  year 
"  to  year  "  [p.  494].  Kobbers  spread  over  all  the  land,  and  fear- 
ful battles  were  fought  between  the  Lamanites  and  Nephites. 
At  last  the  Nephites,  who  were  the  more  righteous  people, 
gathered  for  a  final  struggle  with  the  Lamanites  [the  wicked] 
round  the  hill  Cumorah,  between  what  is  now  called  Palmyra 
and  Manchester,  in  the  State  of  New  York,  and  there  en- 
camped in  readiness  for  the  foe.  It  was  then  that  Mormon  re- 
ceived from  his  father  the  plates  of  Nephi,  which  contained  the 
sacred  records  of  his  people,  and  which  had  been  religiously 
transmitted  from  father  to  son.  These  he  "  hid  up  in  the  hill 
Cumorah,"  after  he  bad  written  an  abridgment  of  them 
which  he  gave  to  his  son  Moroni.  After  this  the  "  tremendous 
"  battle  "  [p.  507-9]  was  fought,  upwards  of  230,000  men  were 
slain,  and  the  Nephites  were  utterly  destroyed.  Only  twenty- 
four  escaped,  besides  Mormon,  and  perhaps  a  few  of  whose  fate 
he  says  he  was  uncertain.  Moroni  having,  as  has  been  seen, 
received  the  abridged  plates  from  his  father  Mormon,  who  was 
soon  after  slain,  added  to  them  a  short  account  of  his  own,  to- 
gether with  an  abridged  account  of  the  Jaredite  expedition,  and 
then  buried  the  whole  in  Cumorah,  about  the  year  400  [p.  510]. 


538  THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 

Moroni  soon  after  died,  the  last  of  his  nation,  and  with  him  the 
Nephites  became  extinct,  and  descendants  of  the  successful  but 
wicked  Lamanites,  who  were  distinguished  [p.  66]  by  the  pe- 
culiar colour  of  their  skin,  are  now  known  as  the  North  Amer- 
ican Indians. 

The  plates  remained  in  their  hiding-place  over  1,400  years, 
until  finally  discovered  to  Joseph  Smith,  through  "  the  minis- 
try of  an  angel,"  on  the  22d  of  September,  1823. 

After  such  a  remarkable  history  of  the  peopling  of  the 
American  Continent,  it  is  proper  that  the  reader  should  have 
placed  before  him  a  few  extracts  from  the  Book  of  Mormon, 
exhibiting  how  singularly  the  people  in  the  New  World  were 
familiar  with,  and  used  the  same  religious  sentiments  as,  the 
people  of  the  Old  World  !  For  convenience  of  comparison  the 
following  extracts  from  the  Book  of  Mormon  are  placed  side 
by  side  with  similar  passages  from  the  Old  and  New  Testa- 
ments. These  extracts  are  taken  from  speeches,  exhortations, 
and  sermons,  said  to  have  been  delivered  by  American  proph- 
ets and  apostles,  who,  of  course,  never  saw,  or  could  see,  the 
English  Bible  as  it  now  exists  in  its  modern  translations.  The 
reader  will  probably  be  struck  with  the  very  close  resemblance 
of  these  expressions  to  texts  with  which  most  persons  are  fa- 
miliar, but  which  were  first  written  in  the  shape  of  translation 
many  .centuries  after  they  are  claimed  to  have  been  spoken  by 
the  prophets  of  America  ;  and  still  more  strange  is  the  repro- 
duction in  the  Book  of  Mormon  of  the  errors  of  translation  ex- 
isting in  the  English  edition,  which  was  produced  twelve  hun-^ 
dred  years  after  the  death  of  the  last  of  the  American  seers. 

From  the  Book  of  Mormon,  From  the  Bible, 

"  Behold  the  axe  is  laid  to  the       "  Now  also  the  axe  is  laid  unto 

root  of  the  tree,  therefore  every  tree  the  root  of  the  trees :  therefore  every 

that  bringeth  not  forth  good  fruit,  tree  which  bringeth  not  forth  good 

shall  be  hewn  down  and  cast  into  fruit  is  hewn  down,  and  cast  into 

the  fire."— B.  of  M.,  p.  224.  the  fire."— Matt.  iii.  10. 

"  Wrest  them  [the  Scriptures]  to  They  that  are  unlearned  and 

their  own  damnation." — B.  of  M.,  p.  unstable  wrest,  as  they  do  also  the 

247.  other  Scriptures,  unto  their  own  de- 
struction."— II.  Peter  iii.  16. 

« 

"  Cursed  is  he  that  putteth  his  "Cursed  be  the  man  that  trusteth 

trust  in  man,  or  maketh  flesh  his  in  man,  and  maketh  flesh  his  arm." 

arm."— B.  of  M.,  p.  64.  — Jer.  xvii.  5. 


PLAGIARISMS. 


539 


From  the  Book  of  Mormon, 
"Be  ye  separate,  and  touch  not 
their  unclean  things." — B.  of  M.,  p. 
225. 

"  Yea,  it  is  the  love  of  God  which 
sheddeth  itself  abroad  in  the  hearts 
of  the  children  of  men." 

"  They  shall  be  thrust  down  into 
hell."— B.  of  M.,  p.  74. 

"  Therefore  remember,  O  man,  for 
all  thy  doings  thou  shalt  be  brought 
into  judgment." — B.  of  M.,  p.  18. 


"  Blood,  and  fire,  and  vapour  of 
smoke."— B.  of  M.,  p.  52. 


"And  behold  the  heavens  were 
opened,  and  they  were  caught  up 
into  heaven,  and  saw  and  heard  un- 
speakable things,  .  .  .  whether  they 
were  in  the  body  or  out  of  the  body 
they  could  not  tell." — B.  of  M.,  p. 
489. 


"*A11  the  proud  and  they  who  do 
wickedly  shall  be  as  stubble,  and 
the  day  cometh  when  they  must  be 
burned."    B.  of  M.,  p.  41. 


"I  say  unto  thee,  woman,  there 
has  not  been  such  great  faith  among 
all  the  people  of  the  ISTephites." — B. 
of  M.,  p.  263. 

"And  it  came  to  pass  that  I 
looked  and  beheld  the  whore  of  all 
the  earth,  and  she  sat  upon  many 
waters  ;  and  she  had  dominion  over 
all  the  earth,  and  among  all  nations, 
kindreds,  tongues,  and  people." — B. 
of  M.,  p.  29. 

83 


From  the  Bible, 

"  Be  ye  separate,  saith  the  Lord, 
and  touch  not  the  unclean  thing." — 
II.  Cor.  vi.  17. 

"  The  love  of  God  is  shed  abroad 
in  our  hearts." — Rom.  v.  5. 

"  Shalt  be  thrust  down  to  hell." 
— Luke  X.  15. 

"  Rejoice,  O  young  man,  in  thy 
youth ;  .  .  .  .  walk  in  the  ways  of 
thine  heart,  and  in  the  sight  of  thine 
eyes :  but  know  thou,  that  for  all 
these  things  God  will  bring  thee  in- 
to judgment." — Eccl.  xi.  9. 

"Blood,  and  fire,  and  pillars  of 
smoke." — Joel  ii.  30. 

[Quoted]  "  Vapour  of  smoke." — 
Acts  ii.  19. 

"  I  knew  a  man  in  Christ,  above 
fourteen  years  "ago  (whether  in  the 
body,  I  cannot  tell :  God  knoweth), 
such  a  one  caught  up  to  the  third 
heaven.  And  I  knew  such  a  man 
.  .  .  How  that  he  was  caught  up  in- 
to paradise,  and  heard  unspeakable 
words,  which  it  is  not  lawful  for  a 
man  to  utter." — II.  Cor.  xii.  2. 

"  Behold  the  day  cometh  that 
shall  burn  as  an  oven ;  and  all  the 
proud,  yea,  and  all  that  do  wicked- 
ly, shall  be  stubble ;  and  the  day 
that  cometh  shall  burn  them  up." — 
Mai.  iv.  1. 

"  I  say  unto  you,  I  have  not  found 
so  great  faith,  no,  not  in  Israel." — 
Luke  vii.  9. 

"  The  great  whore  that  sitteth 
upon  many  waters.  .  .  .  The  inhab- 
itants of  the  earth  have  been  made 
drunk  with  the  wine  of  her  fornica- 
tion. .  .  .  The  waters  which  thou 
sawest,  where  the  whore  sitteth,  are 
peoples  and  multitudes,  and  nations 
and  tongues." — ^Rev.  xvii.  i,  2, 16,  etc. 


540 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


From  tJie  Boole  of  Mormon, 
"  Those  who  stand  in  that  liberty 
wherewith  God  had  made  them  free." 
— B.  of  M.,  p.  382. 

"  The  house  of  Israel  was  com- 
pared unto  an  olive-tree,  by  the 
Spirit  of  the  Lord  which  was  in  our 
fathers,"  etc.— B.  of  M.,  pp.  30-1, 
see  also  p.  18. 

"  Behold  I  am  born  of  the  Spirit." 
— B.  of  M.,  p.  202. 

"  Kedeemed  from  the  gall  of  bit- 
terness, and  the  bonds  of  iniquity." 
— B.  of  M.,  p.  202. 

"  They  shall  judge  the  twelve 
tribes  of  Israel."— B.  of  M.,  p.  27. 

"  The  last  shall  be  first,  and  the 
first  shall  be  last."— B.  of  M.,  p.  27. 

Awake,  my  sons,  put  on  the  ar- 
mour of  righteousness,  and  come 
forth  out  of  obscurity,  and  arise 
from  the  dust."— B.  of  M.,  p.  55. 


He  is  not  dead ;  but  he  sleepeth 
in  God.  ...  He  shall  rise  again.  .  . 
Believest  thou  this? — B.  of  M.,  p. 
263. 

"And  twice  were  they  cast  into 
a  den  of  wild  beasts,  and  behold 
they  did  play  with  the  beasts  as  a 
child  with  a  sucking  lamb,  and  re- 
ceived no  harm." — B.  of  M.,  p.  489. 

"The  fiery  farnace  could  not 
harm  them."— B.  of  M.,  p.  511.* 


From  the  Bible. 
"  Stand  fast,  therefore,  in  the  lib- 
erty wherewith  Christ  hath  made  us 
free."— Gal.  v.  5. 

"  And  if  some  of  the  branches  be 
broken  ofi*,  and  thou,  being  a  wild 
olive-tree,  were  grafliid  in  among 
them,  and  with  them,"  etc. — Rom. 
xi.  17,  et  seq, 

"  Born  of  the  Spirit."— John  iii. 

6. 

"Thou  art  in  the  gall  of  bitter- 
ness, and  in  the  bond  of  iniquity." 
Acts  viii.  23. 

"  And  sit  on  thrones  judging  the 
twelve  tribes  of  Israel." — Luke  xxii. 
30. 

"  Many  that  were  first  shall  be 
last,  and  the  last  shall  be  first." — 
Matt.  xix.  30. 

"  Put  on  the  whole  armour  of 
God,  .  .  .  the  breastplate  of  righ- 
teousness."— Eph.  vi.  11,  14. 

"  Awake,  put  on  thy  strength,  O 
Zion ;  put  on  thy  beautiful  garments, 
O  Jerusalem,  the  holy  city.  ,  .  . 
Shake  thyself  from  the  dust ;  arise, 
and  sit  down." — Isa.  lii.  1,  2. 

"  She  is  not  dead,  but  sleepeth." 
Luke  viii.  52. 

"  Thy  brother  shall  rise  again.  .  . 
Believest  thou  this  ?  " — John  xi.  23, 
26. 

"  They  brought  Daniel,  and  cast 
him  into  the  den  of  lions.  .  .  .  My 
God  hath  sent  his  angel,  and  hath 
shut  the  lions'  mouths,  that  they 
have  not  hurt  me,"  etc. — Daniel  vi. 
16,  22  [see  also  Apocrypha]. 

"  I  see  four  men  loose,  walking 
in  the  midst  of  the  fire,  and  they 
have  no  hurt."— Daniel  iii.  23. 


*  This  apparently  refers  to  Daniel's  three  companions,  but,  as  their  miraculous 
preservation  occurred  some  years  after  Lehi  and  his  sons  left  Asia  for  America,  it 
is  difficult  to  see  how  Mormon  obtained  his  information  on  the  subject. 


THE  BOOK  EXAMINED. 


641 


From  the  Booh  of  Mormon, 

"In  them  shall  be  written  my 
gospel,  saith  the  Lamb.  .  .  .  And 
whoso  shall  publish  peace,  yea,  tid- 
ings of  great  joy,  how  beautiful  upon 
the  mountains  shall  they  be."— B.  of 
M.,  p.  26. 

"  He  spake  also,  concerning  a 
prophet  who  should  come  before  the 
Messiah,  to  prepare  the  way  of  the 
Lord,  and  make  his  paths  straight ; 
for  there  standeth  one  among  you 
whom  ye  know  not;  and  he  is 
mightier  than  I,  whose  shoe's  latchet 
I  am  not  worthy  to  unloose.  .  .  .  He 
should  baptize  in  Bethabary,  beyond 
Jordan.  ...  He  should  baptize  the 
Messiah  with  water.  And  after  he 
had  baptized  the  Messiah  with  water, 
he  should  behold  and  bear  record, 
that  he  had  baptized  the  Lamb  of 
God,  who  should  take  away  the  sins 
of  the  world."— B.  of  M.,  p.  17. 

"Charity  suffereth  long,  and  is 
kind,  and  envieth  not,  and  is  not 
puffed  up,  seeketh  not  her  own,  is 
not  easily  \  provoked,"  etc.— B.  of 
M.,  p.  556. 

"  They  shall  be  saved,  even  if  it 
so  be  as  by  fire."— B.  of  M.,  p.  52. 

"  To  be  carnally  minded  is  death, 


From  the  Bible, 

"  How  beautiful  upon  the  moun- 
tains are  the  feet  of  him  that  bring- 
cth  good  tidings,  that  publisheth 
peace;  that  bringeth  good  tidings 
of  good,  that  publisheth  salvation, 
that  saith  unto  Zion,  Thy  God  reign- 
eth  !  "— Isa.  lii.  7. 

"  Prepare  ye  the  way  of  the  Lord, 
make  straight  in  th'e  desert  a  high- 
Avay  for  our  God." — Isa.  xl.  3. 
"  There  standeth  one  among  you 
whom  ye  know  not  ....  he  is  pre- 
ferred before  me,  whose  shoe's  latch- 
et I  am  not  worthy  to  unloose. 
These  things  were  done  in  Betha- 
bara  beyond  Jordan,  where  John 
was  baptizing.  The  next  day  John 
seeth  Jesus  coming  unto  him,  and 
saith.  Behold  the  I^amb  of  God, 
which  taketh  away  the  sin  of  the 
world."— John  i.  26-29.* 


"  Charity  suffereth  long  and  is 
kind;  charity  envieth  not,  charity 
vaunteth  not  itself,  is  not  puffed  up, 
doth  not  behave  itself  unseemly,  is 
not  easily  provoked." — I.  Cor.  xiii.  4. 

But  he  himself  shall  be  saved  ; 
yet  so  as  by  fire." — I.  Cor.  iii.  15. 

"  To  be  carnally  minded  is  death. 


*  The  parallel  passage  from  the  Book  of  Mormon  would  appear  to  have  been 
compounded  from  the  above  Scripture  quotations.  The  Mormon  writer  is  supposed 
to  have  uttered  his  prophecy  six  hundred  years  before  Christ  came,  and  it  is  ex- 
traordinary how  minutely  he  predicts  events  and  expressions,  even  to  a  word,  as  re- 
corded in  the  New  Testament,  while  those  prophecies  given  through  the  ancient  He- 
brew seers  to  "  His  own  "  to  whom  He  came  in  the  flesh,  and  "  to  whom  were  the 
promises,"  were  so  vague,  even  to  the  wisest,  until  they  were  accomplished.  It 
must  not,  however,  be  overlooked  that  .these  singularly  clear  American  prophecies, 
although  supposed  to  be  delivered  so  long  before  Christ  came,  were  unknown  to  the 
world  until  Joseph  Smith  discovered  the  plates,  eighteen  hundred  and  twenty-seven 
years  after  they  were  fullfiled  ! 

t  The  word  "  easily "  is  not  in  any  Greek  MS,    It  is  (incorrectly)  in  the  Eng- 


542 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


From  the  Booh  of  Mormon,  From  the  Bible. 

and  to  be  spiritually  minded  is  life  but  to  be  spiritually  minded  is  life 
eternal." — B.  of  M.,  p.  75.  and  peace." — Rom.  yiii.  6. 

"For  do  we  not  read  that  God  is  "  Jesus  Christ  the  same  yesterday, 
the  same  yesterday,  to-day,  and  for  and  to-day,  and  for  ever»" — Heb. 
ever ;  and  in  him  there  is  no  varia-  xiii.  8.  With  whom  is  no  varia- 
bleness nor  shadow  of  turning." — B.  bleness  neither  shadow  of  turning." 
of  M.,  p.  513.  James  i.  17. 

"  And  behold,  he  [the  Son  of  God]       "  Jesus  was  born  in  BetJilehem  of 

shall  be  born  of  Mary,  at  Jerusalem.''^  Judea,  in  the  days  of  Herod  the 

— B.  of  M.,  p.  227.  king."— Matt.  ii.  1. 

"  In  the  city  oiNazarethy  — p.  21. 

Any  person  acquainted  with  the  history  of  the  "  camp 
"  meetings  "  in  rural  districts  fifty  years  ago,  and  the  peculiar 
expressions  of  the  preachers,  will  be  somewhat  astonished  at 
reading  in  the  Book  of  Mormon  so  many  of  those  familiar 
phrases  from  the  mouths  of  the  fathers  of  the  Indians,  The 
following  are  a  few  examples  : 

"  I  am  encircled  about  eternally  in  the  arms  of  his  love,"  p.  55.  [About 
570  years  lefore  Christ.]* 

"  Have  ye  spiritually  been  born  of  God  ?  "  p.  222.  [80  years  before 
Christ.] 

"If  ye  have  experienced  a  change  of  heart,"  p.  222. 

lish  translation  ;  but  how  did  the  Mormon  prophet,  inspired  by  the  gift  of  God," 
come  to  make  the  same  blunder  ?    The  following  is  also  a  case  in  point : 

"  The  Lord  God,  and  His  Spirit,  hath  sent  [English  version] :  "  The  TiOrd  God,  and  His 
me." — B.  ofM.,  p.  47.  Spirit,  hath  sent  me." — Isa.  xlviii.  16. 

[Bishop  Lowth's  version] :  "  And  now  the 
Lord  Jehovah  hath  sent  me,  and  His  Spirit." 

This  passage  in  the  English  translation,  and  also  the  quotation  in  the  Book  of 
Mormon,  would  appear  to  assert  that  "The  Lord  God  and  His  Spirit "  had  sent  the 
speaker.  Bishop  Lowth  and  most  other  learned  commentators  have  pronounced 
that  the  sentence  is  incorrectly  rendered  in  the  English  version,  and  that  it  ought 
to  read :  The  Lord  Jehovah  hath  sent  me,  and  His  Spirit " — i.  e.,  "  God  the 
Father,"  as  Cclsus  says,  "  sent  both  Christ  and  the  Holy  Spirit."  How  strange  it 
is  that  both  Nephi,  an  inspired  Prophet,  who  is  supposed  to  have  quoted  direct 
from  the  original,  and  Joseph  Smith  who  translated  by  "  the  gift  and  power  of 
God  "  should  have  made,  identically  and  to  the  letter,  the  same  mistake  as  the  un- 
inspired translator  of  King  James's  time  !  This  is  the  more  extraordinary  when  it 
is  considered  that  according  to  learned  philologists,  "  in  the  Hebrew  manuscripts 
of  the  Old  Testament  there  have  been  counted  800,000  diflferent  readings,  as  to  con- 
sonants alone."    [Vide  Stuart  on  the  Canon  of  the  Old  Testament,  p.  192.] 

*  The  dates  used  in  this  chapter  are  taken  from  the  "  Compendium  of  the  Faith 
of  Doctrines,"  by  F.  D.  Richards,  Liverpool,  1857. 


MODERN  PREACHING  IN  ANCIENT  AMERICA.  5^8 


"  Ye  shall  awake  to  a  sense  of  your  awful  situation,"  p.  531. 

"  For  the  arms  of  mercy  are  extended  towards  you,"  p.  222. 

"  Many  died  firmly  believing  that  their  souls  were  redeemed  by  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,"  p.  337.    [About  70  years  lefore  Christ.] 

"Have  they  not  revealed  the  plan  of  salvation  ? "  p.  136.  [More  than 
400  years  'before  Christ.] 

"  The  own  due  time  of  the  Lord,"  pp.  102,  17,  etc.  [600  years  before 
Christ.] 

"  Or  otherwise,  can  ye  imagine  yourselves  brought  before  the  tribunal 
of  God  with  your  souls  filled  with  guilt  and  remorse  ? "  p.  221.  [80  years 
l)efore  Christ.] 

"  Thus  mercy  can  satisfy  the  demands  of  justice,"  p.  304.  [About  75 
years  before  Christ.] 

"If  ye  have/6?^  to  sing  the  song  of  redeeming  love,"  p.  222.  [About 
80  years  before  Christ.] 

In  another  place  [p.  18],  Nephi  tells  of  his  father  speaking  "by  the 
power  of  the  Holy  Ghost;  which  power  he  received  by  faith  on  the  Son  of 
God  ;  and  the  Son  of  God  was  the  Messiah,'*'*  This  was  very  nearly  six  cen- 
turies before  Christ ! 

Nephi,  writing  545  years  before  Christ,  says :  "I  glory  in  my  Jesus,  for 
he  hath  redeemed  my  soul  from  hell  "  [p.  113].  "Enter  into  the  narrow 
gate,  and  walk  in  the  straight  path,  which  leads  to  life ;  "  and  of  the  Gen- 
tiles he  writes  :  "  For  none  of  these  can  I  hope,  excejpt  they  shall  be  recon- 
ciled to  Christ, 

But  perhaps  the  best  point  in  the  book  is  the  plagiarism 
of  Hamlet's  well-known  speech,  "  To  be,  or  not  to  be."  Five 
hundred  and  seventy  years  lefore  Christ,  Lehi,  in  his  last 
hours,  addressing  his  sons,  spoke  of  the  cold  and  silent  grave 
"from  whence  no  tra/oeller  can  return  "  [B.  of  M.,  p.  55]. 
Two  thousand  two  hundred  years  later,  Shakespeare,  who 
had  never  read  Lehi's  writings,  spoke  of  "  the  undiscovered 
"country  y^rom  whose  hourn  no  traveller  returns^  Hamlet, 
Act  iii.,  scene  i. 

The  Scripture  story  of  Joshua  commanding  the  sun  :  "  Sun, 
"  stand  thou  still  upon  Gibeon,  and  thou  moon  in  the  valley 
"of  Ajalon,"  has  always  been  a  subject  of  grave  dispute  among 
the  learned,  and  upon  it  unbelievers  have  based  many  argu- 
ments against  the  veracity  of  the  Scriptures.  According,  how- 
ever, to  the  Book  bf  JMormon,  the  words  of  Joshua  admit  of 
a  very  easy  explanation,  and  were  understood  ages  ago  to  have 
a  very  different  interpretation  from  what  is  commonly  sup- 
posed.   Not  only  so,  but  the  fact,  that  the  earth  revolves  round 


544 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


the  sui),  of  which  the  ancients  are  supposed  to  have  been  igno- 
rant, was  not  only  a  matter  of  common  knowledge  here,  but  was 
used  as  an  argument  which  every  one  w^as  sure  to  understand. 
The  prophet  Helaman  says  :  "  According  to  his  word,  the  earth 
"goeth  back,  and  it  appeareth  unto  man  that  the  sun  standeth 
"still ;  yea,  and  behold  this  is  so;  for  sure  it  is  the  earth  that 
'^moveth,  and  not  the  sun," — [B.  of  M.,  p.  421.]  On  this  sub- 
ject, Elder  John  Hyde  says:  "  Here  are  all  the  prophets  tran- 
'^scended;  Ptolemy  refuted ;  Copernicus  and  all  his  discoveries 
"  anticipated  2,000  years  before  he  was  born.  The  only  pity 
"  is,  that  this  was  not  published,  however,  until  200  years  of- 
"terhewas  dead/^^  It  is  an  undoubted  fact  that  the  astro- 
nomical system  of  Ptolemy  was  universally  received  by  the 
ancients.  The  earth,  they  believed,  was  the  stationary  centre 
of  the  system,  and  round  it  sun,  moon,  and  star^  revolved. 
All  the  Scripture  allusions  to  the  heavenly  bodies  support  this 
statement,  for  the  distinction  between  the  planets  [the  word 
"planet  "  itself]  and  the  fixed  stars  was  then  utterly  imknown. 
The  prophet  Alma,  however,  wiser,  even  in  scientific  matters, 
than  Joshua  and  David,  Solomon,  Job,  the  captive  of  Patmos, 
and  all  the  sages  of  antiquity,  says  :  "  The  Scriptures  are  laid 
"  before  thee,  yea,  and  all  things  denote  there  is  a  God  ;  yea, 
"  even  the  earth,  and  all  things  that  are  upon  the  face  of  it, 
"  yea,  and  its  motion  ;  yea,  and  also  all  the  planets  which  move 
"  in  their  regular  form." 

The  simplicity  of  many  portions  of  the  Book  of  Mormon 
is  very  touching;  witness  the  following  : 

"  And  when  Moroni  had  said  these  words,  he  went  forth  among  the 
people,  waving  the  rent  of  his  garment  in  the  air,  that  all  might  see  tTie 
writing  which  he  had  wrote  upon  the  rent  !  !  !  "  * — [page  334.] 

"  I  lyeheld  wars  and  rumours  of  wars." — [p.  21.] 

"  I  saw  wars  and  rumours  of  wars,  .  .  .  And  in  wars  and  rumours  of 
wars  I  saw  many  generations  pass  away." — [p.  23.] 

"  There  were  no  robbers  nor  murderers,  neither  were  there  Lamanites, 
or  any  manner  of  ites  !  !  !  " — [p.  493.] 

"  Now  the  joy  of  Ammon  was  so  great,  even  that  he  was  full ;  yea,  he 

*  That  a  "  rent  "  can  be  visible — sometimes  too  visible — is  an  undoubted  fact, 
but  how  a  man  could  write  upon  a  rent  is  not  so  easy  of  demonstration.  Possibly 
corroborative  evidence  of  the  practicability  of  this  performance  might  have  been 
given  by  the  Irishman  who  gave  as  a  recipe  for  making  a  cannon ;  Take  a  round 
hole  and  pour  melted  iron  around  it.". 


JOHN  HYDE  ON  THE  BOOK  OF  MORMON. 


545 


was  swallowed  up  in  the  joy  of  his  God,  even  to  the  exhaustion  of  his 
strength ;  and  he  fell  again  to  the  earth.  Now  was  not  this  exceeding 
great  joy  ?      [P-  285.] 

"  The  Lord  provided  for  them.  ...  He  also  gave  them  strength  that 
they  should  suffer  no  manner  of  afflictions^  save  it  were  swallowed  up  in 
the  joy  of  Christ !  "—[p.  298.] 

"  They  all  did  swear  unto  him  .  .  .  that  whoso  should  vary  from  the 
assistance  which  Akish  desired  should  lose  his  Jiead^  and  whoso  should  di- 
vulge whatsoever  thing  Akish  should  make  known  unto  them  should  lose 
his  Zi/^."— [p.  530.] 

Many  opponents  of  tlie  ,faith  of  the  Saints  have  devoted 
considerable  time  to  the  discussion  of  the  origin  of  the  Book 
of  Mormon,  and  the  general  conclusion  reached  has  been  that 
Joseph  Smith  had  before  him  the  manuscript  of  a  religious 
novel,  written  by  one  Solomon  Spaulding,  and  that  he  inter- 
polated all  through  it  the  portions  which  bear  evidence  of  his 
own  lack  of  education,  while  the  body  of  the  story  remained 
intact. 

There  is  evidence  that  this  Spaulding  actually  did  write 
something  about  the  ancient  inhabitants  of  America,  and  it  is 
asserted  by  one  of  his  brothers,  from  his  recollection  of  the  por- 
tions of  the  manuscript,  that  it  was  identical  with  the  Book  of 
Mormon,  and  that  the  latter  was  indeed  the  lona-Jide  work  of 
his  deceased  brother.  It  is  further  said  that  several  of  Mr. 
Spaulding's  personal  friends  sustain  this  statement  from  their 
remembrance  of  the  readings  to  which  they  had  frequently 
listened. 

Those  who  accept  such  statements  as  the  true  solution  of 
the  origin  of  this  book  must  necessarily  conclude  that  Joseph 
Smith  was  "  a  deliberate  falsifier  and  wilful  impostor."  There 
is  no  avoiding  this.  The  most  incisive  writer  on  this  subject — 
John  Hyde,  formerly  an  elder  in  the  Church — ^unhesitatingly 
announces  this  as  his  own  conclusion.  His  ''Analysis  of  the 
''Book  of  Mormon,"  and  its  "Internal  Evidences,"  is  a  mas- 
terly work,  to  which  no  Mormon  elder  has  attempted  a  reply. 
The  only  man  among  the  Mormons  capable  of  the  effort  is 
Orson  Pratt,  and,  by  an  attempt  at  refutation,  he  would  only 
exhibit  common  honesty,  for  he  is  morally  under  obligations  to 
that  long-suffering  people  in  the  Tabernacle  to  do  so. 

At  the  moment  of  writing  this,  there  is  before  the  Author 


546 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


"  brother  Orson's  "  last  discourse  on  the  Book  of  Mormon,  de- 
livered in  the  Tabernacle  on  the  22d  of  September,  1872.  It 
is  undoubtedly  the  best  sermon  that  could  be  preached  on 
"  the  forthcoming  "  of  that  notable  book,  but,  by  the  side  ot 
the  unanswered  ^'  Analysis  "  of  Elder  John  Hyde,  it  is  very  un- 
satisfactory. But,  while  the  Author  frankly  admits  the  unan- 
swerable and  powerful  arguments  of  Mr.  Hyde,  he  dissents 
from  his  conclusion  that  Joseph  Smith  was  a  wilful  impostor. 

To  conclude  that  there  was  "  wilful "  imposture  in  the 
origin  of  Mormonism  is,  in  an  argumentative  sense,  to  "  take 
"  arms  against  a  sea  of  troubles  "  to  which  there  is  no  limit. 
There  is,  however,  an  easy  solution  of  the  difficulty  respecting 
the  origin  of  the  book — i.  e.,  to  admit  honest  credulity  in  Jo- 
seph Smith,  in  the  persons  who  "  witnessed  unto  the  world of 
that  which  they  saw,  and  in  all  that  follows  in  the  history  of 
the  Mormon  movement.  Probably,  if  Mr.  Hyde  were  now  to 
write  on  the  subject,  while  he  would  undoubtedly  preserve  the 
same  powerful  arguments  against  the  divinity  of  the  book  he 
would  conclude  that  Joseph  Smith  was  after  all  only  an  ex- 
traordinary "spirit  medium,"  and  had  been  subjected  to  all  the 
vagaries  and  caprices  of  that  peculiar  condition. 

In  this  solution  of  the  difficulty  respecting  Joseph's  claims, 
there  is  a  perfect  consistency,  and  it  harmonizes  completely 
with  the  testimony,  both  of  the  orthodox  and  the  heterodox. 
It  admits  the  claim  of  honesty  in  Joseph  Smith,  and  in  his 
"  witnesses,"  and  equal  honesty  in  those  who  have  rejected 
their  testimony,  and  denounced  the  folly  of  their  assertions. 
In  brief,  when  Joseph  Smith  said  that  he  had  visions,  dreams, 
and  revelations,  it  is  best  to  allow  that  he  probably  had  all 
that  experience  ;  but  when  he  clothed  his  communications  with 
the  sanctity  of  absolute  and  divine  truth,  the  acceptance  or  re- 
jection of  which  was  to  be  "  the  salvation  or  damnation  of  the 
world,"  it  was  simply  the  operation  and  assertion  of  that  yet 
imcomprehended  mysterious  influence  that  has  been  experi- 
enced by  both  good  and  bad  men  in  all  ages  and  in  all  coun* 
tries  within  the  historical  ken  of  man. 

With  the  developments  which  have  followed,  the  life  of  the 
Mormon  prophet  is  easily  understood.  He  was  but  the  vehi- 
cle of  "  spirit  communication,"  and  when  he  erred  it  was  not  in-^ 


HEBER'S  OPINION  OF  JOSEPH  SMITH. 


547 


tentional  imposture  or  deliberate  fraud^  but  in  the  native  hon- 
esty of  his  simple  nature  he  believed  too  much.'^  Than  that  he 
was  imposed  upon  or  ignorantly  imposed  upon  himself  in  the 
"  translation  "  of  the  Book  of  Mormon,  nothing  seems  more 
certain  to  those  who  have  fully  studied  his  career,  while  his 
assertion  that  the  English  "  translation  "  of  the  plates  is  the 
history  of  the  ancient  inhabitants  of  the  country,  of  the  people 
who  built  the  temples  and  palaces  of  Central  America,  and 
constructed  the  gigantic  works,  the  mounds  and  ruins  which 
are  met  with  all  over  this  continent,  is  assuredly  untrue.  The 
American  Indians  never  descended  from  those  builders,  nor 
did  Jared  or  Lehi  give  that  posterity  birth.  With  faith,  any 
thing,  however  extravagant  or  unreasonable,  can  be  accepted; 
but  no  rational  being,  looking  upon  the  past  as  he  does  upon 
the  present,  can  behold  the  evidences  of  the  existence  of  a  great 
and  civilized  people  upon  this  continent  long  ages  ago,  and  be- 
lieve that  the  Book  of  Mormon  story  of  Jared  and  Lehi  is  the 
true  record  of  the  buried  past.  That  history  has  yet  to  be 
written. 

Calmly  regarding  the  plagiarisms  from  the  New  Testament 
in  the  Book  of  Mormon,  the  frequent  use  of  the  expressions 
and  thoughts  of  Methodists  in  the  nineteenth  century,  and  the 
use  of  republican  political  sentiments,  all  of  which  Joseph 
Smith,  notwithstanding  his  youth  and  lack  of  education,  did 
know,  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  title-page  of  the  first 
edition  of  the  Book  of  Mormon  stated  something  near  the  truth 
when  it  bore  the  announcement :  "  Joseph  Smith,  Author  and 
Proprietor." 

Singularly  enough,  no  Mormon  authority  has  ever  related 
how  Joseph  Smith  claimed  to  translate  the  plates,  and  what  is 
still  more  strange  of  the  hundreds  of  men  who  personally  knew 
Joseph,  and  who  could  have  very  properly  asked  him  that 
question,  the  Author,  to  his  inquiries  addressed  to  them, 

*  One  of  the  Mormon  elders  called  upon  a  spirit-medium  in  New  York,  and  in 
seeking  communion  with  the  dead  the  medium  immediately  became  entranced,  and 
to  this  Elder,  Heber  C.  Kimball  is  reported  to  have  said :  "  The  diflSculty  with 
brother  Joseph  was  that  he  kept  a  spiritual  hotel  and  entertained  all  comers."  The 
reader  can  take  such  a  professed  report  from  the  dead  for  what  it  is  worth,  but  in  the 
light  of  Mormonism  this  statement  from  whatever  personage,  in  the  flesh  or  out  of  it, 
is  exceedingly  suggestive  of  the  truth. 


548 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


never  got  an  a*hswer.  One  man  only  acknowledged  that  he 
had  asked  the  Prophet,  but  forgot  what  the  answer  w^as. 

The  reader  may  long  ere  this  have  arrived  at  the  conclusion 
that  the  whole  story  is  a  stupendous  fraud,  and  a  wicked  fab- 
rication, but,  to  the  Author's  mind,  Joseph  is  still  defensible 
against  the  charge  of  wilful  imposture.  It  does  not  seem  pos- 
sible that  he  could  have  borne  up  through  his  whole  life  of 
persecution,  and  have  lived  and  died  maintaining  the  truth  of 
his  story,  if  the  book  had  been  a  fraud. 

At  the  time  of  its  professed  translation  he  was  not  capable 
of  dictating  the  whole  of  it  without  aid.  Though  it  all  passed 
from  his  tongue  to  the  ears  of  his  scribes,  and  bears  throughout 
in  its  language  the  impress  of  his  scanty  education,  whatever 
there  is  of  plot  in  the  book  was  far  beyond  him.  Ridiculous 
as  may  be  the  story  of  the  Jaredite  "  barges,"  the  spindle-com- 
pass, the  traversing  of  three  oceans  from  the  Eed  Sea  to  the 
southern  portion  of  North  America,  and  the  many  other  gro- 
tesque stories  about  the  first  inhabitants  of  the  Western  Hemi- 
sphere, yet  there  is  pervading  the  whole  book  another  mind 
than  that  of  young  Joseph  Smith. 

The  ruins  found  in  Central  America,  the  great  mounds  in 
the  valley  of  the  Mississippi,  and  in  several  States  of  the  Union, 
establish  beyond  the  possibility  of  a  doubt  that  a  great  popu- 
lation once  existed  on  this  continent,  which  has  long  ages  ago 
passed  away.  They  who  built  the  colossal  temples,  the  magnifi- 
cent palaces,  and  the  great  aqueducts,  have  left,  in  the  ruins  that 
now  meet  the  gaze  of  the  explorer,  the  evidences  of  a  civiliza- 
tion that  astonishes  the  student.  That  some  of  those  ancient 
inhabitants  may  have  made  and  engraved  plates,  and  that  they 
did  so  for  a  purpose — whatever  that  might  be — is  very  possible. 
The  relics  of  sculpture  and  painting  suggest  also  the  probabil- 
ity of  engraving.  Other  persons  besides  Joseph  Smith  have 
discovered  in  the  ground  similar  plates,"^  bearing  evidence  of 
a  great  antiquity,  and,  as  time  rolls  on,  there  may  yet  be  many 
similar  discoveries.   There  need  be  no  diflSculty,  then,  in  accept- 

*  On  the  opposite  page  is  an  engraving  of  two  (out  of  six)  bell-shaped  plates, 
which  were  actually  and  unquestionably  discovered  by  one  Mr.  R.  Wiley,  in  April, 
1843,  while  excavating  an  ancient  mound  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Kinderhook,  Ohio. 
They  have  never  been  translated. 


HOW  JOSEPH  TRANSLATED  MORONI. 


551 


ing  Joseph's  story  of  finding  the  plates;  it  is  what  is  claimed 
to  be  the  contents  of  the  plates  that  is  incredible. 

If  no  living  person  fabricated  for  Joseph  Smith  the  Book 
of  Mormon,  and  if  Joseph  did  not  use  the  manuscript  of  Solo- 
mon Spaulding,  the  Mormon  may  very  properly  ask  :  Who, 
"  then,  was  the  author  of  the  book  ? "  To  this  query,  the 
Book  of  Abraham  is  the  answer.  In  the  preceding  chapter, 
the  Prophet's  "  translation  "  of  the  papyrus,  found  with  the 
Egyptian  mummies,  is  evidently  untrue ;  yet  Josepli  Smith  sat 
with  his  amanuensis,  and,  by  "  the  gift  of  God,"  believed  he 
was  giving  a  truthful  translation.  The  scientist  says  that  the 
whole  story  is  untrue,  that  the  Prophet's  version  of  the  hiero- 
glyphics is  a  perfect  romance,  that  the  hieroglyphics  had  no 
more  allusion  to  the  Abraham  of  Mosaic  history,  than  they 
had  to  do  with  Abraham  the  martyred  President  of  the  United 
States. 

When  Joseph  Smith  translated  the  Book  of  Mormon  by 
the  means  of  his  Urim  and  Thummim,  the  "  reformed  Egyp- 
"  tian  "  was  evidently  not  transformed  before  his  eyes  into  the 
translated  text,  or  the  gift  and  power  of  God  "  used  peculiar- 
ly bad  English.  He  gazed  upon  that  Urim  and  Thummim  un- 
til his  mind  became  psychologized,  and  the  impressions  that  he 
received  he  dictated  to  his  scribe.  With  such  a  conclusion,  the 
anachronisms  of  the  book,  the  quotations  from  the  Old  and 
New  Testaments,  and  the  language  of  modern  preachers  and 
writers,  are  accounted  for. 

That  there  is  such  a  mental  condition  in  human  life  as 
clairvoyance,  in  which  persons  are  strangely  operated  upon, 
and  can  mentally  perceive  what  to  the  natural  eye  is  unseen,  is 
a  belief  as  old  as  the  history  of  man,  and  that,  when  the  mind 
is  psychologized  by  a  condition  of  its  own,  or  by  the  operation 
of  external  influences,  singular  impressions  or  revelations  are 
had,  few  people  to-day  dispute.  That  Joseph  Smith  was  in 
these  experiences  one  of  the  most  remarkable  men  that  ever 
lived,  those  outside  of  Mormonism  altogether,  who  knew  him 
intimately,  testify.  He  believed  that  his  gifts  were  divine,  and 
his  impressions  w^ere  revelations  from  the  Almighty  Creator. 

To  insist  that  there  were  deliberate  imposture  and  deliberate 
falsehood  at  the  origin  of  Mormonism  is  to  challenge  the  vera- 


652 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


city  and  honesty  of  the  hundreds  and  thousands  of  persons  who 
accept  that  faitli  and  who  testify  that  tliey  linow  of  its  truth. 
It  is  more  rational  and  consistent  to  admit  that  what  sucli  a 
body  of  people  allege  that  they  have  experienced  is  probablj^ 
true  in  statement,  than  to  deny  it  and  brand  it  as  imposture, 
but  it  does  not  follow  that  the  interpretation  which  any  of 
them  put  upon  their  experience  is  itself  true.  They  may  be  fully 
persuaded  that  they  have  had  visions,  dreams,  the  ministering 
of  angels,  and  have  heard  the  "  voice  of  God,"  all  witnessing  to 
the  truth  of  the  divinity  of  Mormonism,  for  all  this  has  been 
asserted  again  and  again  by  very  many  others  besides  Joseph 
Smith — men,  and  women  too,  who  have  claimed  to  have  re- 
ceived divine  missions.  Outside  of  all  religious  enthusiasm, 
also,  there  are  tens  of  thousands  of  men  and  women,  sober, 
reliable,  and  truthful  in  every  relation  and  business  of  life, 
with  as  unchangeable  convictions  as  ever  the  Mormons  had 
that  they  have  personally  experienced  all  these  extraordinary 
phenomena. 

The  trouble  with  the  Mormons  and  with  all  this  class  of 
believers  is,  not  in  what  they  have  experienced,  but  the  after- 
interpretation  that  they  may  have  put  upon  it.  If  the  reader 
turns  to  pages  33-35  of  this  volume,  he  will  find  the  key  to  the 
Mormon  testimony  and  the  explanation  of  the  w^iole  move- 
ment. There  it  is  illustrated  by  this  very  Orson  Pratt,  the 
champion  expounder  of  the  evidences  of  the  Book  of  Mormon. 

Joseph  Smith  relates  that  he  cast  a  devil  out  of  Newell 
Knight  in  the  name  of  Jesus.  Judge  Edmonds  innocently 
relates  that  he  too  "cast  out  devils  "  frequently  without  any  such 
invocation.  Orson  Pratt,  in  commenting  upon  Joseph's  "first 
"  miracle,"  flies  to  the  conclusion  that  those  persons  who  wit- 
nessed the  experience  of  Newell  Knight,  tortured  with  an.  evil 
influence  and  afterwards  "  overwhelmed  with  the  good  spirit," 
had  from  these  circumstances  "  a  knowledge  "  that  "  Joseph 
"  Smith  was  a  great  prophet  and  seer,  and  that  the  Book  of 
"  Mormon  was  a  divine  revelation  !  "  Nothing  could  be  more 
preposterous.  The  experience  of  Newell  Knight  had  its  cause 
and  its  issues,  but  these  had  no  more  bearing  upon  the  seer- 
ship  of  Joseph  Smith  and  the  divinity  of  the  Book  of  Mormon 
than  upon  any  and  all  of  the  assumptions  of  his  life. 


THE  WORTHLESSNESS  OF  VISIONARY  TESTIMONY.  553 


On  just  such  statements  and  arguments  have  the  Mormons 
been  fed  for  over  forty  years,  till  "  hundreds  of  thousands  of 
'^witnesses."  as  Elder  Pratt  boasts,  can  testify  that  to  them 
"  God  has  revealed  the  truth  of  the  Book  of  Mormon." 

A  great  man  once  said  :  "  Let  me  write  the  songs  of  the 
"people,  let  others  make  their  laws."  The  apostle  Orson 
Pratt  has  written  the  testimony  of  the  Book  of  Mormon,  and 
the  "  Saints "  have  reiterated  his  statements,  and  no  one  has 
had  better  opportunities  than  he  of  knowing  the  worthlessness 
of  such  evidence  and  the  fallacy  of  such  arguments  as  he  has 
adduced  from  the  devil  in  Newell  Knight. 

Of  the  "  hundreds  of  thousands  of  witnesses  to  whom  God 
"  has  revealed  the  truth  of  the  Book  of  Mormon,"  he  knows 
full  well  that  comparatively  few  indeed  have  ever  read  that 
book,  know  little  or  nothing  intelligently  of  its  contents,  and 
take  little  interest  in  it.  He  has  written  and  spoken  exten- 
sively of  the  "  divine  evidence  "  respecting  it,  to  the  Mormons  ; 
and  they  have  read  and  listened  to  his  arguments.  They  have, 
of  course,  been  pleased  with  his  display  of  "  testimony."  With 
the  "  eye  of  faith  "  everything  was  clear  to  them,  and  to  them 
it  was  "  The  Holy  Ghost  witnessing  of  the  divinity  of  the 
"  '  book.'  "  Some  "  brother  "  or  sister  "  is  "  possessed  by 
"devils"  and  thrown  into  convulsions,  and  an  "apostle"  or 
"  elder  "  "  lays  hands  "  upon  the  possessed,  "  conjures  "  the 
evil  spirit  to  depart  from  the  troubled  soul,  and  it  becomes 
tranquil — ergo,  the  Book  of  Mormon  is  divine,  and  Joseph 
Smith  is  "  a  great  prophet  and  seer."    Such  is  the  argument ! 

Brigham  Young  has,^  "  cast  out  devils,"  yet,  for  all  that,  it 
is  well  known  that  Orson  Pratt  himself  is  not  over-strong  in 
the  belief  that  Brigham  is  "  a  great  Prophet  and  seer,"  and  all. 
the  devils  that  Brigham  has  ever  cast  out  have  never  con- 
vinced Orson  of  the  divinity  of  Brigham's  Adam-deity  !  If 
the  whole  world  is  to  be  "  damned  "  for  rejecting  the  claims 
and  assertions  of  Joseph  about  himself  and  his  Book  of  Mor- 
men,  while  it  has  had  no  opportunity  of  seeing  him  "  cast  out 
"  devils,"  Orson  Pratt  is  certain  to  find  himself  at  "the  bottom 
"  of  the  lowest  hell,"  to  use  Tabernacle  language,  for  rejecting 
Brigham's  "  Adam,"  after  all  the  evidence  before  him  of  Brig- 
ham "  casting  out  devils." 


654 


THE  ROCEY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


Intelligent  people  in  Utah,  who  have  rejected  Mormonism, 
can  trace  their  first  awakening  to  reason  and  common-sense 
to  the  first  consideration  of  snch  assumptions  of  the  evidences 
of  divinity  set  forth  by  the  Mormon  apostles. 

While  the  time  and  attention  of  the  masses  are  wholly 
absorbed  in  procuring  the  bare  means  of  existence,  and  their 
only  time  for  reflection  is  demanded  for  the  Tabernacle  and  the 
ward  meetings,  the  evidences  "  of  divinity  upon  anything 
may  pass  unchallenged.  But,  the  moment  the  mind  is  awak- 
ened and  stretches  beyond  Mormonism,  the  acceptance  of  such 
evidences  is  very  doubtful. 

There  have  been  multitudes  of  persons  in  the  world  who 
have  believed  and  asserted  that  to  them,  and  to  them  only, 
God  gave  visions^  dreams,  angel-visits,  the  power  of  healing 
the  sick  and  "  casting  out  devils  " — and  they  liave  declared 
that  these  were  proofs  of  the  heavenly  origin  of  the  faith  which 
they  proclaimed,  and  this  it  is  that  the  Saints  have  been 
taught  by  the  modern  apostles  to  regard  as  special  and  partic- 
ular to  them,  while  it  has  been  a  peculiarity  common  to  the 
religious  experience  of  all  the  world,  and  is  an  evidence  of 
nothing  more  than  a  certain  condition  of  mind  that  renders 
such  manifestations  possible  with  persons  adapted  naturally  to 
receive  them. 

Probably  no  enthusiast  ever  left  the  Mormom  Church  with- 
out a  rich  experience  in  the  shape  of  visions,  angels,  and  "  mira- 
"  cles ;  "  and  seldom  are  such  persons  found  without  "  the  voice 
"  of  God  "  whispering  something  to  them.  The  "  Reorganized 
Churcli,"  at  the  head  of  whicli  is  the  eldest  son  of  Joseph 
Smitli,  is  peculiarly  "  favoured  "  witli  "  visions,"  and  "visits 
"  of  angels  "  and  "  gifts  of  tongues,"  "  interpretations  "  and 
"  powers  of  healing ;  "  and  these  worshippers  "  cast  out  "  all 
the  "devils"  that  come  in  their  way.  It  is  undeniable  that 
the  great  "evidences"  that  are  adduced  by  Orson  Pratt  in 
favour  of  the  truth  of  the  Book  of  Mormon  and  the  mission 
of  Joseph  Smith  are  more  abundantly  manifest  to-day  in 
"Young  Joseph's  church"  than  among  the  Rocky  Moun- 
tain Saints.  Yet  "  Young  Joseph  "  and  liis  "  Saints  "  de- 
nounce Brigham  Young  as  a  "  usurper  "  and  a  "  fraud  "  upon 
the  Mormon  people. 


YOUNG  JOSEPH  SMITH  PKAYS  FOR  BRIGHAM.  f  55 

Brigham  Young  and  his  apostles,  backed  up  by  visions, 
dreams,  revelations,  miracles,  and  "the  voice  of  God,"  preach 
and  teach  to  the  Mormons  in  Utah  that  "  Young  Joseph  "  in 
Illinois  is  an  aspiring,  ambitious  youth,  an  emissary  of  the 
devil,  seeking  to  lead  away  the  faithful  from  the  "  true  fold." 
Joseph  Smith — the  young  man — sustained  by  as  credible  wit- 
nesses as  Orson  Pratt  can  produce,  supported  by  "  angel  reve- 
"  lations,"  the  "  voice  of  God,"  and  any  amount  of  "  miracles," 
is  with  his  apostles  now  praying  earnestly,  long,  and  loud,  and 
sending  missionaries  all  through  Utah  Territory,  warning  the 
people  against  that  ruin  of  soul  and  body  to  which  they  assert 
Brigham  Young  and  his  apostles  are  leading  them.  The  claim, 
therefore,  of  such  a  host  of  witnesses  testifying  to  the  truth  of 
the  Book  of  Mormon  because  of  visions,  dreams,  revelations 
and  miracles,  is  unworthy  of  a  moment's  consideration. 

That  Joseph  thought  Moroni  and  some  of  those  ancient  per- 
sonages whom  he  mentions  in  his  biography  appeared  to  him, 
is,  no  doubt,  true  ;  that  they  used  him  for  their  purposes  Spirit- 
ualists all  believe,  and,  when  the  origin  of  some  of  the  great 
religions  of  the  world  is  considered,  there  is  not  much  cause  for 
wonder  that  those  persons  who  have  accepted  Mormonism,  with 
all  its  crudities,  should  have  honestly  believed  it.  Millions 
have  accepted  Mohammed  and  his  visions;  many  millions 
more  have  lived  and  died  in  the  faith  of  Buddha ;  Confucius 
has  swayed  a  spiritual  empire  from  ages  long  before  the  Chris- 
tian era ;  and  by  these  and  other  founders  of  religious  sys- 
tems, and  by  many  of  their  disciples,  visions  and  revelations, 
gifts  and  miraculous  powers,  have  all  been  claimed. 


CHAPTER  XLIX. 


TEE  PEIESTHOOD  IN  ZION— Its  Organizations,  Apostolic,  Judicial,  and  Po- 
litical— The  Prayers  of  the  Saints — The  Surveillance  of  the  Teachers — The  Eyes 
of  the  Priesthood  over  all — The  Missionaries  abroad — The  Elders  travel  with- 
out Purse  or  Scrip" — How  Mormonism  is  introduced  among  the  Gentiles — For- 
eign Missions— His  Satanic  Majesty  attacks  the  Apostles  in  England — "Devils" 
attack  Brother  Heber — Success  in  Britain — The  Emigration  to  Zion — ^Baptizing 
Converts  in  the  Atlantic — The  Journey  through  the  States. 

In  the  Mormon  Cliurcli  there  are  two  priesthoods,  the  Mel- 
chisedec  and  the  Aaronic — the  latter  an  appendage  to  the  for- 
mer. The  lowest  rank  in  the  Priesthood  is  the  office  of  ^'  Dea- 
"  con : "  his  duties,  without  anything  sentimental,  are  some- 
what menial.  In  all  the  branches  "  of  the  Church,  outside  of 
Zion,  the  deacon  is  expected  to  look  after  the  public  halls  or 
places  of  preaching ;  he  "  keeps  the  door,"  sees  that  no  disorder- 
ly persons  enter  to  disturb  the  meeting,  takes  up  the  collections, 
and  is  the  treasurer  on  a  small  scale  for  "  the  branch  ; "  besides 
which  he  inquires  into  the  necessities  of  the  widows  and  the 
fatherless,  and  renders  them  what  aid  he  can.  The  deacon 
should  physically  be  a  strong  man,  not  on  account  of  the 
weight  of  the  pennies  that  he  carries  home,  but  on  account  of 
the  practical  manner  in  which  he  has  frequently  to  "  cast  out 
"  devils."  The  Author  well  remembers  attending  a  council 
"  meeting  "  of  the  Mormon  priesthood,  in  Birmingham,  Eng- 
land, when  one  of  the  brethren  proposed  that  a  number  of  the 
heaviest  men  among  the  Saints  should  be  that  evening  ordained 
deacons.  The  proposer  of  that  motion  set  forth  that  they 
were  all  strong  men  ;  one  of  them  used  a  forge-hammer  in  a 
smithy,  another  was  a  drayman,  a  third  had  been  on  the  police 
force,  and  there  were  two  carpenters.  Others  were  also  named 
whose  strength  was  equal  to  the  office.    The  presiding  officer 


CASTING  OUT  DEVILS. 


557 


over  the  conference,  who  had  but  newly  arrived  among  the 
Birmingham  Saints,  wanted  to  learn  what  necessity  there  was 
for  so  many  ordinations,  and  why  ^he  quality  of  strength  was 
dwelt  upon.  His  predecessor  had  been  a  great  preacher,  and 
had  attracted  a  great  deal  of  attention,  and  persons  of  a  certain 
class,  not  afraid  to  go  anywhere,  were  his  attendants.  Every 
Sunday  night  Father  Crooke  was  unhappy  without  "  a  row." 
His  attacks  upon  other  religionists  were  sure  to  bring  up  some 
of  the  audience  on  their  feet  in  opposition,  and  then  the  dea- 
cons were  called  for :  "  Deacons,  this  man  challenges  me  to 
"  show  him  a  miracle,  and  asks  me  to  cast  out  devils.  "We 
"  can  do  it.  Deacons,  cast  Jiim  out !  "  That  unfortunate  oppo- 
nent was  in  a  moment  clutched  by  the  neck  and  hands,  and 
hurried  to  the  door.  If  he  was  resolute  and  opposed  the 
rough  handling,  he  went  quickly  down  the  stairs  without 
touching  all  the  steps.  Father  Crooke  gazed  upon  the  opera- 
tion with  undisguised  satisfaction,  and  the  audience  was 
equally  delighted.  On  the  return  of  the  deacons,  the  old  man 
would  recommence  his  sermon  with  a  prefatory  word  of  ap- 
proval to  the  deacons  and  the  announcement  to  the  audience 
that  they  had  had  demonstrated  that  they  could  "  cast  out 
"  devils." 

The  "  Teacher  "  is  the  second  round  in  the  ladder  of  priest-  , 
hood.  His  duties  are  to  visit  the  Saints  and  to  inquire  into 
their  faith  and  life.  Without  challenging  the  design,  the  Mor- 
mon leaders  find  a  powerful  auxiliary  to  their  influence  over 
the  people  in  "  the  prayers  of  the  Saints."  Every  household 
is  instructed  to  have  morniHg  and,  evening  prayers.  The  father 
gathers  his  children  around  him,  and  all  kneeling,  he  prays  for 
revelation,  the  gifts  of  the  Spirit  for  himself  and  family  ;  then 
in  turn  comes  every  order  of  priesthood.  "  Bless  Brigham 
"Young,  bless  him;  may  the  heavens  be  opened  unto  him, 
"  angels  visit  and  instruct  him  ;  clothe  him  with  power  to  de- 
"  fend  thy  people  and  to  overthrow  all  who  rise  up  against 
"  him ;  bless  him  in  his  basket  and  in  his  store,  multiply  and 
"  increase  him  in  wives,  children,  flocks,  and  herds,  houses  and 
"  lands — make  him  very  great,"  etc. 

After  Brigham  has  been  properly  remembered,  then  come 
his  counsellors,  the  apostles,  the  high-priests,  the  seventies,  the 


558 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


elders,  the  priests,  the  teachers,  the  deacons,  and  the  Church 
universal.  Another  divergence  is  made  in  remembrance  of  the 
President  of  the  Conference,  and  the  president  of  that  particu- 
lar "  branch  "  where  the  family  resides,  and  every  ofHcer  in  it. 
All  are  prayed  for — if  the  father  does  his  duty.  The  power 
and  the  greatness  of  the  "  kingdom,"  that  is  to  roll  on  till  it 
fills  the  whole  earth  and  subjugates  all  earthly  and  corrupt 
man-made  governments,  are  specially  urgent.  All  nations  are 
to  weaken  and  crumble  to  pieces,  and  Zion  is  to  go  forth  in  her 
strength  conquering  and  to  conquer  till  the  priesthood  shall 

"  .  .  .  .  reign  and  rule  and  triumph, 
And  God  shall  be  our  King." 

The  teacher's  duty  is  to  visit  every  house  once  a  week,  and 
inquire  if  the  Saints  there  pray  regularly ;  that  there  are  no 
contentions  among  them ;  that  there  are  no  doubts  arising  in 
their  minds  ;  and,  finally,  ascertain  that  they  pay  their  tithing 
and  are  regular  in  their  contributions.  After  the  teacher  is 
through  with  his  inquiries,  he  kneels  with  the  family  and  prays 
-—and  angels  are  to  succeed  him  and  the  gifts  are  to  flow  in 
upon  their  patient  souls  if  they  "  weary  not  in  well-doing." 

That  teacher's  next  duty  is  to  report  the  spiritual  life  of 
the  family  at  the  "  council  meeting,"  and  wherever  he  dis- 
covers the  dawning  of  a  doubt  in  the  form  of  a  question,  that 
family  is  watched  with  solicitude  and  "  laboured  "  with.  If 
the  doubt  disappear,  'tis  well ;  if  it  grows,  it  is  fought ;  if  it 
becomes  unconquerable,  "apostacy"  ensues,  the  untamable  is 
''cut  off"  and  consigned  to  the  tender  mercies  of  his  Majesty 
of  the  nether  regions,  to  be  "  buffeted  "  in  the  flesh. 

With  such  a  system  of  supervision,  and  the  moulding  of 
the  disciple's  mind  by  the  habit  of  special  prayer  for  the  priest- 
hood, asking  that  all  that  the  prophet  aims  to  be  and  to  do 
may  be  favoured  by  the  heavens — who  cannot  comprehend  the 
power  of  the  Mormon  leader?  The  Gentile  world  need  not 
wonder  at  the  submission  of  the  Mormon  people — ^they  have 
prayed  themselves  into  it.  "  Apostasy  "  from  such  a  system 
must  necessarily  be  of  slow  growth,  and  can  only  be  reached  by 
the  men  and  women  who  dare  to  be  free. 

The    Priest "  is  the  head  of  the  Aaronic  or  Levitical  priest- 


ORDERS  OF  PRIESTHOOD. 


559 


hood,  whose  privilege  it  is  to  preach  from  the  rostrum,  and  he 
can  baptize  by  immersion  "  for  the  remission  ^of  sins,"  and, 
when  wanted,  he  can  act  with  the  teachers  and  the  deacons. 
The  greater  can  always  officiate  with  the  less,  but  the  less  can- 
not officiate  for  the  greater. 

The  Melchisedec  priesthood  commences  with  the  "  Elder." 
It  is  his  privilege  and  calling  to  preach  and  administer  in  all 
the  ordinances  of  the  Church.  He  lays  on  hands  to  confirm  all 
the  baptized  persons  members  of  the  Church,  and  they  receive 
"  the  gift  of  the  Holy  Ghost "  through  the  laying  on  of  his 
hands  upon  their  heads.  When  the  Mormons  are  sick,  they 
send  for  the  elders  and  they  anoint  the  afflicted  with  oil  by 
pouring  it  upon  their  heads,  and  internally,  if  required  by 
the  sick,  the  Elder  administers  at  the  same  time  a  tablespoon- 
ful  of  consecrated  olive-oil,  then  laj^s  hands  upon  his  or  her 
head,  prays  and  "  seals  "  upon  him  or  her  the  blessing  of  health, 
commands  the  disease  to  depart,  and  the  patient  is  healed — 
or  should  be. 

There  is  no  priesthood  higher  than  that  of  an  "  elder," 
"  after  the  order  of  Melchisedec  ;  "  but  there  are  orders  of  rank 
above  the  elder — "  seventies,"  "  high-priests,"  and  "  apostles  " 
— with  special  duties  attached  to  their  offices.  The  "  Quorum 
"of  Apostles"  is  confined  to  twelve  members,  who  are  the 
chief  presiding  and  ruling  authorities  wherever  they  are  in 
the  Churches  abroad.  They  have  all  authority  to  regulate  the 
affairs  of  the  Saints,  to  appoint  and  displace  presiding  offi- 
cers when  necessary,  and  to  direct  the  missionaries,  and  assign 
new  fields  of  labour  to  the'elders.  They  are  the  powerful  men 
who  "  bind  on  earth  that  which  is  bound  in  heaven."  They 
send  the  Gospel  to  the  nations,  or  they  withdraw  the  elders 
from  the  vineyards,  shake  the  dust  off  their  feet,  and  "  seal  up  " 
the  rebellious  Gentiles  to  damnation. 

The  Seventies  claim  the  rank  next  to  the  twelve  apostles, 
and  assume  for  themselves  that  they  also  are  apostles,  or  spe- 
cial messengers  to  the  nations.  Each  "  Quorum  of  Seventy  " 
is  composed  of  seventy  elders,  and  has  an  organization  of  its 
own,  with  a  president  and  six  counsellors.  Over  all  the 
"  Quorums  of  Seventies  "  there  is  a  president  and  six  coun- 
sellors.   The  number  of  these  "  quorums  "  is  unlimited. 


560 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


The  high-priest's  "quorum"  is  not  numerically  limited, 
and  the  nominal  duty  of  the  high-priest  is  to  preside  over 
the  Saints  wherever  they  are  located  in  a  collective  body ;  but 
the  callings  of  the  high-priest  and  "seventies"  have  hitherto 
been  more  sounding  in  titles  than  distinctive  in  duty.  The 
high-priest  goes  on  missions  as  well  as  the  "seventies,"  and 
the  "  seventies  "  preside  as  well  as  the  high-priest. 

Over  the  whole  Church  is  the  "  First  Presidency,"  a  "  Quo- 
"  rum  of  Three,"  and  these  three  are  harmonious  in  representa- 
tion upon  the  earth  with  "  the  Father,  the  Son,  and  the  Holy 
"  Ghost  "  in  heaven.  That  first  presidency  is  at  present  Brig- 
ham  Young,  George  A.  Smith,  and  Daniel  II.  Wells — the  suc- 
cessors of  Peter,  James,  and  John. 

Throughout  all  Mormondom  the  highest  rank  of  the  priest- 
hood is  sacred,  and  all  counsellors  are  but  aids.  The  theory  is 
that  a  president  is  nearer  to  "  the  Throne  "  than  his  counsel- 
lors, and,  though  the  latter  may  speak  and  difi^use  their  measure 
of  light,  at  the  moment  the  president  is  ready  to  decide  what 
should  be  done,  "the  Lord  "  will  give  him  direction. 

*  This  authoritative  teaching  silences  all  opposition  when  Brigham  speaks. 
Whatever  views  may  be  entertained  by  any  one  in  the  Mormon  Church,  these  must 
change,  and  an  opinion  by  any  one  expressed  before  Brigham  has  spoken  is  imme- 
diately afterwards  set  aside.  Elder  Hyde  gives  two  excellent  illustrations  in  the 
cases  of  Elder  Dunbar  and  Brother  Heber.  The  former  had  spoken  in  one  of  "  the 
Schools  for  the  Prophets,"  and  made  himself  clearly  understood.    He  says : 

"  He  proved  his  position,  I  thought,  satisfactorily  ;  an  American  elder,  however, 
told  him  that  *  Brigham  taught  the  contrary  doctrine.*  Said  this  mental  Colossus, 
*  If  he  said  so,  he  must  be  right,  and  I  withdraw  my  argument ! '  " 

A  still  more  absurd  example  is  related.  Elders  Bullock,  Hawkins,  and  others, 
were  one  day  discussing  with  Heber  about  the  resurrection,  and  the  question  was, 
whether,  when  the  body  came  out  of  the  grave,  any  visible  hole  would  be  left  in 
the  earth.  "  No,"  said  Kimball,  "  not  at  all,  the  atoms  will  be  reunited,  and  they 
wonH  leave  7io  hoUy  He  began  to  explain  his  reasons  for  this  opinion,  when  Brig- 
ham came  in,  and  the  question  was  referred  to  him.  "  Yes,  certainly  it  w'dl^''  he 
replied ;  "  Christ  is  the  pattern,  you  know ;  he  had  to  have  the  stone  rolled  away 
from  the  sepulchre,  and  that  left  the  hole  visible,  for  didn't  the  soldiers  see  it  ?  " 
"Brother  Brigham,"  cried  Kimball,  "  iliat  is  Just  my  opinion  !  " 

One  of  the  recently-made  apostles  was  for  many  years  Brigham's  private  secre- 
tary, an  excellent  scholar,  and,  taken  "  all  in  all,"  a  very  pleasant  gentleman,  but 
a  perfect  "  echo."  It  mattered  not  what  was  under  discussion  before  Brigham  en- 
tered the  oflSce.  If  the  Prophet  expressed  judgment  to  the  contrary  of  what 
"  Albert  "  had  been  arguing,  in  a  moment  he  would  express,  in  the  presence  of  those 
who  knew  better,  "  Exactly,  Brother  Brigham,  I  was  just  saying  so  ! "    Who  can 


THE  PRESIDENT  RESPONSIBLE  FOR  TEACHING. 


561 


Eacli  "  quorum  "  has  its  own  meetings.  Any  of  the  higher 
orders  can  visit  and  take  part,  if  invited,  in  any  "  quorum  "  of 
a  lesser  priesthood  ;  but  no  member  of  a  lesser  "  quorum  "  is 
invited  to  take  part  in  a  higher  "quorum."  The  "inspira- 
"tion"  cometh  from  above,  and  flows  like  water  downwards. 
It  would  never  do  for  the  knowledge  or  understanding  of  any 
principle  or  doctrine  to  seek  shelter  in  the  cranium  of  any 
member  of  the  priesthood,  till  it  had  permeated  the  brain  of 
the  president.  "  Brother  Heber,"  being  an  eccentric  genius, 
did  sometimes  make  unlooked-for  announcements  before  Brig- 
ham  had  spoken,  but  Heber  always  dressed  them  in  his  own 
peculiar  drollery,  and  they  were  permitted  to  be  heard  without 
censure.  It  is  in  consequence  of  this  rigid  discipline  and  order 
of  teaching  that  Brigham  Young  is  very  properly  held  respon- 
sible for  the  utterances  of  the  Tabernacle.  Jedediah  M.  Grant's 
Reformation  "blood-atonement"  speeches  did  not,  and  could 
not,  have  originated  with  himself.  He  only  uttered  and  ampli- 
fied what  were  the  conclusions  of  his  chief.  No  false  doctrine 
can,  therefore,  creep  in  among  the  Saints ;  it  must  come  forth 
primarily,  like  the  "  Adam-deity,"  from  the  head  of  the  presi- 
dent."^ 

The  reader  unacquainted  with  the  Mormons  might  fall 
.into  the  error  of  supposing  that  the  priesthood  was  a  body  of 
learned  men,  and  that  the  highest  offices  were  filled  by  men  of 
greater  attainments  in  education.  The  male  Mormons  all  re- 
ceive the  priesthood — all  but  the  Africans. 

There  can  be  no  "  earthly  "  qualifications  for  rank  in  the 
priesthood — "the  wisdom  of  the  world  is  foolishness."  Those 
who  are  elected  and  hold  "  position  "  in  the  Church  are  "  en- 
"  dowed  from  on  high."  Some  few  well-educated  persons  have 
held  high  office,  but  "learning"  in  general  has  been  consid- 
ered a  dangerous  element  to  its  possessor.  Very  few  of  this 
class  have  been  humble  enough  for  "  the  Lord  "  to  work  with 

wonder  that  Brigham  Young  has  a  good  opinion  of  his  own  judgment,  when  no  one 
ever  ventures  to  differ  from  it  ? 

*  Brother  Heber  had  considerable  pride  in  relating  to  his  intimate  friends  that 
be  was  the  source  of  Brigham's  revelation  on  the  "Adam-deity."  In  a  moment  of 
reverie,  Heber  said :  Brother  Brigham,  I  have  an  idea  that  Adam  is  not  only  our 
father,  but  our  God."  That  was  enough :  Brigham  snapped  at  the  novelty,  and 
announced  it  with  all  the  flourish  of  a  new-made  revelation. 


562 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


them  long.  Heber  had  some  acquaintance  with  the  business 
of  a  potter,  and  in  his  eloquent  moments  he  delighted  to  in- 
struct  the  people  about  the  manipulation  of  clay — they  were 
all  "  clay  "  in  the  hands  of  the  ^'  potter,"  and  if  they  expected 
ever  to  be  "  vessels  of  honour  "  they  had  to  be  ground  very 
fine.  The  application  was  clear,  and  in  the  experience  of 
many  of  the  Mormons  it  has  been  terribly  truthful.  The  offi- 
cial in  the  Mormon  Church  must  be  as  "  limber  as  a  tallowed 
"  rag."^ 

On  the  6th  of  April,  the  anniversary  of  the  organization  of 
the  Church,  a  general  conference  is  held  in  Salt  Lake  City,  and 
a  semi-annual  conference  is  held  on  the  6th  of  October.  Dur- 
ing these  conferences  the  people  vote  with  uplifted  hands  to 
sustain  all  the  presiding  authorities.  One  of  the  apostles  rises 
on  the  platform,  and  moves  that  Brigham  Young  be  "sus- 
"tained"  as  "President  of  the  Church  of  Jesus  Christ  of  Lat- 
"  ter-Day  Saints,"  and  as  "  prophet,  seer,  and  revelator."  The 
motion  is  seconded,  the  show  of  hands  is  called  for,  and  the 
vote  is  unanimous. 

All  the  other  officials  are  reelected  in  the  same  manner.  A 
negative  vote  is  called,  but  no  hand  is  ever  lifted  in  opposition. 
Only  two  remarkable  cases  of  negative  voting  have  taken 
place  since  the  death  of  Joseph  Smith — the  one  in  Nauvoo,  in. 
184:4  (when  Sidney  Rigdon  was  tried) ;  the  other  in  Salt  Lake 
City,  in  1869,  when  elders  W.  S.  Godbe  and  E.  L.  T.  Harrison 
were  disfellowshipped.  In  both  cases  all  these  negative  voters 
were  cut  off  from  the  Church,  and  in  that  there  was  perfect  con- 
sistency. The  only  possible  use  of  brains  in  a  theocracy  is  to 
support  "  the  chosen  of  the  Lord  ; "  in  this,  the  "  unity  of  the 
Saints "  is  manifest.  Elder  Amos  M.  Musser,  the  general 
agent  of  Brigham,  has  been  ridiculed  for  exhorting  the  Saints 
to  "go  it  blind;"  but  brother  Musser  was  philosophic.  A 
simple-hearted  missionary — an  Italian — who  had  long  served 
in  Brigham's  household,  once  addressed  the  Saints  in  Liver- 
pool ;  and,  after  "bearing  his  testimony"  to  the  joy  of  living 
in  "  Zion,"  he  exhorted  his  hearers  to  "  obey  the  authorities," 
as  there  was  great  happiness  in  obedience.  He  said  that  he 
had  no  trouble  in  getting  along :  "  I  puts  my  head  in  de  bag, 

*  A  favourite  expression  among  the  inspired. 


UNCLE  JOHN  AND  HIS  "BLESSINGS." 


563 


"and  I  goes  along,  and  I  sees  notliin'."  Everywhere  "blind 
"  obedience  "  is  the  mark  of  the  highest  virtue. 

In  the  organization  of  the  priesthood  there  are  three  dis- 
tinct lines  of  power,  viz. :  the  apostolic,  the  judicial,  and  the 
political.  The  first  is  seen  in  the  "  kingdom  "-building  and 
missionary  labours,  and  embraces  the  "  first  presidency,"  the 
twelve  apostles,  the  "  seventies,"  and  elders.  These  are  "  the 
"  saviours  of  the  world."  The  judicial  organization  embraces 
the  "first  presidency,"  the  high-council,  the  bishop  and  coun- 
sellors in  each  ward,  and  the  visiting  teachers — they  decide  all 
questions  of  litigation  among  the  Saints.  The  political  branch 
of  the  Church  is  little  known,  even  among  the  Saints  them- 
selves, and  is  but  seldom  used.  But  there  is  in  reality  a  re- 
semblance to  the  Sanhedrim  in  a  "  council  of  fifty,"  composed 
of  the  apostles  and  leading  men.  In  1^'auvoo  this  council  was 
more  frequently  used  than  it  is  in  Utah. 

Another  very  important  order  of  the  priesthood  is  that  of 
the  "  Patriarchs."  The  chief  is  designated  "  The  Presiding 
"  Patriarch  over  the  Church ; "  the  others  are  patriarchs  in  the 
Church.  These  brethren  have  power  to  bless  the  people,  and 
to  tell  them  from  what  particular  branch  of  "  Jacob  "  they  have 
sprung,  and  in  this  way  the  Saints  learn  what  is  the  lineage 
through  which  their  blessings  are  to  come. 

The  present  chief  Patriarch  is  still  a  young  man,  and  in- 
herited his  office.  He  was  the  eldest  son  of  Hyrum  Smith, 
who  was  assassinated  at  Carthage  jail.  "  Uncle  John  "  [Young], 
the  eldest  brother  of  Brigham,  was  for  many  years  the  best 
illustration  of  the  Patriarch  in  the  Church,  and  was  very 
earnest  in  his  labours  in  "blessing"  the  people.  This  good 
man  had  waives  and  children,  and  was  properly  enough  entitled 
to  charge  for  his  "  blessings  " — his  family  had  to  be  supported. 
Before  money  was  known  in  Utah,  the  Patriarch  had,  of  neces- 
sity, to  be  paid  for  his  blessings  in  the  produce  of  the  country. 
At  times,  this  unwieldy  payment  entailed  considerable  incon- 
venience, but  "  Uncle  John  "  was  persevering,  and  managed 
to  get  along  comfortably.  "When  paid  in  butter  or  flour — if 
either  of  those  articles  was  scarce  and  difficult  to  obtain — 
"  Uncle  John  "  was  certain  to  give  "  a  good  blessing  " — at  the 
rate  of  two  dollars  apiece,  and,  when  there  were  several  to  be 


564 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


"  blessed  "  in  one  family,  there  was  some  slight  reduction.  He 
travelled  all  over  the  Territory,  and  when  he  arrived  in  a  set- 
tlement, announcement  was  made  of  his  head-quarters,  and  all 
the  unblessed  "  were  invited  and  urged  to  "  get  a  blessing." 
As  produce  rose  or  fell  in  value,  the  exact  amount  of  flour, 
butter,  eggs,  beef,  and  potatoes,  would  be  specially  designated, 
and  those  who  possessed  the  requisite  articles  were  "  blessed." 
"  Uncle  John,"  doubtless,  gave  many  "  blessings  "  in  his  life- 
time without  any  reward  ;  but,  as  a  rule,  the  "  Patriarchal 
"  blessing  "  was  strictly  a  matter  of  trade.  One  of  the  breth- 
ren, west  of  Salt  Lake,  tells  that  he  was  once  very  anxious  to 
have  the  Patriarch  lay  his  hands  upon  his  head,  but  he  had 
only  vinegar  wherewith  to  pay  for  it.  "  Uncle  John  "  could 
not  receive  such  remuneration,  and  the  "brother"  returned 
home  sorrowing ;  but  after  a  time  he  was  able  to  present  an 
"acceptable"  offering,  and  then  he  got  a  "first-class  blessing." 
These  blessings  are  singular  documents — they  are  all  written 
by  the  Patriarch's  scribe,  and  are  preserved  in  the  family  of 
the  recipient  with  great  reverence. 

The  judicial  department  of  the  priesthood  is  very  valuable 
to  the  Saints ;  it  is  the  best  institution  connected  with  Mor- 
monism.  It  has  saved  the  brethren  and  sisters  all  the  trouble 
and  expence  of  lawsuits  when  differences  have  arisen  among 
them,  and,  following  the  closing  of  a  controversy,  reconciliation 
of  the  contestants  is  insisted  upon. 

If  John  Smith  has  any  difficulty  with  John  Jones,  it  is  im- 
mediately discovered  by  the  teachers.  The  contending  parties 
are  visited,  and  the  grievance  is  investigated.  The  offender  is  in- 
structed to  go  to  the  offended,  and  make  confession  of  his  error, 
and  obtain  forgiveness.  Should  Smith,  the  offendet,  refuse  to 
make  confession,  and  be  reconciled  to  his  brother,  Jones,  the 
offended  man,  makes  complaint,  and  the  teachers  "labour" 
with  Smith.  Should  the  latter  remain  obstinate,  the  teachers 
summon  him  to  appear  at  the  council-meeting  of  his  ward,  and 
before  the  bishop,  his  counsellors,  and  the  members  of  the 
priesthood  who  attend  the  council-meeting,  the  difficulty  is 
stated ;  both  parties  are  heard,  and,  when  the  evidence  is  all 
weighed,  the  bishop  sums  up  the  whole  matter,  and  gives  his 
decision.    In  most  cases  that  decision  is  accepted,  the  matter 


THE  HIGH  COUNCIL, 


665 


ends,  and  the  contending  brothers  are  reconciled,  and  agree  te 
live  together  again  in  ^'  good  fellowship  as  becometh  Saints." 
Should  either  of  the  contestants,  however,  be  still  dissatistied, 
an  appeal  can  be  made  for  a  hearing  before  the  chief  bishop 
of  the  whole  Church  and  his  counsellors,  or  to  the  High 
Council. 

This  latter  organization  is  composed  of  fifteen  elders,  not 
specially  the  greatest  men  in  the  community,  nor  yet  selected 
for  any  legal  acumen.  The  absence  of  a  critical  mind  is  no 
detriment  to  a  member  of  the  High  Council,  for  "  the  spirit " 
is  more  valuable  than  schooling  with  Chitty  or  Blackstone. 
The  head  of  this  council  is  the  President  of  the  Stake  of  Zion 
and  his  two  counsellors :  the  twelve  others  are  appointed  like 
the  members  of  any  other  "  quorum^" 

When*  any  important  case  comes  before  the  council  for 
trial,  six  members  are  assigned  to  each  side — the  odd  numbers 
taking  the  prosecution,  and  the  even  numbers  taking  the  de- 
fence, or  vice  versa.  Till  the  case  is  brought  into  the  council- 
room,  neither  prosecutor  nor  defendant  'knows  who  will  repre- 
sent him  in  the  debate.  The  object  of  the  council  is  to  reach 
facts — to  decide  according  to  equity.  The  judgment  of  the 
council  is  reached  by  the  vote.  Should  it  be  a  tie-vote,  the 
president  casts  his  own,  and  that  ends  it.  From  this  council 
there  is  also  an  appeal  to  the  "  quorum  "  of  the  "  First  Presi- 
dency,"  and  from  that,  if  desired,  to  the  Church  collectively 
in  General  Conference.  Such  trials,  however,  are  very  rare. 
Sidney  Rigdon's  trial,  in  Nauvoo,  was  the  last. 

Should  either  of  the  contestants  before  the  High  Council 
refuse  to  accept  its  decision,  and  make  no  further  appeal  to  a 
Church  tribunal,  if  the  subject  in  dispute  is  property,  and  the 
adjudged  guilty  one  will  not  abide  by  "  the  judgment "  and 
make  ^'restitution,"  he  will  be  "  cut  off"  from  the  Church, 
and  the  injured  party  can  then  sue  him  before  a  court  of  law, 
like  any  Gentile. 

But  it  is  not  only  between  brothers  in  faith  that  the  Church 
adjudicates.  Into  every  relation  of  life  the  teachers  have  a 
I'ight  to  inquire.  Between  parents  and  children,  husband  and 
wife,  and  between  wife  and  wife,  the  faithful  teacher  "  has 
the  right  to  step  in.    He  is  the  all-seeing  eye  of  "  the  Lord," 


566 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


and  knows  everything.  Many  a  man  has  been  surprised  to 
ki\G\^  how  intimate  Brigham  Yonng  was  with  his  family  af- 
fairs, and  when  Brigham  has  thought  him  worthy  of  his  wrath, 
he  has  been  surprised  to  hear  the  Prophet  relate,  with  minute 
precision,  acts  of  his  life^  the  knowledge  of  which  he  thought 
was  confined  to  the  walls  of  his  own  castle."  To  the  super- 
stitious, the  fulness  of  the  Prophet's  intelligence  upon  any 
subject  has  often  been  credited  to  revelation  ;  to  those  better 
acquainted  with  the  machinery  of  the  priesthood  and  its  influ- 
ence, the  visit  of  the  teacher,  or  that  of  a  wife,  to  the  Proph- 
et's office,  was  the  truer  solution  of  the  mystery.  There  is 
nothing  concealed  from  Brigham ;  he  sees  everything  and  hears 
everything. 

This  great  net-work  of  priesthood  which  covers  everything, 
and  the  influence  of  which  permeates  everything,  is  the  key  to 
the  power  of  Brigham  Young  over  the  Saints  in  Zion.  Through 
this  priesthood  he  can  sway  them  as  he  will.  Once,  by  his  de- 
cision, they  expatriated  themselves  from  the  United  States,  and 
sought  Mexican  soil  for  a  future  home,  and  every  notable  fea- 
ture of  Mormon  history  since  has  sprung  from  the  same  source. 
As  seen  in  all  the  Conference  minutes,  the  people  are,  by  their 
own  free  voting,  made  responsible  for  everything  that  is  done, 
and  when  once  they  have,  by  uplifted  hand  before  heaven,  ex- 
pressed their  wish,  it  becomes  their  duty  and  obligation  to  sus- 
tain it. 

At  the  last  Conference,  on  "Wednesday,  October  9, 1872,  the 
following  were  reelected  the  presiding  authorities  of  the  Mor- 
mon Church: 

"Elder  George  Q.  Cannon  presented  the  authorities  of  the  Church  to 
the  Conference,  in  the  following  order,  the  vote  to  sustain  them  being 
unanimous : 

"  Brigham  Young,  Prophet,  Seer,  and  Revelator,  and  President  of  the 
Church  of  Jesus  Christ  of  Latter-Day  Saints  in  all  the  world. 

"  George  A.  Smith,  Prophet,  Seer,  and  Revelator,  and  first  Counsel- 
lor to  President  Youug. 

"  Daniel  H.  Wells,  Prophet,  Seer,  and  Revelator,  and  second  Counsel- 
lor to  President  Young. 

"  Orson  Hyde,  President  of  the  Quorum  of  the  Twelve  Apostles,  and 
Orson  Pratt,  Sen.,  John  Taylor,  Wilford  Woodruff,  Charles  C.  Rich,  Lo- 
renzo Snow,  Erastus  Snow,  Franklin  D.  Richards,  George  Q.  Cannon,  Brig- 


THE  ORGANIZATION  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


567 


ham  Young,  Jr.,  Joseph  F.  Smith,  and  Albert  Oarrington,  members  of 
said  Quorum. 

"  John  Smith,  Patriarch  of  the  Church. 
John  W.  Young,  President  of  this  Stake  of  Zion,  and  George  B. 
Wallace  and  John  T.  Caine  his  counsellors. 

"William  Eddington,  John  L.  Blythe,  Howard  O.  Spencer,  John 
Squires,  Wm.  H.  Folsom,  Thomas  E.  Jeremy,  Joseph  L.  Barfoot,  John  H, 
Kumell,  Miner  G.  Attwood,  Wm.  Thorn,  Dimick  B.  Huntington,  Theodore 
McKean,  and  Hosea  Stout,  members  of  the  High  Council. 

"  Elias  Smith,  President  of  the  High-Priests'  Quorum,  and  Edward 
Snelgrove  and  Elias  Morris  his  counsellors. 

"  Joseph  Young,  President  of  the  first  seven  Presidents  of  the  Seven- 
ties, and  Levi  W.  Hancock,  Henry  Herriman,  Albert  P.  Kockwood,  Horace 
S.  Eldridge,  Jacob  Gates,  and  John  Van  Cott,  members  of  the  first  seven 
Presidents  of  the  Seventies. 

"Benjamin  L.  Peart,  President  of  the  Elders'  Quorum;  Edward  Davis 
and  Abinadi  Pratt,  his  counsellors. 

"  Edward  Hunter,  Presiding  Bishop  ;  Leonard  W.  Hardy  and  Jesse  C. 
Little,  his  counsellors. 

"  Samuel  G.  Ladd,  President  of  the  Priests'  Quorum ;  Wm.  McLachlan 
and  James  Latham,  his  counsellors, 

"  Adam  Spears,  President  of  the  Teachers'  Quorum ;  Martin  Lenzi  and 
Henry  1.  Doremus,  his  counsellors. 

"  James  Leach,  President  of  the  Deacons'  Quorum ;  Peter  Johnson 
and  Chas.  S.  Cram,  his  counsellors. 

"  Brigham  Young,  Trustee-in-Trust  for  the  Church  of  Jesus  Christ  of 
Latter-Day  Saints. 

"  Truman  O.  Angel,  Architect  for  the  Church. 

"  Albert  Carrington,  Historian  and  General  Church  Recorder,  and 
Wilford  Woodruff,  his  assistant."  * 

These  are  the  presidents,  and  as  every  sane  man  in  the 
Mormon  Church  "  holds  the  priesthood,"  and  can  be  instantly 
reached  by  his  superior,  the  reader  cannot  fail  to  comprehend 
that  the  "  one-man-power  "  in  Utah  is  a  reality,  and  no  myth 
or  phantom  of  a  Gentile  brain."  Those  who  have  estimated 
Joseph  Smith,  the  founder  of  Mormonism,  "  as  a  fool,"  have 
greatly  mistaken  the  man.  "With  him  originated  this  order  of 
priesthood,  and  his  tongue  enunciated  every  'principle  or  doc- 
trine believed  and  practised  by  the  Mormons.  Brigham  Young 
received  the  Church  in  its  entirety  as  an  inheritance,  as  proba- 
bly in  a  few  years  his  successor  will  inherit  it  from  him. 

But  the  reader  has  only  seen  the  priesthood  at  home :  an- 

*  Deseret  News^  October  9,  1872. 


568 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


other,  and  still  more  interesting  page  of  history  is  the  mission- 
ary priesthood  abroad. 

From  the  youth  in  his  teens,  to  the  elder  in  hoary  age,  all 
the  brethren  are  subject  to  be  "  called  on  mission  "  at  any  time, 
and  in  such  calls  no  personal  conveniences  are  ever  consulted. 
Should  a  merchant  be  wanted  for  a  "  mission,"  his  business 
must  be  left  in  other  hands,  and  his  affairs  can  be  conducted 
by  other  brains :  so  with  the  artisan,  the  mechanic,  the  farmer, 
and  the  plough  boy — they  must  in  their  way  do  the  best  they 
can.  Seed-time  or  harvest,  summer  or  winter,  pleasure  or  im- 
portant work — nothing  in  which  they  are  engaged  is  allowed 
to  stand  in  the  way.  If  poor,  and  the  family  is  dependent 
upon  the  outgoing  missionary,  that  must  be  no  hinderance — the 
mission  is  given,  he  has  to  go,  and  the  family  "  trusts  in  the 
"  Lord,"  and  in  the  tender  mercies  of  the  bishop  ! 

There  is  no  missionary  fund  to  defray  the  expenses  of  him 
who  is  sent ;  he  travels  onward  "  without  purse  and  scrip,"  and 
makes  his  way  from  Utah  to  the  Gentile  "  nations  in  the  best 
manner  he  can.  Of  late  years,  the  missionaries  have  been  per- 
mitted to  take  money  with  them  to  defray  their  expenses — if 
able  to  do  so  ;  but  in  the  beginning  it  was  considered  that  there 
was  glory  in  literally  travelling  without  money  to  do  the 
"  Lord's  "  work,  and  trusting  to  His  providence  for  daily  bread, 
shelter,  and  clothing.  The  only  qualiiication  demanded  was  a 
good  stock  of  faith,  and,  ever-powerful  as  money  is,  with  such 
a  task  before  him  faith  is  far  more  essential,  and  far  more  po- 
tential, with  the  missionary,  than  solid  cash,  worldly  influence, 
or  "  green-backs." 

Preceding  the  completion  of  the  Pacific  railroad,  the  de- 
parture of  the  missionaries  was  an  important  epoch  among  the 
Saints.  The  April  Conference  was  looked  forward  to  with 
great  interest.  It  was  then  that  the  missionaries  were  called. 
Many  a  man  was  nervous  when  the  hour  of  appointment 
arrived.  No  previous  intimation  was  given,  not  a  word  whis- 
pered, and  the  man  who  thought  that  he  could  not  be  spared  a 
week  or  a  day  from  his  business  heard,  without  warning,  his 
name  proposed  for  a  foreign  mission.  lie  could  object,  certain- 
ly, but  to  do  so  was  to  question  "  the  Lord,"  and  to  bear  ever 
after  the  brand  of  "  weak  in  the  faith." 


MISSIONARIES  LEAVING  HOME. 


569 


The  elders  who  are  called  on  mission  are  invited  to  meet  in 
the  evening  in  the  Historian's  OflSce,  to  be  "  set  apart  for  their 
missions."  Brigham  and  the  apostles  meet  with  them,  and 
lay  their  hands  npon  them,  and  bless  them,  and  "  consecrate  " 
them  to  the  work  of  "the  Lord,"  and  predict  upon  their  heads 
that  they  will  do  "  wonderful  works."  The  eager  ears  of  the 
missionary  catch  every  word,  and  he  treasures  up  in  his  heart 
what  he  has  to  accomplish.  No  salary,  no  question  of  paltry 
gold,  is  anything  when  compared  with  a  prediction.  The  one 
"  perishes  with  the  using,"  the  other  is  the  "  da^^-star  of  hope," 
that  brightens  more  and  more  as  the  clouds  of  adversity  thick- 
en and  lower,  and  the  weary  soul  is  ready  to  faint.  The  mis- 
sionary is  now  fully  qualified,  and  the  one  of  whom  least  is  ex- 
pected often  accomplishes  the  most. 

It  was  usually  arranged  that  the  day  of  departure  should 
be  at  the  beginning  of  May.  Salt  Lake  City  was  the  general 
rendezvous,  and  there  the  missionaries  would  organize  to  travel 
together  for  economy  and  mutual  protection.  Usually  they 
would  travel  by  mule-teams ;  but  many  a  missionary  band  has 
crossed  the  plains  with  ox-teams  in  common  covered  wagons, 
and  on  one  occasion  a  company  made  the  whole  distance  to 
the  Missouri  river  dragging  hand-carts. 

None  of  these  missionaries  would  ever  have  undertaken 
that  experiment  for  money,  nor  in  any  business  of  their  own  ; 
but  with  them  it  was  an  act  of  faith  to  be  illustrated,  and  they 
did  it  "  for  the  work's  sake."  Brigham  and  the  apostles  were 
just  at  that  time  particularly  "exercised"  about  the  calamities 
that  were  coming  upon  the  outside  world,  especially  about 
great  troubles  that  were  to  arise  between  Great  Britain  and 
the  United  States.  "  The  Lord  "  was  whispering  to  them  of  a 
coming  war,  and  it  was  essentially  necessary  that  the  Saints 
should  be  "  delivered  "  before  the  struggle  began.  Fortunately 
for  two  great  nations,  as  well  as  for  the  Mormon  immigrants, 
"  the  Lord"  of  the  Saints  was  on  that  occasion,  as  he  had  fre- 
quently been  before,  slightly  incorrect  in  his  calculations."^ 

*  With  so  many  failures  of  prediction  as  are  manifest  in  Mormon  history,  ordi- 
nary persons  would  be  likely  to  suspect  that  there  was  something  wrong  about  these 
"  whisperings  of  the  Spirit."  Brigham  never  would  trust  a  man  an  hour  who  failed 
him  as  frequently  as  "  the  Lord  "  has  failed  the  modern  apostles.  There  is  a  grow- 
ing suspicion  in  the  minds  of  intelligent  persons  that  Brigham  has  for  some  years 


670 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINl;s. 


9 


When  the  missionaries  arrived  on  the  Missouri  river,  they 
would  sell  their  outfits,  and,  with  the  money  received,  some  of 
them  would  hurry  onward  and  hasten  to  their  fields  of  labour ; 
others  would  send  back  what  they  could  get  to  Utah,  to  com- 
fort their  wives  and  children,  and  they  themselves  would  pro- 
ceed eastward,  trusting  in  "  the  Lord." 

What  a  history  the  Mormon  elders  could  write  of  their  ex- 
perience !  Without  a  claim  upon  a  soul  for  support,  without 
knowing  where  to  procure  the  necessities  for  life  and  travel, 
they  would  start  out  to  evangelize  the  world.  The  only  docu- 
ment the  missionary  would  carry  would  be  his  "  elder's  certifi- 
"  cate,"  a  brief,  plainly-written  note,  setting  forth  that  he  "  is 
"  in  full  faith  and  fellowship  with  the  Church  of  Jesus  Christ 
"  of  Latter-Day  Saints,"  and  inviting  "  all  men  to  give  heed  to 
"  his  teachings  and  counsels,  as  a  man  of  God,  sent  to  open  to 
"  them  the  door  of  life  and  salvation."  The  reader  is  asked  to 
"  assist  him  in  his  travels,  in  whatsoever  things  he  may  need," 
and  the  Lord  is  invoked  to  bless  "  all  who  receive  him,  and 
"  minister  to  his  comfort."  That  document  is  signed  by  Brig- 
ham  Young  and  his  two  counsellors,  and  with  that  alone  the 
missionary  travels. 

All  that  the  Mormon  missionary  asks  is,  to  be  heard,  to  be 
listened  to,  and  his  poverty  forces  him  to  seek  an  auditory 
among  the  poor.  He  begins  at  the  lowest  round  of  the  ladder 
and  works  upwards.  He  is  familiar  with  the  text  of  the  Bible, 
and  he  fails  not  to  say  "  Blessed  are  the  poor,"  to  them  "  the 
"  Gospel  is  preached."  Had  its  advocacy  been  entrusted  to 
men  of  education  and  wealth,  Mormonism  never  would  have 
troubled  the  world.  The  Mormon  net  is  adapted  to  its  own 
peculiar  fish,  and  the  fishermen  are  to  go  "  without  purse  and 
"  scrip."  Poor  themselves,  they  can  go  anywhere,  and  among 
the  poor  they  are  certain  to  find  sympathy : 

"  One  touch  of  nature  makes  the  whole  world  kin." 

Nine-tenths  of  the  elders  who  have  preached  Mormonism  would 

concluded  that  he  and  "  the  Lord  '*  were  one  and  the  same  person.  Many  of  Brig- 
ham's  most  trusted  men  begin  to  show  their  doubting,  and  hint,  in  a  quiet  way^  that 
if  Mormonism,  after  all,  should  not  be  the  thing  they  thought  it  was,  they  will  be  no 
worse  off  than  others  who  have  been  deceived,  and  in  the  mean  time  they  are  sure 
of  the  "  life  that  now  is." 


THE  MISSIONARY  WORK. 


571 


be  uncomfortable  if  walking,  as  the  poet  has  it,  in  "  silver  slip- 
"  pers."    They  despise  the  world  and  all  its  glory. 

In  religions  experience  personal  indiosyncrasy  has  much  to 
do  with  the  faith  that  a  person  embraces,  and  circumstances 
more  frequently  than  ^'  grace  "  contribute  to  the  intensity  of  a 
new  belief.  In  the  narratives  of  the  experience  of  the  Mor- 
mon missionary  it  is  almost  universally  one  and  the  same  story  : 
"  Persons  were  found  discontented  with  the  established  forms  of 
"  religion,  they  were  longing  for  something  that  had  more  soul-vi- 
"  tality,"  something  that  warmed  the  instinctive  heroism  of  the 
heart,  something  that  could  make  them  "rejoice  in  tribulation" 
and  be  willing  to  "  forsake  all  for  the  Gospel's  sake."  The 
world  is  not  overcrowded  with  persons  of  this  condition  of 
mind,  but  to  a  certain  extent  they  are  to  be  met  with  every- 
where among  people  of  all  religions. 

The  announcement  of  the  Mormon  missionaries  that  angels 
were  again  visiting  the  earth,  and  that  elders  were  once  more 
being  sent  forth  "  without  purse  or  scrip  "  to  gather  the  lost 
sheep  of  the  house  of  Israel,  was  the  very  tidings  that  such  per- 
sons had  longed  to  hear.  It  is  a  pleasant  thing  to  believe  one's 
self  miraculously  visited.  The  faith  of  such  a  missionary  is 
a  live  coal  from  off  the  altar,"  it  touches  the  hearts  of  hearers. 
His  very  impoverished  condition  stamps  him  with  honesty  of 
purpose  even  if  his  doctrine  may  be  unpalatable  ;  he  is  with- 
out a  home,  is  wholly  dependent  upon  invitation  to  the  domes- 
tic board  ;  his  helplessness,  as  "a  stranger  in  a  strange  land," 
awakens  sympathy,  and  admiration  of  his  courage  is  drawn 
even  from  those  who  may  oppose  him.  He  is  invited  home. 
Curiosity  is  aroused,  and  inquiry  follows.  He  relates  his 
travels,  how  he  has  left  his  family  in  a  far-distant  country,  and 
"forsaken  all  " — to  bring  to  them  the  glad  tidings  of  a  "New 
"Dispensation."  He  feels  his  dependence  on  "the  Lord;"  he 
is  grateful  for  the  moment's  providential  care,  and  his  words 
are  humbly  and  fitly  chosen  to  touch  the  soul  of  his  entertainer. 

In  all  this  he  certainly  is  not  acting  a  part ;  he  is  not  en- 
snaring, but  is  ever  believing  that  the  heavens  are  operating 
with  him,  and  using  him  for  the  attainment  of  a  great  purpose  ; 
he  aims  to  be  "  wise  as  a  serpent  and  harmless  as  a  dove."  The 
Mormon  missionary  is  by  no  means  a  Tartuffe. 


572 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


This  fireside  preaching  is  a  new  experience  to  his  hearers. 
The  minister  and  the  people  are  drawn  together  closer  than 
thej  ever  were  before  ;  and  he,  fully  charged  with  chapter  and 
verse  for  the  new  doctrines,  and  thoroughly  acquainted  with 
the  predictions  of  the  remotest  ages,  bearing  on  his  interpre- 
tation of  the  Latter-Day  kingdom,  skilled  also  in  wayside 
polemics,  knows  how  to  use  them ;  and  though  in  his  mien 
he  appears  to  be  but  the  humble  mechanic  or  labourer,  ho  is 
soon  discovered  to  be  no  ordinary  man.  The  more  he  stum- 
bles in  speech  and  shows  a  lack  of  education,  the  more  forcible 
the  argument :  the  Scriptures  all  seem  to  apply  to  him.  He 
sees  the  force  of  a  personal  application  of  the  words  "  the 
"  Lord  hath  chosen  the  weak  things  of  the  earth  to  confound 
"the  mighty."  He  claims  little  for  himself,  but  he  adds  to  his 
own  personal  importance  by  asserting  more  for  others.  There 
is  "one  mightier  than  he" — "The  Lord"  hath  raised  up  a 
prophet  to  whom  He  hath  revealed  the  secrets  of  His  will. 
The  Prophet  is  absent  in  Zion,  he  is  far  distant,  and  the  far- 
ther the  distance  the  greater  the  faith.  Under  these  circum- 
stances the  hearer  becomes  dazzled  with  the  complexity  of  the 
statements  of  the  missionary  and  the  mental  struggle  which 
his  arguments  induce.  New  thoughts  are  born,  wonder  and 
amazement  are  let  loose,  and  what  is  not  said  by  the  missionary 
himself  is  inferred  by  the  hearer,  till  the  most  extravagant 
pictures  are  created  in  their  minds,  and  angels  descending  to 
hold  communion  with  men  seems  perfectly  natural ;  and,  if  so, 
why  should  they  not  also  be  among  the  favoured  whom  angels 
may  visit  ?  Abraham,  Isaac,  Jacob,  and  the  ancient  prophets, 
were  thus  blessed ;  and  why,  then,  should  not  mortals  now  re- 
ceive similar  heavenly  visits  ?  The  road  is  smooth  from  what 
has  been  to  what  may  be.  Thus  the  Mormon  missionaries 
have  touched  the  very  souls  of  their  hearers,  and  found  believ- 
ing hearts  '  all  over  the  earth — one  here,  and  another  there, 
ready  waiting  for  their  testimony. 

In  this  undemonstrative  way,  Mormonism  was  first  dissemi- 
nated throughout  the  United  States  and  introduced  into  Brit- 
ain and  Continental  Europe.  As  the  number  of  converts  in- 
creased, tracts  and  pamphlets  were  profusely  circulated,  and 
halls  rented  for  preaching. 


SUCCESSES  OF  THE  ELDERS  IN  BRITAIN. 


573 


In  the  summer  of  1837,  the  Mormon  Elders  first  preached  ^ 
in  England,  and  at  their  April  Conference,  in  1841,  there  was 
represented  a  total  of  5,184:  persons  baptized.  Of  these,  106 
were  ordained  elders,  303  priests,  169  teachers,  and  63  deacons. 
Besides  these,  eight  hundred  souls  had  emigrated  to  "  build 
"  up  Zion  at  Nauvoo."  This  was  a  rapid  work  for  the  few 
elders  engaged  in  it. 

In  some  parts  of  England  "  the  fields  were  very  ripe " 
when  the  elders  arrived  there ;  they  had  only  to  thrust  in  their 
sickles  and  reap  a  bountiful  harvest  of  souls.  It  was  very  diffi- 
cult to  introduce  the  faith  into  London  ;  and  in  large  cities  gen- 
erally the  task  was  onerous ;  but  in  some  of  the  inland  coun- 
ties, the  Spirit "  was  poured  out  in  great  abundance.  The 
apostles  went  into  Herefordshire,  and  their  preaching  resulted 
in  a  perfect  ''pentecost"  of  conversions.  They  swallowed  up 
the  entire  "  United  Brethren,"  people,  preachers,  meeting- 
houses and  almost  all  they  had  got.  It  was  the  Hereford  disci- 
ples who  rendered  the  success  of  Mormonism  in  England  easy. 
They  furnished  the  money  to  publish  the  Book  of  Mormon, 
were  liberal  to  the  mission,  and  many  of  them  became  them- 
selves valiant  preachers.  Seven  of  the  apostles,  including 
Brigham  and  Heber,  were  all  labouring  in  Herefordshire 
at  one  time.  The  might  of  the  priesthood  was  there  concen- 
trated, and  great  numbers  were  baptized  in  that  and  in  the 
neighbouring  shires. 

Manchester  and  other  manufacturing  towns  in  Lancashire 
listened  early  to  the  glorious  news,"  and  many  were  baptized. 
The  first  initiatory  rite  was  administered  in  the  British  king- 
dom at  Preston,  and  the  first  candidate  was  a  lady,  but 
"  brother  George  D.  Watt  was  more  fleet  of  step,  and  he  ran 
"  some  distance  to  the  water's  edge,"  got  up  to  Heber  before  the 
lady,  and  "  was  the  first  British  subject  who  entered  the  king- 
"  dom  of  God  !  "  By  way  of  dividing  the  honours,  however,  the 
sister  was  the  first  confirmed. 

Before  this  could  be  accomplished,  Heber  and  Orson  Hyde 
relate  that  they  had  a  terrible  tussle  with  a  host  from  the 
infernal  regions.  The  "devils "came  into  their  bedroom  in 
Preston,  the  night  before  they  were  to  make  their  deiict  in 
the  streets  as  preachers,  and  they  had  a  fearful  time  together. 


5V4 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


One  of  the  brethren,  who  had  accompanied  these  elders  from 
America,  was  the  first  seized  by  the  invisible  powers,  and,  to 
relieve  him  of  his  torture,  Heber  and  Orson  proceeded  to  "  lay 
"  hands  npon  him.  While  in  the  performance  of  that  ordi- 
"  nance,"  the  ^Mevils"  struck  Heber  a  powerful  blow  on  the 
head  and  he  fell  senseless  to  the  floor.  Hyde  and  the  other 
elder  raised  him  to  the  bed,  laid  hands  upon  him,  and  he  grad- 
ually recovered  and  sat  up. 

But  the  fight  was  not  over.  The  "devils,"  after  a  little 
time,  became  visible,  and  tried  to  clutch  the  brethren  with  their 
hands  as  if  they  wanted  to  tear  them  to  pieces.  All  night  this 
was  continued,  but  the  elders  were  able  to  keep  them  at  a  re- 
spectable distance  by  commanding  them  "  in  the  name  of 
"  Jesus  Christ "  to  depart.  The  departure,  however,  was  not 
very  rapid,  as  they  stopped  all  night  within  a  few  feet  of  the 
three  elders  and  swore  fearfully  at  them  and  "  old  Joe  Smith," 
and  threatened  to  do  dreadful  things  to  them. 

These  three  elders  believed  all  that  has  been  here  related, 
and  many  a  time  and  oft  Heber  and  Orson  have  publicly  told 
the  story,  and  described  the  hideous  visages  of  their  visitors 
and  how  they  gnashed  their  teeth  at  them  and  "swore  like 
"  troopers,"  and  used  awfully  vile  and  dirty  language  all  night. 
There  were  no  horns,  hoofs,  or  other  appendages  to  the  visitors, 
but  they  looked  ugly  enough  without.  Hyde  adds  to  his  nar- 
rative that  one  of  them  was  "  a  sneaking  fellow ;  "  he  was 
about  the  last  of  the  crowd,  and  stepped  back  as  they  retired  to 
make  friends  with  the  apostle,  or  at  least  to  soften  his  wrath. 
He  w^as  anxious  that  the  apostle  should  know  and  remember 
that  he  had  acted  no  violent  part  on  this  occasion,  as  he  was 
merely  an  on-looker.  All  this  has  been  repeatedly  told  to  the 
Saints,  and  the  inference  derived  from  the  story  is,  that  Satan 
was  mad  because  the  apostles  had  been  sent  by  Joseph  Smith 
to  preach  the  gospel  to  the  British,  and  thereby  disturb  the 
devil's  kingdom — ergo  Mormonism  is  divine,  and  the  time  will 
come  when  the  modern  apostles  will  be  able  to  "  serve  out "  the 
devils,  for  into  the  hands  of  the  priesthood  the  judgment  will 
be  given  of  "  the  quick  and  the  dead." 

In  1841  the  apostle  Orson  Hyde  undertook  a  mission  to 
Judea  to  bless  that  land  for  the  return  of  the  Jews.  Early 


FOREIGN  MISSIONS. 


575 


in  the  morning  he  ascended  to  the  Mount  of  Olives  and  con- 
structed an  altar  from  a  pile  of  loose  rock,  and  with  pen,  ink, 
and  paper,  there  offered  up  a  dedicatory  prayer  consecrating 
the  land  to  "the  Lord,"  and  asking  for  favours  and  blessings 
upon  scattered  Israel. 

In  1843,  missionaries  were  sent  to  the  Pacific  Isles ;  and  for 
a  time,  owing  to  the  troubles  in  Nauvoo  and  the  exodus  to  the 
mountains,  new  missionary  enterprises  were  held  in  abeyance. 

In  1850,  three  of  the  apostles  w^ere  sent  to  "  open  up  the 
"gospel  to  Europe."  Scandinavia,  France,  and  Italy,  were 
selected,  and  the  Book  of  Mormon  was  translated  into  Danish, 
French,  Italian,  and  German.  Switzerland  and  Germany  heard 
the  "  gospel "  about  the  same  time.  In  that  year  missionaries 
were  sent  to  the  Sandwich  Isles,  and  there  the  Book  of  Mormon 
was  also  translated  into  the  Hawaiian  language. 

A  grand  missionary  enterprise  was  undertaken  in  1852. 
The  revelation  on  polygamy  had  been  given  to  the  public 
about  a  month  before  the  October  Conference,  and  a  host  of 
elders — about  eighty — were  sent  to  the  nations  to  help  through 
the  new  doctrine  and  to  defend  Zion.  The  elders  went  to  Aus- 
tralia, Hindostan,  China,  Siam,  Ceylon,  South  Africa,  the  West 
Indies,  British  Guiana,  Gibraltar,  and  Malta — but  very  little 
was  accomplished.  Many  of  the  elders  endured  great  priva- 
tions and  buffered  more  than  words  can  tell ;  they  made  a  few 
converts  and  returned  to  Zion.  In  1853  an  effort  was  made  to 
introduce  Mormonism  into  Prussia,  but  the  elders  were  ordered 
to  leave  that  kingdom.  In  the  following  year,  a  similar  attempt 
was  made  to  conquer  Austria  in  the  cause  of  the  faith,  but 
nothing  was  accomplished. 

After  the  British  mission,  the  Scandinavian  has  been  the 
most  successful ;  Germany  and  Switzerland  have  contributed  a 
considerable  number  of  converts;  a  few  of  the  Protestants  of 
Piedmont  and  a  still  less  number  from  Paris  and  Havre-de- 
Grace  have  accepted  the  new  faith.  Between  1840  and  1854, 
of  all  the  converts,  17,195  emigrated  from  Liverpool.  Of  that 
number  over  a  thousand  were  from  Scandinavia.  Up  to  186.0, 
about  30,000  Mormons  emigrated  from  Europe,  and  from  that 
time  to  the  present  there  have  probably  been  25,000  more, 
making  a  contribution  to  America  of  a  round  55,000  souls. 


576 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


But  this  number  of  emigrants  gives  no  idea  of  the  aggre- 
gate of  those  who  have,  at  one  time  or  another,  been  baptized 
into  the  Mormon  Church  in  Europe.  Probably  not  one  person 
in  twenty  who  receives  the  faith  "  endures  to  the  end,"  and 
many  of  those  who  are  "  faithful "  are  so  very  poor  that  they 
are  unable  to  pay  the  expenses  of  their  emigrating  to  Zion,  and 
they  linger  on  in  the  old  homes  of  their  fathers.  Brigham  has 
made  a  vigorous  effort  to  gather  all  the  foreign  Saints,  and  has 
laid  the  Rocky  Mountain  Saints  under  very  heavy  contribu- 
tions to  that  end.  To  some  of  the  foreign  disciples  emigration 
has  been  a  great  blessing;  to  others  it  has  been  the  ruin  of 
every  tiling  of  earthly  value. 

The  reader,  however,  must  not  suppose  that  Brigham  has 
heedlessly  distributed  the  wealth  of  the  disciples  in  Utah  for 
the  suffering  poor  among  the  Saints.  The  prophet  thinks 
himself  a  financier,  and  he  loves  to  boast  of  that  qualification. 

A  resolution  was  taken  by  the  Mormons  in  Nauvoo,  who 
had  wealth  enough  to  lead  the  van  in  the  exodus  to  the  Rocky 
Mountains,  that  they  would  never  cease  their  efforts  to  assist 
the  poor  whom  they  had  left  behind,  till  every  deserving  soul 
was  o;athered  to  the  bodv  of  the  Church.  The  exiles  honoured 
their  word,  and,  as  the  pioneers  found  resting-places  in  the 
West,  teams  were  sent  back  to  Iowa  and  Illinois,  and  the  poor 
were  assisted  forward  to  the  Missouri  river. 

During  this  exodus,  the  emigration  from  Europe  to  the 
States  was  entirely  closed ;  but,  stimulated  by  the  apostles, 
the  British  Saints  memorialized  her  Majesty  the  Queen  to  pro- 
vide them  transportation  to  Vancouver's  Island  or  Oregon,  and 
to  grant  them  the  means  of  subsistence  till  they  could  produce 
it  from  the  soil.  The  memorial  has  been  severely  criticised  by 
those  who  charge  the  Mormon  leaders  with  disloyal  sentiments 
to  the  Republic,  and  there  is  a  paragraph  in  it  that  quite  ad- 
mits of  that  construction  ;  but  Brigham  has  enough  sins  to  ac- 
count for  without  being  responsible  for  that.  In  1846  the  dis- 
tress in  England  among  the  poorer  classes  was  sorely  felt  by 
the  Mormons,  and  justified  their  seeking  deliverance  at  the 
hands  of  royalty,  even  though  their  presence,  30,000  strong,  in 
the  Territory  of  Oregon,  might  have  been  prejudicial  to  Amer- 
ican interests  during  the  boundary  debate.    The  British  treas- 


PERPETUAL  IMMIGRATION  FUND. 


511 


ury,  however,  was  represented  at  the  time  as  unable  to  favour 
the  prayers  of  the  thirteen  thousand  persons  wlio  signed  the 
memorial,  and  the  Saints  had  no  alternative  but  to  "bide  their 
"  time." 

In  the  spring  of  1848  immigration  was  reopened,  via  New 
Orleans,  up  the  Mississippi  river  to  St.  Louis,  thence  by  the 
Missouri  to  Council  Bluffs  and  Winter-Quarters  on  the  oppo- 
site bank  of  the  river.  During  the  October  Conference  of  the 
following  year,  the  resolution  for  gathering  the  poor  from  Nau- 
voo  was  extended  to  the  poor  of  all  countries,  and  a  "  Perpet- 
"ual  Fund"  was  created.  A  liberal  contribution  was  made, 
and  some  of  the  leading  elders,  under  the  direction  of  the  chief 
bishop,  were  sent  East  to  first  gather  up  the  Saints  left  on  the 
Missouri  river,  and  from  that  time  the  operation  of  the  fund 
was  to  be  extended  to  Europe. 

The  funds,  of  course,  like  everything  else,  were,  and  are 
under  the  direction  of  the  First  Presidency,  and  the  immigrants 
assisted  were  usually  met  by  the  clerks  of  the  Trustee-in-Trust 
one  day  before  they  entered  Salt  Lake  City,  and  signed  their 
obligations  to  refund  the  money  with  ten  per  cent,  per  annum 
added  till  paid.  Contributions  have  been  continually  called  for, 
and  the  fund  has  increased  to  a  pretty  large  sum.  During  the 
present  summer  Brigham  announced  that  the  immigrants  owed 
the  fund  nearly  a  million  of  dollars !  As  the  fund  is  a  general 
receptacle  for  contributions,  loses  nothing,  and  gains  annually 
ten  per  cent,  upon  its  entire  capital,  it  is  destined  to  be  a  great 
institution,  and  a  rod  in  pickle  for  the  disobedient. 

The  opponents  of  Brigham  are  usually  very  severe  upon 
him  for  "  the  bondage  "  in  which  he  holds  his  poor  debtors ; 
but  he  has  his  defence.  Many  of»  those  immigrants  can  never 
return  the  funds  unless  they  apostatize,  and  if  that  dreadful 
deed  is  done,  his  agent  is  instantly  after  the  rebel.  One 
of  the  elders  who  had  been  on  mission  for  several  years  in 
England,  and  who  had^  in  addition,  been  a  liberal  contributor 
with  his  pen  to  the  Church  organ  there,  had  to  be  assisted  to 
Zion  by  the  fund.  He  thought  they  had  no  right  to  expect 
his  "  obligation  "  after  all  those  years  of  service  ;  but  he  was 
obliged  to  give  it.  Three  years  ago  he  apostatized,  and  gave 
promise  of  being  a  magnificent  rebel.    He  was  tried  before  the 


578 


THE  KOCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


High  Council,  condemned,  consigned  to  the  buffetings  of  Satan, 
and,  before  he  left  the  Council  room,  or  his  Satanic  Majesty 
had  well  got  hold  of  him,  one  of  Brighara's  clerks  placed  before 
his  bewildered  eyes  his  obligation  to  the  Perpetual  Fund,  and 
demanded  settlement.  He  was,  like  all  poets  -and  great  mar- 
tyrs, without  the  ready  cash.  It  was  spiteful  and  undue  haste, 
on  the  part  of  Brigham,  and  provoked  a  measure  that  promises 
to  be  to  the  Prophet 

"  A  Roland  for  an  Oliver."  * 

The  Mormon  immigration  in  general  has  been  very  orderly 
conducted.  The  Saints  are  very  obedient  and  give  no  trouble 
on  shipboard.  In  former  years,  when  they  crossed  the  ocean  in 
sailing-packets,  the  captain  who  could  get  the  Mormon  immi- 
grants was  considered  fortunate  for  that  voyage.  "  The  Lord  " 
was  with  His  people,  and  of  course  "  the  prayers  of  the  Saints  " 
prevailed  and  the  ship  was  safef  and  made  a  speedy  voyage. 
After  they  got  over  the  effects  of  the  first  rolling  of  the  vessel 
they  were  summoned  morning  and  evening  to  prayers ;  they 
sang  their  hymns,  and  the  elders  gave  them  instructions  about 
their  daily  duties.  On  Sundays,  if  the  weather  was  favoura^e, 
they  had  preaching  between-decks,  and  rejoiced  together  in  the 
deliverance  they  had  gained  from  "  Babylon,"  and  spoke  of 
the  bright  future  that  lay  before  them.  Even  when  several 
hundreds  were  on  board,  there  was  no  rush  or  confusion  to  get 
first  to  the  cooking  galley.  The  whole  ship  was  nominally 
partitioned  off  into  wards,  and  a  member  of  the  priesthood 
placed  over  each.  These  presidents  arranged  the  order  and 
time  for  each  ward  to  see  to  their  cooking,  and  every  day  the 

*  There  are  numbers  of  men  in  Utah  who  would  be  pleased  for  the  Trustee-in- 
Trust  to  take  action  in  a  civil  court  against  them  for  such  indebtedness.  They 
have  preserved  their  tithing  receipts  for  every  pound  of  butter,  tenth  pig,  gosling, 
eggs,  apples,  and  scores  of  other  things  paid  into  the  Tithing-office,  and  on  such 
a  trial  ihey  could  compel  the  Trustee-in- Trust  to  bring  his  hooks  into  courl^  and  show 
what  he  has  done  with  the  tithing  !  That  would  be  a  lengthy  trial,  and  the  rebels 
threaten  it. 

f  The  ships  conveying  the  Mormon  immigrants  have  been  so  free  from  acci- 
dent, that  it  is  not  strange  that  the  Saints  should  believe  that  the  peculiar  favour  of 
the  Lord  "  is  extended  over  them.    The  hand-cart  disasters  and  an  unfortunate 
steamboat  explosion,  on  the  Missouri,  in  March,  1852,  m  which  many  of  the  Saints 
were  killed,  temper  such  enthusiasm. 


BAPTIZING  IN  THE  SEA. 


579 


order  was  clianged.  Thus  they  realized,  there,  if  nowhere  else, 
that  "the  first  shall  be  last  and  the  last  shall  be  first."  Every- 
thing on  board  ship  was  done  by  order;  no  smoking  or  drinking 
was  allowed,  and  the  sailors  or  other  passengers  were  not  per- 
mitted to  make  love  to  the  yonng  sisters.  It  is  fair  to  add  that 
on  shipboard,  as  well  as  on  terra  firma^  love  would  break 
througli  bolts  and  bars,  and  some  of  the  sisters,  who  had  less 
grace  than  others,  "  forgot  their  covenants." 

On  several  of  the  trips,  the  returning  missionaries  were 
successful  in  converting  passengers  and  sailors.  On  one  occa- 
sion nearly  the  whole  crew  were  baptized.  A  canvas  raft  was 
soon  made  and  hoisted  over  into  the  sea,  and  there  the  elder 
would  stand  and  with  uplifted  hand  would  announce  his  au- 
thority, and  immerse  his  convert  in  the  briny  deep  "  for  the 
"  remission  of  his  sins."  That  sailor  or  that  passenger  could 
then  associate  with  the  Saints,  and  rejoice  in  salvation  ;  but 
even  that  pleasant  reminiscence  is  tainted  with  the  reflection 
that,  in  some  cases,  the  conversion  did  not  last  long,  and  more 
than  one  trusting  maiden  had  to  suffer  the  consequences  of  a 
hasty  marriage. 

ITow  everything  in  connection  with  emigration  is  changed, 
and  the  nine  months-  travel  by  sea  and  land  is  a  work  of  days. 
Brigham's  agent  at  Liverpool  sees  the  emigrants  on  board  a 
steamship  of  the  Guion  line,  and  another  of  his  agents  meets 
the  Saints  on  arrival  in  New  York.  Everything  is  pre- 
pared ;  there  is  nothing  to  ask.  The  officer  who  has  charge 
on  board  knows  before  he  leaves  Liverpool  the  exact  amount 
of  fare  that  every  family  has  to  pay  for  the  remainder  of  the 
journey;  he  collects  their  gold  and  silver,  and  the  agent  at 
New  York,  without  a  moment's  loss  of  time,  knows  where 
to  make  his  exchange.  The  railroad  tickets  are  already  in 
his  office,  and  if  the  steamer  has  arrived  early  in  the  day,  the 
immigrants  are  whirled  out  of  the  city  in  the  evening  on  a  spe- 
cial train,  and  onward  they  travel  over  the  Pennsylvania,  Pitts- 
burg &  Fort  Wayne  railroad,  to  Chicago.  A  baker  is  tele- 
graphed when  the  train  will  arrive  at  that  city,  and  he  is  ready 
with  "  the  staff  of  life."  A  brief  rest,  and  permission  to  get 
the  extra  cheese  or  sausage,  and  off  they  are  again,  the  engine 
steaming  and  snorting  over  the  Chicago  &  Northwestern  line 


580 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


for  Omalia.  Another  baker  with  supplies,  a  few  hours'  rest,  or 
it  may  be  half  a  day,  to  stretch  their  limbs,  and  then  they 
make  the  final  change  of  cars  that  carries  them  over  that  mag- 
nificent national  highway,  the  Union  Pacific  railroad,  to  the 
Zion  of  the  latter-days,  the  goal  of  their  hopes,  and  the  land 
of  their  inheritance. 


CHAPTEE  L. 


POLYGAMY  IN  UTAH—Preached  from  the  Tabernacle— A  Terrible  Trial  t« 
Women — Degradation  of  the  Sex — Ancient  Hebrew  Examples  adduced — "Liv- 
ing Martyrs"  to  a  Debasing  Doctrine — ^Brigham  Young  on  Polygamy — Second 
and  "  following"  Wives — Marriage  Eites  among  the  Mormons — The  First  Wife 
is  not  asked  (?7i6  Question— Impossibility  of  Happiness  in  Polygamy. 

In  two  preceding  chapters  the  history  of  the  introduction 
of  Polygamy  among  the  Saints  is  given  in  extenso^  illustrating 
the  dubious  path  in  which  the  Prophet  Joseph  had  to  tread  in 
order  to  establish  in  his  Church  the  usages  of  the  Orientals. 
The  reader  has  now  presented  to  his  consideration  the  "  pecul- 
''iar  Institution"  in  the  fulness  of  its  glory  in  Zion  ;  where 
there  is  nothing  to  hinder  "  the  Lord  "  from  manifesting  His 
favour  to  Israel,  and  where  the  faithful  can  sit  under  their  own 
vines  and  fig-trees,  none  daring  to  make  them  afraid. 

Joseph  had  been  persecuted,  but  Brigham  was  now  beyond 
the  reach  of  the  oppressor.  The  former  had  the  statute  of  big- 
amy before  his  eyes  in  Illinois ;  the  latter  was  master  of  the 
situation  in  Utah,  and  was  determined  there  should  be  no  stat- 
ute on  the  subject.  Marriage  was  no  longer  a  civil  contract ; 
it  was  to  be  a  sacrament  of  the  Church,  and  a  sacred  tenet  of 
the  faith.  But  Utah  nevertheless  was  a  portion  of  the  United 
States  domain,  and  it  was  uncertain  what  Congress  might  wish 
to  do  with  this  innovation  upon  Christianity.  Joseph  had 
only  risked  the  faith  of  a  few  of  the  Saints,  and  his  communica- 
tions were  confidential.  Brigham  had  to  cope  with  a  govern- 
ment, and  his  mind  grasped  the  conclusion  that  there  was 
power  in  numbers.  To  punish  individuals  for  an  infraction  of 
law  was  an  easy  matter;  to  deal  with  a  whole  people  was  quite 
another  thing.    The  utmost  publicity  had  now  to  be  given  to 


582 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


"  Celestial  Marriage,"  and  an  open  parade  of  a  "  plurality  of 
wives"  was  a  virtue,  and  not  an  indiscretion. 

The  Tabernacle  in  winter,  and  the  Bowery  in  summer,  were 
to  resound  with  arguments  in  favour  of  Polygamy.  The  world 
was  rapidly  hastening  to  a  close,  and  there  were  multitudes  of 
spirits  in  the  other  world  anxiously  waiting  for  honourable  bod- 
ies in  which  they  could  tabernacle  in  the  flesh.  The  Gentiles 
were  corrupt,  and  those  ethereal  spirits  would  rather  anxiously 
wait  for  the  favours  of  the  Saints  than  come  down  to  the  pal- 
aces of  the  unbelieving,  accursed  Gentiles.  The  argument  was 
lucid,  and  it  appealed  to  the  grandest  sentiment  of  humanity 
— self-abnegation.  The  woman  who  viewed  witli  the  most 
searching  jealousy  the  wandering  of  her  idoPs  love,  could  in 
time  listen  to  argument  and  could  reproacb  her  suffering  soul 
with  selfishness  if  it  refused  to  endure  for  the  weal  of  another. 
She  lo  ved  herself,  and  her  soul's  idol  was  beyond  price,  but  it  was 
her  duty  to  make  her  life  a  sacrifice  !  The  Greatest  of  all  the 
human  family  had  given  His  life  to  redeem ;  why  could  not  she 
help  to  save  ?  Such  was  the  argument  in  Utah,  on  the  pub- 
lic recognition  of  Polygamy,  and,  if  not  in  the  words  of  the 
preacher,  it  was  at  least  in  the  soul  of  the  woman. 

Whoever  has  read  debasement  in  the  women  of  Utah,  has 
done  them  injustice.  Some  there  may  be  who  are  devoid  of 
refined  sentiment  and  the  nobler  instincts  of  their  sex ;  but  no 
women  in  history  ever  deserved  more  respect  and  sympathy 
than  the  true  women  among  the  Mormons.  They  have  not 
only  made  the  sacrifice  of  the  most  vital  principle  of  their 
souls,  but  they  have  voluntarily  submitted  to  a  life  of  daily 
affliction,  for  the  sake  of  an  article  of  faith. 

Could  the  same  judgment  be  passed  upon  the  teachers  as 
upon  the  taught,  the  people  of  Utah  could  rank  with  the  high- 
est martyrs  of  history  ;  but  the  opposite  has  been  the  fact,  and, 
while  the  women  have  endured  the  most  heart-piercing  woes, 
the  men  have  been  taught  that  he  was  the  noblest  who  valued 
the  companionship  of  soul  the  least — that  his  wife  was  but 
the  mother  of  his  children.  Following  this  inspiration,  she  has 
been  often  degraded  to  the  level  of  the  inferior  animals;  and, 
in  the  familiar  language  of  one  of  the  most  elevated  of  the  apos- 
tles, they  thought  "  no  more  of  taking  another  woman  "  than 


THE  MORMON  APPRECIATION  OF  WOMAN.  583 


they  did  of  "  buying  another  cow."  "Whatever  there  has  been 
and  is  higher  than  this  conception  of  ownership  in  and  the 
ability  of  women  among  the  Mormon  men,  it  is  traceable  to 
their  better  instincts  and  to  their  reminiscences  of  a  Christian 
motherhood.  The  tendency  of  the  matrimonial  teachings  of 
inspired  tongues  has  been  degrading  to.  the  sexes,  placing  the 
domestic  circle  on  a  level  with  the  farm-yard. 

The  philosophy  of  nomadic  ancient  Israel  is  glorified  in 
Utah : 

"  Lo,  children  and  the  fruit  of  the  womb  are  a  heritage  and  gift  that 
coraeth  of  the  Lord. 

"  Like  as  the  arrows  in  the  hand  of  a  giant ;  even  so  are  the  young 
children. 

"  Happy  is  the  man  that  hath  his  quiver  full  of  them ;  they  shall  not  be 
ashamed,  when  they  speak  with  the  enemies  in  the  gate." — Psalm  cxxvii. 

Harassed^  despoiled,  and  driven  in  Missouri  and  Illinois 
by  superior  numbers,  long  years  of  isolation  in  the  mountains 
w^ere  prayed  for  that  Israel  might  grow  and  multiply,  and 
cover  the  earth  with  cities,  and  become  a  great  people  that  no 
man  could  number.  Now  the  glories  of  the  faith  are  artisti- 
cally portrayed,  and  w^eepingly  the  women  of  Utah  promise 
to  obey ;  and  from  the  moment  that  promise  is  given  the 
w^omaii  lives  in  constant  dread  of  the  coming  day  when  her 
husband  has  to  become  a  practical  polygamist. 

The  hallowed  love,  the  sacred  reminiscences  of  their  happy 
years  of  undivided  union,  confront  the  threatened  intrusion  of 
another's  presence  at  the  home  fireside.  The  wifely  heart  re- 
volts at  the  invasion  of  the  privacy  of  her  domestic  empire, 
and  she  maddens  at  the  thought  that  he  who  w^as  to  her  "  sa- 
cred in  person,"  and  "  all  her  own,"  was  one  day  to  become  to 
another  what  he  has  been  to  her.  Peace  flies  from  her  bosom, 
and  in  her  soul  commences  a  fearful  struggle  between  obedience 
to  the  supposed  commandment  of  Deity,  taught  by  the  Mormon 
priesthood,  and  the  assertions  of  a  nobler  deity  within  her  own 
nature.  These  contending  influences  wage  unceasing  warfare, 
and  "  the  faith "  slowly  but  surely  gains  the  ascendancy  over 
"  the  woman,"  and  she  yields— vanquished  in  bewilderment. 
Devotion  to  her  husband,  the  dread  of  "  offending  God,"  and 
the  fear  of  the  anathemas  of  a  creed,  combine  to  conquer  her. 


584 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


She  resigns  herself  to  her  fate,  and  finally  consents  that  her 
husband  should  take  another  wife.  What  a  horrible  ordeal  ! 
The  niglit  of  gloom  overhangs  her  path ;  life  loses  its  charms  ; 
the  sacred  fireside  circle  is  broken  ;  she  grieves  ;  she  mourns  ; 
and  her  once-gushing,  afiectionate  heart  withers  and  dies  with- 
in her  bosom. 

Some  women  in  Utah  have  for  years  lived  in  this  torture, 
crucifying  themselves  in  every  thinking  moment  of  their  lives ! 
Who  can  tell  the  bitter  misery  felt  by  such  unhappy  souls  ? 
What  days  of  silent  grief  and  bitter  tears  ;  what  long,  sleepless 
nights  of  harrowing  thought ;  what  terrible  imaginings !  Dis- 
consolate, poor,  lacerated  hearts,  desolate  women ;  afraid  of 
every  coming  hour ;  fearful  of  what  they  might  see  or  hear  of 
husbands  who  had  sworn  at  the  bridal-altar  to  be  to  them  the 
undivided  companions  of  their  lives  !  The  story  of  such  women 
can  never  be  told — but  in  two  words  their  condition  can  be 
written  :  Living  martyrs  ! 

In  its  overburdened  grief  many  a  soul  has  craved  the  boon 
of  death,  and  welcomed  the  thought  of  that  hour  when  the 
cold  grave  would  conceal  them  from  the  gaze  of  the  living. 
And  all  this  mourning  comes  from  a  "  revelation  of  Jesus 
"  Christ,"  commanding  obedience  to  polygamy,  with  the  terri- 
ble threat  of  damnation  and  cursing  to  the  rebellious!.  How 
He  must  have  changed  ! — He,  who  was  to  woman  so  gentle,  so 
forbearing,  so  loving  in  His  nature — now  so  fierce  and  unre- 
lenting! But,  it  is  claimed  that  the  dread  of  polygamy  is 
worse  than  its  practical  experience,  and  that  women  can  "get 
used  to  it,"  and  become  happy  under  its  rule. 

To  assert  that  any  true  woman  living  in  polygamy  is  in 
heart  and  soul  satisfied  and  happy,  is  to  simply  libel  her  na- 
ture. A  true  wife  craves  the  constant  love  of  her  husband,  as 
naturally  as  the  living  body  craves  its  daily  food.  His  com- 
panionship is  her  little  world.  And  the  more  affectionate  and 
pure  he  is,  the  more  she  abhors  his  familiar  association  with 
another.  Her  instincts  rebel  against  the  institution,  and  he 
misrepresents  all  womanhood  who  charges  her  opposition  to  it, 
as  is  frequently  done  in  Utah,  to  the  baser  motive  expressed  in 
the  vulgar  taunt  of    desiring  a  man  to  herself." 

The  women  are,  however,  not  alone  the  sufferers  by  polyg- 


THE  TROUBLES  OF  THE  BRETHREN. 


585 


amy.  The  intelligent  of  the  fair  sex  among  the  Mormons  will 
readily  admit  this,  and  some  even  go  so  far  as  to  pity  their 
husbands,  and  to  extend  to  them  the  genuine  sympathy  of  their 
hearts,  though  his  polygamy  has  been  their  own  curse.  What- 
ever else  it  has  achieved.  Polygamy  has  at  least  been  impartial 
with  the  sexes,  and  while  it  has  martyred  the  woman,  it  has 
not  failed  to  enslave  the  men.  Brigham  openly  avows  the 
great  trial  of  his  soul  when  "  the  order"  was  first  taught  to  him 
by  Joseph  Smith.  Heber  used  to  tell  about  his  "  shedding  tears 
"  enough  to  float  a  ship,"  when  he  was  "  commanded  "  to  take 
another  wife.  The  locks  of  another  apostle  are  said  to  have 
silvered  in  a  night,  from  mental  anguish ;  and  of  another  and 
another  could  be  told  tales  of  terrible  struggles  between  love 
and  duty.  No  intellectual  man  of  soul  and  heart  ever  took 
a  second  wife  without  passing  through  "  the  valley  of  the 
"  shadow  of  death."  He  would  be  dead  to  every  impulse  of 
manhood,  who  could  gaze  upon  the  sacrifice  of  his  faithful 
wife,  and  the  outrage  to  every  sensibility  of  her  nature,  without 
sharing  in  her  affliction.  But  it  ends  not  with  the  second, 
bridal-day. 

From  the  day  that  Sarah  turned  Hagar  from  her  door,  and 
drove  her  into  the  wilderness  with  her  offspring,  there  never 
was  a  time  in  woman's  history  when  she  desired  to  share  her 
husband  with  another  woman,  and  there  never  was  a  day  when 
that  husband  could  please  two  wives.  The  relationship  is  false. 
In  their  out-door  occupations,  cares  of  business,  and  obliga- 
tions, the  men  have  not  the  hours  of  mental  suffering  that  the 
quiet  domestic  life  induces ;  but  they  are  seldom  free  from 
anxiety,  even  in  the  midst  of  business,  and  never  will  be,  so 
long  as  manhood  and  appreciation  of  woman  exist  in  their 
bosoms.  With  his  first  wife  he  has,  it  may  be,  grown  from 
youth  to  hoary  age,  and  the  twain  have  become  one.  They 
have  lived  in  each  other's  confidence,  known  each  the  other,  and 
in  everything  were  undivided.  Another  wife  is  added  to  the 
sacred  union,  and  the  happiness  of  life  is  fled.  By  the  covenant 
of  marriage,  the  second  wife  is  to  be  to  the  husband  another 
second  self,  and,  desiring  to  be  just,  he  seeks  to  avoid  every  ap- 
pearance of  partiality — but  he  fails.  There  are  reminiscences 
clustering  around  the  life  of  the  first  wife  that  are  not  yet 


586 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


created  around  the  other,  though  in  name,  profession,  and  in- 
tent, they  are  equal  partners  in  the  triple  domesticity.  The 
long,  varied,  and  changing  scenes  of  life's  warfare  that  made 
the  first  twain  one  in  everything,  still  remain — affection  is 
very  indivisible. 

A  youthful  wife  realizes  that  she  too  has  affections  that 
crave  a  return  of  love :  she  is  entitled  to  it — she  demands  it. 
When,  in  the  fickle  fortune  of  marriage,  three,  four,  five,  or  ten 
hearts  blend  as  one,  greatly  blessed  are  they  ;  but  when  their 
individualities  are  distinct,  the  life  of  a  patriarch  is  unenviable. 

In  the  isolated  life  of  the  Mountains,  the  elders  made  no 
concealment  of  their  courtships.  To  the  Tabernacle,  the  thea- 
tre, and  the  ballroom,  the  maiden  in  her  teens  would  be  es- 
corted by  the  already-married  intended  husband  of  three  times 
her  years,  with  all  the  attention  and  delicacy  of  a  romantic 
youth.  From  this  charge,  none  of  the  brethren  would  claim 
exemption.  There  is  conveyed  in  the  institution  a  feeling  of 
.man's  superiority,  and  the  more  ignorant  the  intended  patri- 
arch the  more  vulgar  is  its  parade.  Finally  the  day  of  sacri- 
fice arrives,  and  is  thus  sketched  by  the  apostle  Pratt : 

When  the  day  set  apart  for  the  solemnization  of  the  marriage  cere- 
mony has  arrived,  the  bridegroom,  and  his  wife,  and  also  the  bride,  to- 
gether with  their  relatives,  and  such  other  guests  as  may  be  invited,  assem- 
ble at  the  place  which  they  have  appointed.  The  scribe  then  proceeds  to 
take  the  names,  ages,  native  towns,  counties.  States,  and  countries  of  the 
parties  to  be  married,  which  he  carefully  enters  on  record.  The  President, 
who  is  the  Prophet,  Seer,  and  Revelator  over  the  whole  Church  through- 
out the  world,  and  who  alone  holds  the  "  keys"  of  authority  in  this  solemn 
ordinance  (as  recorded  in  the  2d  and  5th  paragraphs  of  the  Revelation  on 
Marriage),  calls  upon  the  bridegroom,  and  his  wife,  and  the  bride,  to  arise, 
which  they  do,  fronting  the  President.  The  wife  stands  on  the  left  hand 
of  her  husband,  while  the  bride  stands  on  her  left.  The  President  then 
puts  thi?  question  to  the  wife : 

"  '  Are  you  willing  to  give  this  woman  to  your  husband  to  be  his  lawful  and  wed- 
ded  wife  for  time  and  for  all  eternity  ?  If  you  are,  you  will  manifest  it  by  placing 
her  right  hand  within  the  right  hand  of  your  husband.' 

"  The  right  hands  of  the  bridegroom  and  bride  being  thus  joined,  the 
wife  takes  her  husband  by  the  left  arm,  as  if  in  the  attitude  of  walking ; 
the  President  then  proceeds  to  ask  the  following  question  of  the  man: 

"  *  Do  you,  brother  '  {calling  him  by  name\  '  take  sister  '  {calling  the  bride  by  her 


THE  POLYGAMIC  MARRIAGE  IN  UTAH. 


587 


name)  *  by  the  right  hand,  to  receive  her  unto  yourself,  to  be  your  lawful  and  wed- 
ded wife,  and  you  to  be  her  lawful  and  wedded  husband,  for  time  and  for  all  eter- 
nity, with  a  covenant  and  promise,  on  your  part,  that  you  will  fulfil  all  the  laws, 
rites,  and  ordinances,  pertaining  to  this  holy  matrimony,  in  the  new  and  everlasting 
covenant,  doing  this  in  the  presence  of  God,  angels,  and  these  witnesses,  of  your 
own  free  will  and  choice  ?  ' 

"  The  bridegroom  answers,  *  Yes.' — The  President  then  puts  the  ques- 
tion to  the  bride : 

"'Do  you,  sister'  {calling  her  hy  name\  *take  brother'  {calling  him  hy  nam£) 
*  by  the  right  hand,  and  give  yourself  to  bim,  to  be  his  lawful  and  wedded  wife  for 
time  and  for  all  eternity,  with  a  covenant  and  promise  on  your  part  that  you  will 
fulfil  all  the  laws,  rites,  and  ordinances,  pertaining  to  this  holy  matrimony,  in  the 
new  and  everlasting  covenant,  doing  this  in  the  presence  of  God,  angels,  and  these 
witnesses,  of  your  own  free  will  and  choice  ?  ' 

"  The  bride  answers,  ^  Yes.'    The  President  then  says : 

"  *  In  the  name  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  by  the  authority  of  the  Holy  Priest- 
hood, I  pronounce  you  legally  and  lawfully  husband  and  wife  for  time  and  for  all 
eternity :  and  I  seal  upon  you  the  blessings  of  the  holy  resurrection,  with  power  to 
come  forth  in  the  morning  of  the  first  resurrection,  clothed  with  glory,  immortality, 
and  eternal  lives  ;  and  I  seal  upon  you  the  blessings  of  thrones,  and  dominions,  and 
principalities,  and  powers,  and  exaltations,  together  with  the  blessings  of  Abraham, 
Isaac,  and  Jacob  ;  and  say  unto  you.  Be  fruitful  and  multiply  and  replenish  the  earth, 
that  you  may  have  joy  and  rejoicing  in  your  posterity  in  the  day  of  the  Lord  Jesus. 
All  these  blessings,  together  with  all  other  blessings  pertaining  to  the  new  and  ever- 
lasting covenant,  I  seal  upon  your  heads,  through  your  faithfulness  unto  the  end,  by 
the  authority  of  the  Holy  Priesthood,  in  the  name  of  the  Father,  and  of  the  Son, 
and  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  Amen.' 

"  The  scribe  then  enters  on  the  general  record  the  date  and  place  of 
the  marriage,  together  with  the  names  of  two  or  three  witnesses  who  were 
present."  * 

The  reader  will  observe  that,  in  this  ordinance  of  poly- 
gamic sealing,  the  husband  and  the  yonng  bride  are  asked  each 
the  question  5  are  you  "  doing  this  in  the  presence  of  God,  an- 
"  gels,  and  these  witnesses,  of  your  own  free  will  and  choice^^ 
while  the  question  put  to  the  wife  carefully  avoids  the  issue 
that  w^ould  instantly  arise  between  her  wounded,  bleeding 
heart,  and  the  falsehood  that  would  be  forced  from  her  trem- 
bling lips  if  she  essayed  to  utter  that  it  was  of  her  "  own  free 
will  and  choice."  That  poor  "  victim  "  is  but  asked  if  she 
has  been  subdued  and  is  willing  to  give  this  woman  "  to  her 
husband. 

*  The  Seer,  p.  32. 


588 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


No  man  ever  regained  his  senses  after  that  act  of  sealing 
without  feeling  that  he  had  fatally  wounded  the  wife  of  his 
youth.  It  is  a  cruelty  that  he  realizes  as  well  as  his  wife,  and 
he,  the  nominal  but  innocent  cause  of  her  wrong,  seeks  to  as- 
suage her  sufferings  by  greater  kindness  and  tenderness.  But 
no  smooth  words,  nor  the  soul-speaking  affection  of  his  eye,  can 
heal  that  wound.  It  steals  her  life  away,  and  in  her  true 
heart  she  curses  the  day  she  ever  heard  of  Mormonism.  For 
the  man  who  realizes  and  shares  the  misery  of  his  wife,  the  fu- 
ture life  is  but  a  living  lie."  Were  the  man  an  angel,  it 
would  be  impossible  for  him  to  act  justly  towards  two  or  twen- 
ty wives,  and  divide  to  each  the  full  measure  of  her  rights.* 

Brigham  Young,  with  all  the  commanding  influence  of  his 
position,  could  not  silence  the  murmuring  within  his  own  dom- 
icile until  he  threatened  to  divorce  all  his  wives,  and  told  them, 
that,  if  they  despised  the  order  of  Heaven,  he  would  pray  that 
the  curse  of  the  Almighty  might  be  close  to  their  heels,  and 
follow  them  all  the  day  long,f  and  even  all  that  violent  lan- 
guage has  not  attained  the  end ;  their  hearts  revolt  as  much 
to-day,  though  they  have  schooled  themselves  into  submission 
and  silence. 

Polygamy  may  be  the  marital  relations  of  the  sexes  in 
heaven,  it  may  be  the  "Celestial  Law"  of  the  gods — of  that 
there  is  no  discussion  or  dreaming ;  but  one  thing  is  certain, 
that  it  is  not  the  true  marital  relation  of  the  sexes  upon  the 
earth.  Thirty  years  of  its  practice  under  the  most  favourable 
circumstances  have  stamped  it  as  a  withering  curse. 

*  It  was  the  Author's  intention  when  he  commenced  this  work,  to  give  a  com- 
plete expose  of  polygamy,  exhibiting  that  institution  in  all  its  bearings  and  influ- 
ences upon  the  social  life  of  the  people  of  Utah  ;  but  an  unlooked-for  incident  in- 
duced Mrs.  Stenhouse  to  publish  what  she  knew  of  polygamy.  Had  that  book  been 
written  by  any  other  authoress,  reference  would  unquestionably  have  been  made 
to  it  in  this  work ;  the  Author,  therefore,  sees  no  impropriety  in  acknowledging 
that  his  wife  has  produced  a  work  which  only  a  woman  could  write,  and  superior 
to  anything  which  he  himself  could  offer  to  the  public,  and  he  refers  the  reader  to 
*'  A  Lady's  Life  among  the  Mormons  "  (Russell  Brothers,  New  York),  as  a  full  and 
unreserved  "  Expose  of  Polygamy  in  Utah." 

f  Sermon,  July  14,  1855,  in  the  Bowery,  Provo. 


CHAPTER  LI. 


UTAH  DUEING  THE  EEBELLION.— Cliange  of  Federal  Officers— Brutal  Attack 
upon  Governor  Dawson  by  Mormon  Eowdies — Three  of  them  shot — A  Eival 
Prophet  to  Brigham — The  "Morrisite"  Community — They  disregard  a  Writ  of 
Habeas  Corpus — The  Mormon  Militia  acting  as  a  Posse  Comitatus — Three  Days' 
Fighting — The  Prophet  Morris,  his  Counsellor  Banks  and  two  Women  killed 
after  the  Surrender — Arrival  of  new  Federal  Officers — An  early  Difficulty — Arrival 
of  the  California  Volunteers — Establishment  of  Camp  Douglas — ^Brigham  defies 
the  Law  of  Congress,  and  takes  "an  Elderly  Young  Woman"  to  Wife — The 
Prophet  afraid  of  Arrest — Citizens  summoned  to  protect  him— Chief-Justice 
Kinney  arrests  the  Prophet  for  violating  the  Anti-Polygamic  Law — ^Brigham 
gives  Bail — The  Grand  Jury  find  no  Evidence  that  Brigham  had  Married  again 
— Trouble  with  the  Federal  Officials — The  Mormons  invite  them  to  leave  the 
Territory — The  Tabernacle  and  Mormon  Press  rejoice  in  the  Calamities  of  the 
Union — General  Connor  and  the  Volunteers  a  Terror  to  Evil-Doers — A  Midnight 
Scare — Another  False  Prophecy — Brigham  predicts  another  Four  Years  of  War 
only  Four  Days  before  General  Lee  surrendered. 

The  governing  principles  of  the  Mormon  faith,  and  the 
chief  features  in  the  history  of  the  Saints,  have  been  placed 
before  the  reader,  but  there  yet  remains  much  that  is  most  in- 
teresting, which,  however,  must  be  briefly  told. 

Secretary  Wooton,  after  the  depiarture  of  Governor  Gum- 
ming, had  a  verj^  brief  reign  as  "  acting-governor."  When  the 
first  declaration  of  "  secession  "  was  announced,  he  sent  in  his 
resignation  to  President  Lincoln.  John  W.  Dawson,  of  In- 
diana, was  then  appointed  Governor;  Frank  Fuller,  of  New 
Hampshire,  Secretary ;  John  F.  Kinney  replaced  Chief- Justice 
Ecldes ;  and  Associate- Justices  Crosby  and  Flenniken  succeed- 
ed Sinclair  and  Cradlebaugh.  Fuller  arrived  before  Dawson, 
and,  on  the  retirement  of  Mr.  Wooton,  he  became  acting- 
"  Governor  "  as  well  as  Secretary.  This  new  batch  of  Federal 
officers,  together  with  the  appointment  of  the  Surveyor-Gen- 


592 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


eral  and  tlie  Superintendent  of  Indian  Affairs,  was  an  evident 
"back-down,"  in  order  not  to  provoke  Brighani  at  the  out- 
break of  the  war. 

In  due  time  Governor  Dawson  arrived  ;  but  tliere  was  mis- 
chief in  store  for  him.  He  was  almost  immediately  a  victim 
of  misplaced  confidence,  and  fell  into  a  snare  laid  for  his  feet 
by  some  of  his  own  brother-oflScials.  After  a  brief  sojourn  of 
only  a  few  weeks  in  Utah,  he  beat  a  hasty  retreat  from  Zion, 
and  before  he  got  well  into  the  Wahsatch  mountains,  he  was 
dreadfully  maltreated  by  some  Mormon  "rowdies,"  who  as- 
sumed, "  for  the  fun  of  the  thing,"  to  be  the  avengers  of  an  al- 
leged insult.  Governor  Dawson  had  been  betrayed  into  an 
offence,  and  his  punishment  was  heavy. Frank  Fuller  be- 
came a  second  time  the  "  acting-Governor,"  and  a  few  inter- 
esting pages  of  Utah  history  are  associated  with  the  period  of 
his  governorship. 

When  Mr.  Fuller  assumed  the  duties  of  acting-Governor, 
the  Indians  were  reported  troublesome  on  the  Overland  Mail 
Route,  and  were  threatening  to  stop  the  mail.  Governor 
Fuller,  Chief-Justice  Kinney,  and  six  other  gentlemen,  con- 
nected with  the  mail  and  telegraph  lines,  joined  in  recom- 
mending to  Secretary  Stanton  to  authorize  the  Superintendent 
of  Indian  Affairs,  James  Duane  Doty,  to  raise,  and  put  in  ser- 
vice immediately,  "  a  regiment  of  mounted  rangers  from  inhah- 
"  itants  of  the  Territory,  with  officers  appointed  by  him,"  etc. 
Brigham  was  then  in  his  glory ;  it  was  the  moment  of  his  un- 
challenged reign.  He  could  dictate  at  home,  and  he  wanted 
to  teach  the  Governor  and  the  Chief-Justice  a  lesson  ;  and 
he  did  so  effectively.  Three  days  later — April  14,  1862 — the 
Prophet  telegraphed  to  the  Utah  Delegate  ^t  Washington, 

*  The  Mormon  authorities  were  dreadfully  annoyed  by  this  attack  upon  Gov- 
ernor Dawson,  for  they  had  a  greater  desire  to  disgrace  the  Government  in  his  per- 
son than  to  see  him  "  whipped."  Immediate  measures  were  taken  to  apprehend  the 
"  rowdies,"  and  two  of  them  were  secured.  After  they  reached  Salt  Lake  City,  the 
police,  in  taking  them  to  the  calaboose^  said  that  the  prisoners  tried  to  escape,  and 
they  shot  them  down.  It  was  believed  that  the  prisoners  were  walking  in  front  of 
the  officers  when  the  latter  quietly  put  their  revolvers  to  the  back  of  their  heads 
and  "  stopped  them."  A  third  of  these  young  men  was  related  to  Brigham  by  a 
proxy  marriage.  He  was  pursued  fifty  miles  west,  and  was  likewise  shot  in  an 
attempt  to  make  his  escape  with  a  stolen  horse. 


* 


A  TRIUMPH  OF  BRIGHAM  YOUXG.  593 

that  the  statements  about  the  Indians  in  the  telegram  of  those 
gentlemen  to  the  Secretary  of  War  were  wholly  "  without 
"  foundation  in  truth  ;  besides,"  said  the  Prophet,  "  the  militia 
"  of  Utah  are  ready  and  able,  as  they  ever  have  been,  to  take 
"  care  of  all  the  Indians,  and  are  able  and  willing  to  protect 
"  the  mail-line,  if  called  upon  to  do  so.'^^ 

Governor  Fuller  accepted  the  correction,  and  made  a  repre- 
sentation to  President  Lincoln  harmonious  with  the  Prophet's 
wishes,  and  two  weeks  later  he  was  authorized  to  call  out 
ninety  mounted  militia,  properly  officered,  etc.,  for  three 
months'  service  between  Forts  Bridger  and  Laramie,  and  on 
the  same  day  the  War  Department  telegraphed  to  "  ex-Gov- 
"  ernor  Young  "  to  furnish  supplies.  Lieutenant-General  Wells 
had  ninety  of  the  "JSTauvoo  Legion"  out  in  three  days,  ready 
to  march.  Brigham  triumphed,  and  Zion  was  safe.  It  never 
would  have  done  to  have  had  "  Colonel "  Doty,  and  officers  of 
his  choosing,  command  the  "  mounted  rangers."  Governor 
Fuller,  by  this  timely  service,  then  laid  the  foundation  of  good 
relations  with  the  Prophet,  but  the  Chief- Justice  was,  for  the 
moment,  less  fortunate. 

When,  on  the  11th  of  April,  the  first  telegram  was  sent, 
the  name  of  the  Hon.  John  F.  Kinney  was  being  considered 
by  the  Legislature  of  the  State  of  Deseret " — then  in  session. 
It  was  thought  by  the  Prophet  that  the  moment  was  oppor- 
tune for  demanding  the  admission  of  Utah  into  the  Union, 
and  the  Hons.  Wm.  H.  Hooper  and  John  F.  Kinney  were  to 
be  elected  to  carry  the  memorial  and  the  constitution  of  the 
proposed  State  from  the  Legislature  to  the  seat  of  govern- 
ment. As  soon  as  Brigham  read  the  telegram,  the  name  of 
the  Chief-Justice  was  ordered  to  be  dropped,  and  a  telegram 
was  instantly  sent  to  Elder  George  Q.  Cannon,  in  Liverpool, 
directing  him  to  immediately  repair  to  Washington,  and  join 
brother  Hooper. 

About  this  time  a  simple-minded,  uneducated  Welshman — 
Joseph  Morris,  who  had  for  a  number  of  years  previously  been 
the  recipient  of  "  impressions  "  and  "  revelations  "  which  re- 
flected unfavourably  upon  the  course  of  Brigham  Young — be- 
came an  object  of  interest.  Morris  was  one  of  the  unfortunate 
victims  of  "  spirit-communication."    After  some  years  of  wan- 


594 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


dering  in  the  States  and  in  Utah,  and  opposing  in  a  quiet  way 
the  Prophet  Brigham,  Morris  got  a  "  revelation  "  from  "  the 
"  Lord,"  instructing  him  to  warn  Brigham  of  his  sins.  Brig- 
ham  met  the  new  prophet's  revelation  with  a  brief,  filthy  re- 
sponse, which  perfectly  upset  poor  Morris.  He  had  no  idea 
that  any  man  could  be  so  irreverent  to  Deity ! 

Thirty-five  miles  north  of  Salt  Lake  City — a  short  distance 
from  where  the  Union  Pacific  debouches  from  Weber  Canon — 
Morris  found  listening  ears.  The  bishop  of  Kington  Fort, 
Richard  Cook,  and  a  number  of  intelligent  men  and  women, 
received  gladly  the  new  prophet  who  had  been  raised  up  by 
"  the  Lord  "  to  "  deliver  Israel  from  bondage.''  Numerous  be- 
lievers in  a  very  short  time  gathered  from  various  parts  of  the 
Territory,  and  Kington  Fort,  on  the  Weber,  became  an  impor- 
tant place. 

Morris  abounded  with  revelations.  His  "gifts"  exceeded 
in  profusion  those  of  all  who  had  ever  gone  before  him.  The 
founder  of  Mormonism  was  nothing  in  comparison  with  his  dis- 
ciple from  Wales.  The  adherents  of  the  new  prophet  were 
perfectly  overjoyed  at  the  abundance  of  light  that  now  shone 
upon  their  path,  and  some  very  intelligent  men  gathered  to  the 
Weber.  Three  English  and  three  Danish  clerks  were  daily 
employed  in  writing  the  heavenly  communications  from  the 
mouth  of  the  new  prophet.  Brigham  had  been  barren — Morris 
was  overflowing. 

The  new  disciples  "  consecrated  "  all  they  possessed  to  a 
common  fund — Christ  was  soon  to  descend  among  them,  and 
their  wants  would  only  be  of  short  duration.  There  was  sys- 
tem, however,  in  this  madness,  and  an  inventory  of  every  one's 
property  "  consecrated  "  was  preserved,  so  that  when  there  was 
any  necessity  for  any  particular  portion  of  any  person's  posses- 
sions to  be  used,  the  chief  controlling  clerk  had  only  to  call 
for  it,  and  the'  property  not  called  for  was  retained  by  its  origi- 
nal possessor ;  but  over  it  he  was  only  a  steward. 

As  "  the  Lord"  tarried,  the  enthusiasm  of  some  of  the  con- 
verts rapidly  cooled,  and  they  retired  from  the  Weber ;  and 
here  began  the  difiiculty  that  was  to  destroy  Brigham's  rival 
prophet.  As  the  "  apostates  "  withdrew,  it  became  a  question 
how  much  of  their  property  they  could  reclaim.  It  had  all  been 


THE  MORRISITES  AND  THEIR  PROPHET. 


595 


"  consecrated, "  and,  as  it  had  occurred  with  Brigham  before 
him,  Morris  could  as  reasonably  have  detained  the  whole  of  it. 
Morris's  leading  men,  however,  decided  to  let  the  apostates  " 
peacefully- retire ;  but  it  was  expected  that  they  would  honestly 
meet  their  share  of  the  obligations  of  the  little  colony  while 
they  had  been  there  among  them.  Some  of  the  rebels  "  were 
obstinate  and  dishonest,  and  picked  from  the  general  herd  bet- 
ter cattle  to  take  away  than  they  had  brought,  and,  where 
any  of  their  property  had  not  been  called  for,  they  would  not 
make  any  allowance  for  the  support  that  they  had  derived  from 
the  property  of  others.  A  feud  arose,  and  the  dissenters  threat- 
ened a  little  war.  They  applied  to  the  Mormon  courts,  and 
the  latter  were  pleased  enough  with  the  opportunity  of  dealing 
with  the  Morrisites.  Writs  were  issued,  served,  and  repulsed. 
The  dissenters  from  Morris  waited  for  the  chances  of  seizing 
the  movable  property  of  the  Weber  colony,  and  as  wheat  was 
sent  to  the  mill  they  pounced  upon  it,  and  took  the  team  and 
wagon  as  well.  The  "  Morrisites  "  had  to  send  more  wheat,  and 
a  turbulent  dissenter  again  awaited  their  appearance.  Some  of 
the  former,  however,  had  risen  early  in  the  morning  and  spread 
themselves  over  the  country,  keeping  within  view  the  advan- 
cing team  and  wheat.  As  the  dissenter  and  two  others  pounced 
upon  the  convoy  the  second  time,  up  sprung  the  Morrisites  from 
their  places  of  concealment,  and  took  them  prisoners.  The  dis- 
senters were  taken  to  Kington  Fort,  and  put  in  a  calaboose  im- 
provised for  the  occasion. 

The  friends  of  the  captured  sought  their  release  ineftect- 
ually ;  the  sheriff  in  that  county  could  do  nothing  with  the  dis- 
ciples under  Morris.  One  (or  two,  as  some  affirm)  of  the  wives 
of  the  prisoners  went  to  Brigham,  but  he  refused  to  inter- 
fere. He  was  too  shrewd  to  meddle  directly  in  that  affair — it 
was  clear  enough  to  him  that  Morris  could  not  last  long.  Many 
enthusiasts  had  been  looking  for  the  sudden  appearance  of 
"  the  Lord  "  among  them,  before  Morris's  day  ;  but  the  Weber 
prophet  had  the  misfortune  to  fix  the  time,  and,  believing  in 
his  own  revelations,  he  announced  that  there  was  to  be  no  more 
ploughing  and  sowing,  seed-time  and  harvest.  They  had  already 
enough  grain  and  cattle  to  sustain  them  till  Christ  came. 

The  importunate  wife  was  referred  to  the  courts,  and  Chief- 


596 


THE  KOCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


Justice  Kinney  was  visited.  As  judge  of  that  judicial  district, 
a  petition  was  filed  before  him,  setting  forth  that  three  men 
were  unlawfully  imprisoned,  kept  in  close  confinement,  and 
heavily  ironed  by  order  of  Joseph  Morris,  John  Banks,  and 
Ei chard  Cook.  On  the  24:th  of  May,  1862,  a  writ  of  habeas 
corpus  was  issued  to  the  Territorial  Marshal,  and  by  his  deputy 
served,  but  no  attention  was  paid  to  it.  On  the  11th  of  June, 
a  second  writ  was  issued,  and  was  also  disregarded.  There 
were  men  among  the  Morrisites  who  knew  well  enough  that 
defiance  of  the  law  would  involve  them  in  serious  trouble,  but 
fanaticism  was  rampant,  and  reason  was  not  listened  to. 

Chief-Justice  Kinney  was  burning  with  indignation  when 
his  first  writ  was  set  aside ;  he  now  insisted  upon  the  militia 
being  called  out  as  a  j)osse  comitates  to  accompany  the  Terri- 
torial Marshal,  and  Acting- Governor  Fuller  issued  the  necessary 
order  for  the  services  of  the  militia. 

For  some  time  preceding  this,  the  Morrisites  had  been 
warned  by  "  the  Lord  "  that  the  "  Brighamites  "  were  plotting 
their  destruction,  and  they,  accordingly,  bought  up  all  the  rifles 
and  ammunition  that  they  could  obtain.  The  Morrisites  were 
well  supplied  when  this  judicial  move  was  made,  though  they 
stoutly  deny  that  they  had  any  other  intention,  previous  to  this 
time,  than  to  defend  themselves  against  mobocracy. 

Early  on  the  morning  of  the  13th  of  June,  the  deputies  of 
the  marshal  and  an  2irmQdi  posse  were  seen  on  the  South  Moun- 
tain overlooking  the  Morrisite  community.  This  was  the  first 
intimation  the  latter  had  of  the  coming  war.  When  the  posse 
had  chosen  their  positions  on  the  bench,  the  following  proclama- 
tion was  sent  in  to  the  Morrisites  by  one  of  their  herd-boys  : 

"  Headquarters,  Marshal's  Posse,  Weber  Eiver,  June  13, 1862. 
"  To  Joseph  3forris^  John  Banhs^  Richard  CooJc^  John  Parsons^  and  Peter  Klemgard  : 

"  Whereas,  You  have  heretofore  disregarded  and  defied  the  judicial 
officers  and  laws  of  the  Territory  of  Utah ;  and  whereas,  certain  writs  have 
been  issued  for  you  from  the  Third  Judicial  District  Court  of  said  Terri- 
tory, and  a  sufficient  force  furnished  by  the  Executive  of  the  same  to  enforce 
the  laws,  this  is  therefore  to  notify  you  to  peaceably  and  quietly  surrender 
yourselves  and  the  prisoners  in  your  custody  forthwith. 

"An  answer  is  required  in  thirty  minutes  after  the  receipt  of  this  docu- 
ment ;  if  not,  forcible  measures  will  be  taken  for  your  arrest.  Should  you 
disregard  this  proposition  and  place  your  lives  in  jeopardy,  you  are  hereby 
required  to  remove  yow*  women  and  children;  and  all  jpersons  peaceably  diS' 


THE  REVELATION  OF  THE  PROPHET  MORRIS  FALSIPIED.  597 


posed  are  hereby  notified  to  forthwith  leave  your  encampment,  and  are 
informed  that  they  can  find  protection  with  this  posse, 

H.  W.  Lawrence,  Territorial  Marshal,  per  R.  T.  Burton  and  Theo- 
dore McKean,  Deputies." 

For  what  afterwards  transpired,  the  author  is  indebted  to  a 
gentleman  who  was  then  in  the  Morrisite  camp,  and  who  has 
furnished  the  following  statement: 

"  Mr.  Morris,  a  firm  believer  in  the  revelations  he  received,  remarked, 
in  answer  to  the  inquiry:  'What  shall  be  done  ?'  that  he  would  'go  and 
inquire  of  the  Lord.'  He  was  soon  heard  in  solemn  and  earnest  prayer. 
In  the  mean  time,  word  was  sent  round  the  camp  for  the  people  to  at  once 
assemble  in  meeting,  and  consult  on  the  question. 

"  Women  and  children  came  together  hurriedly,  yet  there  was  no  ex- 
citement, and  soon  the  Bowery  was  well  filled. 

"  Mr.  Morris  was  seen  to  come  out  from  his  dwelling  with  a  paper  in 
his  hand.  This  paper  proved  to  be  a  written  revelation.  His  council  were 
awaiting  him.  The  revelation  was  read  to  the  council,  and  a  peculiar 
document  it  was.  It  purported  to  be  from  God,  who  w^as  represented  as 
being  pleased  with  His  faithful  people  there,  and  as  having  brought  the 
posse  against  them  to  show  His  own  power  in  the  complete  destruction  of 
their  enemies.  It  also  promised,  that  now  the  triumph  of  His  people  should 
come,  their  enemies  should  be  smitten  before  them,  hut  not  one  of  His  faith- 
ful 'people  should  le  destroyed  ;  not  a  hair  of  their  heads  should  be  harmed. 
The  council  at  once  stepped  out  into  the  Bowery,  close  to  which  lived  all  the 
leading  men,  and  to  save  time,  singing  was  omitted,  and  the  meeting  was 
opened  briefly  by  prayer.  Mr.  John  Parsons,  in  his  clear,  sonorous  voice, 
then  read  the  revelation.  Mr.  R.  Cook  arose  to  consult  with  the  people  as 
to  which  should  be  obeyed — the  proclamation,  demanding  the  surrender  of 
the  prisoners  held  in  custody  of  Peter  Klemgard,  and  four  of  the  leading 
men  of  the  church,  or  the  revelation  forbidding  the  surrender  of  these  men. 
Before  the  people  had  a  chance  to  speak,  or  vote,  or  do  any  thing  at  all  in 
the  matter,  the  booming  sound  of  a  cannon  was  heard,  and  screams  from 
the  third  seat  from  the  stand  in  the  Bowery,  and  instantly  two  women 
were  seen  dead  in  the  congregation,  and  the  lower  jaw,  hanging  only  by  a 
small  strip  of  skin,  was  shot  off  a  young  girl  of  from  twelve  to  fifteen  years 
of  age.  It  was  the  fearful  and  heart-rending  screams  of  this  girl  that 
stopped  the  meeting.  The  people  arose  in  utter  confusion.  Mr.  Cook, 
still  on  his  feet,  suggested  to  all  to  go  at  oi  ce  to  their  homes,  and  each 
man  take  care  of  his  own  family  as  best  he  could.  Never  was  revelation 
more  immediately  falsified  in  the  history  of  the  world  than  then ;  for, 
scarcely  had  the  promise  of  absolute  safety  been  made,  ere  sudden  destruc- 
tion came. 

"Men  and  women,  panic-stricken,  rushed  hither  and  thither,  some 
seeking  safety  in  cellars,  some  in  potato-pits — in  short,  anywhere  or  in 


698 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


any  place  in  which  security  could  be  either  reasonably  or  unreasonably 
hoped  for. 

"  The  first  shot  was  in  a  few  minutes  followed  by  another,  and  still 
another,  and  the  attack  was  continued.  The  posse  drew  nearer  and  nearer, 
and  the  firing  was  kept  up  incessantly,  both  with  cannon  and  musketry. 

"Had  Colonel  R.  T.  Burton,  or  Theodore  McKean,  had  the  pluck 
requisite  to  a  common  constable,  they  could  have  gone  safely  into  the 
fort,  served  the  summons,  consulted  with  the  authorities  and  people,  and 
saved  all  effusion  of  blood.  There  was  not  a  Morrisite  in  the  fort  that  was 
armed,  or  that  thought  of  arming.  They  met  to  consider  the  question, 
and  to  pray  over  it ;  for  a  more  enthusiastically  religious  people  never 
breathed :  and  while  thus  assembled,  the  first  salutation  they  had  was  a 
cannon-ball  in  the  assembly.* 

"About  an  hour  and  a  half  after  the  firing  commenced,  the  Morrisites 
got  their  arms,  each  man  determining  to  defend  his  own  family,  if  the 
jposse  came  sufficiently  near  to  attack  them.  From  this  was  effected  an 
organization,  and  a  regular  defence  made.*  But  at  the  time  of  the  attack 
there  was  not  a  man  armed." 

After  three  days'  fighting,  the  Morrisites  raised  the  white 
flag,  and  ceased  firing.  Cautiously  Colonel  Burton  and  his 
aides^  with  a  number  of  the  men,  entered  into  the  Morrisite 
camp,  and  then  transpired  the  bloody  scene  that  has  made 
"  the  Morrisite  War  "  so  famous  in  the  West.  Of  that  circum- 
stance the  following  affidavit  has  been  made : 

"  United  States  of  America,  Territory  of  Utah,  ss. 

"  Alexander  Dow,  of  said  Territory,  being  duly  sworn,  says  : 
"  In  the  spring  of  1861,  I  joined  the  Morrisites,  and  was  present  when 
Joseph  Morris  was  killed.    The  Morrisites  had  surrendered,  a  white  flag 
was  flying,  and  the  arms  were  all  grounded  and  guarded  by  a  large  num- 
ber of  the  posse, 

"  Kobert  T.  Burton  and  Judson  L.  Stoddard  rode  in  among  the  Mor- 
risites. Burton  was  much  excited.  He  said,  '  Where  is  the  man  ?  I  don't 
know  him.'  Stoddard  replied,  *  That's  him,'  pointing  to  Morris.  Bur- 
ton rode  his  horse  upon  Morris,  and  commanded  him  to  give  himself  up 
in  the  name  of  the  Lord.  Morris  replied,  *  No,  never,  never  1 '  Morris  said 
he  wanted  to  speak  to  the  people.  Burton  said,  *  Be  d — d  quick  about  it.' 
Morris  said,  '  Brethren,  I've  taught  you  true  principles,' — he  had  scarcely 
got  the  words  out  of  his  mouth  before  Burton  fired  his  revolver.  The 
ball  passed  in  his  neck  or  shoulder.  Burton  exclaimed  *  There's  your 
prophet.'  He  fired  again,  saying,  '  What  do  you  think  of  your  prophet 
now  ? ' 

*  It  is  maintained  by  General  Burton  that  the  first  two  cannons  fired  were  not 
loaded.  But  this  statement  is  contested.  The  Morrisites  are  equally  confident 
that  they  never  heard  a  sound  of  cannon  till  the  moment  here  referred  to. 


CRUEL  MUKDER  OF  THE  MORRISITES. 


599 


"  Burton  then  turned  suddenly  and  shot  Banks,  who  was  standing  five 
or  six  paces  distant.  Banks  fell.  Mrs.  Bowman,  wife  of  James  Bowman, 
came  running  up  crying,  *  Oh  !  you  blood-thirsty  wretch.'  Burton  said, 
'  No  one  shall  tell  me  that  and  live,'  and  shot  her  dead.  A  Danish  woman 
then  came  running  up  to  Morris,  crying,  and  Burton  shot  her  dead  also. 
Burton  could  easily  have  taken  Morris  and  Banks  prisoners,  if  he  had  tried. 
I  was  standing  but  a  few  feet  from  Burton  all  this  time.  And  further 
saith  not.  Alexander  Dow. 

Subscribed  and  sworn  before  me,  this  18th  day  of  April,  a.  d.  1863. 

"  Charles  B.  Waite,  Associate  Justice,  U.  T." 

In  the  fight,  two  of  the  Marshal's  jposse  were  killed,  six  of 
the  Morrisites  and  three  of  the  latter  wounded.  Only  one 
in  the  Morrisite  camp  was  killed  by  the  rifle-ball;  it  was 
the  cannon  at  long  range  that  did  the  damage.  The  first  shot 
killed  two  women,  and  wounded  a  girl;  another  cannon-ball 
killed  a  woman  and  her  child  in  the  "  wickiup."  The  mother- 
in-law  of  the  new  prophet  was  also  killed  in  her  "  wickiup."  A 
little  infant  had  two  narrow  escapes  for  life.  The  first  shot 
killed  its  mother,  Mrs.  Marshy  while  it  was  in  her  arms,  and  it 
was  in  the  arms  of  Mrs.  Bowman  when  she  was  shot  down. 

After  the  surrender,  the  whole  of  the  prisoners  were  marched 
to  Salt  Lake  on  the  17th,  and  on  the  18th  they  were  examined 
before  Judge  Kinney  in  chambers,  and  placed  under  bonds  to 
appear  at  the  next  regular  term  of  court. 

In  urging  measures  against  the  Morrisites,  Judge  Kinney 
feels  satisfied  that  he  only  did  his  duty.  It  is  difficult  to  see 
how  he  could  long  be  passive  when  the  order  of  his  court  was 
disregarded.  Some  also  seek  to  deny  the  serious  charges  made 
in  the  affidavit  of  Dow  against  General  Burton,  but  the  prophet 
Morris  and  the  women  were  killed  after  the  surrender,  and  if 
not  by  Burton's  revolver  the  greater  was  the  crime — if  differ- 
ence there  could  be  in  such  criminality.  General  Burton  is 
not  a  blood-thirsty  man,  he  is  not  a  low  blackguard,  and  is 
much  respected  as  an  honourable,  good  citizen  ;  if,  therefore,  he 
committed  the  atrocity  of  which  he  is  accused,  it  was  the  work 
of  a  devoted  fanatic,  who,  seeking,  as  he  might  suppose,  to 
please  the  Prophet  Brigham,  did  not  hesitate  to  do  so  by  rid- 
ding him  of  a  troublesome  rival.  If  General  Burton  did  not 
shoot  Banks  and  the  women,  then  was  he  under  obligation,  as 
commander  of  the  militia  and  chief  deputy-marshal,  to  have 


600 


THE  EOCKY  mountain  SAINTS. 


brought  the  murderers  to  justice.  Nothing  of  this  kind  was 
done,  nor  did  the  Chief-Justice  or  the  acting-Governor  make 
any  inquiry.  There  might,  perhaps,  be  some  semblance  of  de- 
fence for  General  Burton's  shooting  ^  but,  for  any  other,  there 
could  be  none.  To  say  that  a  second  uprising  was  feared,  as  a 
justification  for  shooting  Morris,  is  too  trivial  a  statement  to 
call  for  reply.  There  was  not  powder  in  the  Morrisite  camp 
to  make  further  resistance  possible,  and  their  arms  were  piled 
upon  the  ground  and  were  guarded  by  the  Mormon  militia. 

That  Elder  John  Banks  was  foully  dealt  with,  there  seems 
little  room  to  doubt.  He  was  wounded  at  the  time  of  Morris's 
death,  but  not  fatally.  The  manner  of  his  "  taking  off"  only 
is  obscure.  In  the  evening  he  was  well  enough  to  sit  up  and 
enjoy  his  pipe.  Suddenly  he  died.  Was  he  poisoned,  shot,  or 
knifed,"  is  the  only  query. Those  who  could  answer  will 
not ;  the  confidential  statements  of  others  are  conflicting. 

The  bodies  of  Morris  and  Banks  were  brought  to  Salt  Lake 
City,  and  placed  where  the  people  could  see  the  dead  prophet 
and  his  counsellor. 

It  is  charged  to  Brigham  Young  that  he  inspired  and  fos- 
tered the  indignation  of  Judge  Kinney  ;  but  his  defenders 
insist  that  he  did  not  interfere.^;    Acting-Governor  Fuller  has 

*  Elder  Jolin  Banks  was  among  the  first  to  receive  Mor monism  in  England.  He 
was  soon  ordained  a  high-priest,  and  during  many  years  of  labour  among  the  Saints 
he  had  presided  over  the  largest  conferences  in  Britain,  and  at  one  time  was  one  of 
the  Presidency  over  the  whole  Church  there.  He  was  the  most  eloquent  preacher  that 
was  ever  in  the  Mormon  Church.  As  his  faith  waned  in  Mormonism,  he  was  pain- 
fully grieved  and  at  times  became  intemperate.  Before  he  was  a  Mormon,  he  had 
been  a  Chartist,  and  the  "  despotism  "  of  the  ruling  priesthood  was  irksome  to  him. 
Years  before  he  left  England  for  Zion,  he  silently  mourned  over  the  One-Man  power. 
His  best  life  had  been  spent  for  Mormonism,  he  was  then  too  far  advanced  in  years 
to  begin  a  new  life,  and  he  emigrated  to  Zion  when  ordered,  hoping  that  his  fears 
might  be  removed  by  better  experience.  Brigham  Young  was  personally  kind  to 
him  after  he  arrived  at  Salt  Lake,  and  sought  to  help  him  over  his  material  troub- 
les ;  but  there  was  in  the  heart  of  John  Banks  more  than  he  could  tell  the  Prophet. 
When  he  heard  Morris,  it  was  new  hope  to  him ;  he  believed  that  "  the  Lord  "  had 
again  spoken,  and  he  began  life  afresh. 

f  To  say  that  Brigham  Young  could  be  indifferent  to  the  Morrisite  movement 
would  be  to  belie  his  whole  life's  teaching.  That  such  an  action  as  that  of  Judge 
Kinney  could  take  place  without  interesting  him,  or  that  Robert  T.  Burton  and 
Theodore  McKean  could  head  a  military  posse  without  Brigham  Young's  approval, 
is  simply  ridiculous.  A  man  who  could,  at  that  very  time,  tell  the  Government  of 
the  United  States  that  he  "  would  see  it  in  hell  first  "  before  a  man  should  march 


EVADING  THE  RESPONSIBILITY. 


601 


also  been  charged  with  seeking  the  favour  of  the  prophet  Brig- 
ham  by  the  readiness  with  which  he  called  for  the  militia  as  a 
posse  to  aid  the  Marshal  ;  but  Mr.  Fuller  declines  all  responsi- 
bility, and  says  that  he  only  acted  upon  the  urgent  demand  of 
the  Chief-Justice,  and  that  he  had  no  option  in  the  matter. 
An  effort  has  also  been  made  to  bring  in  Major  H.  W.  Law- 
rence, who  was  then  Territorial  Marshal,  but  now  an  "  apos- 
"  tate,"  for  a  share  of  the  responsibility  ;  but  he  has  proved 
that  he  informed  the  Chief-Justice  and  the  acting-Governor 
that  sending  a  military  posse  would  certainly  provoke  armed 
resistance,  and  the  innocent  would  suffer.  He  succeeded  in 
delaying  the  execution  of  the  writ,  hoping  that  Morris  and  his 
advisers  would  surrender  without  compulsion.  Major  Lawrence 
left  for  the  Eastern  States,  and  some  further  complaint  being 
made  against  the  Morrisites,  the  writ  was  served  during  his  ab- 
sence, and  the  consequences  were  as  have  been  here  narrated. 

Before  the  regular  session  of  the  Third  Judicial  District 
Court,  at  which  the  Morrisites  were  to  be  tried,  an  element  was 
imported  into  Utah  that  was  destined  to  trouble  the  happiness 
of  the  Prophet.  A  new  Governor,  in  the  person  of  Stephen 
S.  Harding,  of  Indiana,  was  appointed  to  succeed  Dawson,  and 
Thomas  J.  Drake,  of  Michigan,  and  Chas.  B.  Waite,  of  Illinois, 
were  appointed  associate  justices  in  the  place  of  Flenniken 
and  Crosby.  At  the  same  time  a  body  of  California  volunteers, 
under  command  of  Colonel  Connor,  were  sent  on  to  the  Over- 
land Mail  Koute  to  protect  that  and  the  telegraph-line  across 
the  plains,  but  the  commander  had  also  instructions  to  es- 
tablish posts  near  Salt  Lake  City.  The  Tabernacle  at  that 
time  was  rejoicing  in  the  fulfilment  of  the  predictions  concern- 
ing the  overthrow  of  the  Government,  and  the  Mormon  press 
was  quite  as  indiscreet  in  the  manifestations  of  its  joy  at  the 
disasters  that  befell  the  Union  army.  Secretary  Stanton  had 
had  his  attention  directed  to  Zion. 

from  Utali  to  aid  in  the  suppression  of  the  Rebellion,  was  not  very  likely  to  allow 
his  brethren  at  the  same  moment  to  be  summoned  by  Judge  Kinney  to  engage  in  apy 
unpleasant  work.  Besides,  there  were  prominent  and  notorious  men  called  to  take 
part  in  the  Morrisite  War,"  who  had  nothing  whatever  to  do  with  the  militia.  The 
officers  commanding  that  expedition  did  consult  with  Brigham  Young,  and  he  did 
instruct  them,  if  fight  it  was  to  be,  to  "  save  the  women  and  children,  and  be  care- 
ful and  not  expose  the  boys  " — i.  e.,  the  militia. 


602 


THE  KOCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


Governor  Harding  and  Judge  "Waite  were  particularly 
aoreeable  to  the  Mormon  leaders  on  their  arrival  ;  but,  soon 
after,  the  sister  of  Judge  Waite  was  unfortunate  enough  to 
pass  some  unpleasant  strictures  upon  the  Mormon  women,  and 
brother  Heber,  hearing  some  of  the  remarks  of  Miss  Waite, 
repeated  them  in  the  Tabernacle  in  a  Sunday  sermon.  Miss 
Waite  had  some  kind  of  literary  connection  with  an  Eastern 
paper,  and,  during  the  summer  of  their  arrival  in  Zion,  her 
pen  could  not  be  too  complimentary  to  the  Mormons.  In  the 
winter  after  that  unfortunate  accident,  that  pen  was  dipped  in 
gall. 

Towards  the  middle  of  October,  the  California  volunteers 
reached  the  former  encampment  of  the  United  States  troops  at 
Camp  Floyd,  and  there  the  Mormons  hoped  that  Colonel  Con- 
nor would  establish  his  post ;  but  that  officer  had  a  programme 
of  his  own,  and  the  volunteers  continued  their  march  nearer  to 
Salt  Lake.  Parties  who  would  have  been  financially  benefited 
by  the  volunteers  occupying  the  vacated  quarters  at  Camp 
Floyd  tried  to  induce  the  colonel  to  remain  there,  and,  failing 
that,  they  sought  to  intimidate  him  with  the  intelligence  that 
the  Mormons  intended  to  dispute  the  passage  of  the  Califor- 
nians  over  the  Jordan.  At  the  same  time,  a  story  was  cur- 
rent among  the  volunteers  that  Brigham  Young,  on  hearing  of 
their  advance,  had,  out  of  contempt  for  them  and  the  nation, 
cut  down  the  United  States  flag-staff  at  Camp  Floyd,  and  left 
it  lying  on  the  public  road,  over  which  they  had  to  travel. 
Tliere  was  no  truth  in  this  reported  threat,  for  the  Prophet 
had  not  taken  down  the  flag-staff  from  any  such  considera- 
tions."^ The  reports,  however,  reached  Colonel  Connor  through 
gentlemen  whom  he  had  reason  to  believe  would  tell  the  truth. 

At  the  last  encampment  of  the  volunteers,  sixty  rounds  of 
ammunition  were  issued  to  each  man,  the  artillery  was  put  in 
order,  and  the  surgeons  saw  to  their  instruments.  "  If  all  hell 
"  yawned  beneath  it,"  Colonel  Connor  was  next  day  to  cross 
"  the  Jordan." 

There  was  not  a  sign  of  hostile  preparation  anywhere 
among  the  Mormons,  nor  any  possibility  of  ambuscade  in  that 
barren,  treeless  country,  yet  so  disloyal  was  the  reputation  of 

*  See  page  422. 


INDIGNATION  MEETING  IN  THE  TABERNACLE.  603 


the  Mormons  that  any  act  of  contemplated  hostility  was  easily 
credited. 

On  the  20th  of  October,  1862,  with  loaded  rifles,  fixed 
bayonets  and  shotted  cannon.  Colonel  Connor  marched  the 
volunteers  into  Salt  Lake  City,  and  proceeded  to  "  the  bench  " 
directly  east  of  the  city.  There,  at  the  base  of  the  Wahsatch 
Mountains,  they  planted  the  United  States  flag,  and  created 
Camp  Douglas."^ 

The  unpleasant  rumours  of  intended  hostility,  however  un- 
founded, could  but  create  prejudice  on  the  part  of  the  volun- 
teers against  the  Mormons,  and  the  readiness  of  the  former 
to  show  fight  gave  birth  to  a  feeling  of  uneasiness  among  the 
Saints. 

The  Governor's  message  to  the  Legislature,  in  December, 
was  the  tocsin  of  war,  and  was  considered  a  very  offensive  doc- 
ument. He  referred  to  the  passage  of  the  Anti-Polygamic  law 
of  July,  of  that  year,  and  warned  the  people  against  the  per- 
nicious counsels  of  the  apostles  and  prophets  who  had  recom- 
mended it  "  to  be  openly  disregarded  and  defied."  The  man- 
ner of  the  delivery  of  the  message  was  worse  than  the  matter, 
and  probably  no  Legislature  ever  felt  more  humiliated  and  in- 
sulted. It  was  painful  to  observe  the  legislators,  as  they  sat 
quiet  and  immovable,  hearing  their  faith  contemned.  It  was 
interpreted  as  an  open  and  gratituous  insult  on  the  part  of  the 
Executive. 

The  Governor  and  the  judges  silently  sought  to  secure 
some  action  of  Congress  that  would  enable  the  Federal  courts 
to  take  cognizance  of  the  Anti-Polygamy  Bill,  and  other  mat- 
ters, and  on  this  information  coming  to  the  knowledge  of  Brig- 
ham,  a  mass-meeting  was  called  in  the  Tabernacle,  on  the  3d 
of  March,  1863,  to  express  the  indignation  of  the  people  against 
the  Governor  and  judges. 

Very  animated  speeches  were  delivered  by  Brigham  and 
the  apostles,  and  a  series  of  denunciatory  resolutions  against 

*  Colonel  Connor  could  not  possibly  have  selected  a  better  situation  for  a  mili- 
tary post,  and  certainly  no  place  could  have  been  chosen  more  offensive  to  Brig- 
ham.  The  artillery  have  a  perfect  and  unobstructed  range  of  Brigham's  resi- 
dence, and,  with  their  muzzles  turned  in  that  direction,  the  Prophet  felt  awfully 
annoyed. 


604 


THE  KOOKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


the  offenders  was  approved  by  the  audience,  and  a  committee 
appointed  "  to  request  them  to  resign  their  ofBces  and  leave 
"  the  Territory.-'  A  petition  asking  their  removal  was  sent  to 
President  Lincoln.  A  counter-petition  was  sent  by  Colonel 
Connor  and  his  officers,  asking  their  retention.  Notwith- 
standing these  troublesome  times,  Brigham  had  leisure  for 
a  love  affair,  and,  after  a  long  siege  of  "  an  elderly  young 
"  woman  " — Amelia  Folsom,  from  Council  Bluffs — in  which  he 
managed  to  make  himself  extremely  ridiculous,  the  Prophet 
violated  the  Anti-Polygamic  law,  and  furnished  his  opponents 
with  an  opportunity  for  proceeding  legally  against  him. 

Notwithstanding  the  open  and  avowed  defiance  of  the  law 
of  Congress,  and  the  oft-repeated  expression  of  willingness  to 
abide  by  the  decision  of  the  Supreme  Court,  Brigham,  when 
furnished  with  the  opportunity  which  he  had  craved,  took  ref- 
uge from  the  issue  in  a  most  ungallant  manner. 

Colonel  Connor  had  visited  Judge  Waite,  and,  on  leaving 
his  house,  one  of  the  elders,  who  was  loitering  about,  believed 
that  he  overheard  the  colonel  say :  "  These  three  men  must  be 
"  surprised."  That  was  sufficient.  Instantly  the  eavesdrop- 
per flew  to  Brigham.  The  Prophet  believed  the  story,  hoisted 
a  signal  to  rally  the  militia,  and  in  half  an  hour  a  thousand 
armed  men  surrounded  his  premises,  and  within  an  hour, an- 
other thousand  were  armed  and  on  duty.  The  city  was  in 
commotion,  and  rifles,  lead,  and  powder,  were  brought  out  of 
their  hiding-places.  On  the  inside  of  the  high  walls  surround- 
ing Brigham's  premises,  scaffolding  was  hastily  erected  in  order 
to  enable  the  militia  to  fire  down  upon  the  passing  volunteers. 
The  houses  on  the  route  which  occupied  a  commanding  posi- 
tion where  an  attack  could  be  made  upon  the  troops  were 
taken  possession  of,  the  small  cannon  were  brought  out,  and  the 
brethren  prepared  to  protect  the  Prophet. 

There  was  no  truth  in  the  rumour  of  an  intended  arrest  of 
Brigham  and  his  counsellors.  The  Mormon  leaders,  all  the 
same,  believed  it  to  be  true,  and  they  were  cautious  and  watch- 
ful. A  powerful  telescope  was  placed  on  the  top  of  Brigham's 
"  Bee-Hive "  residence,  and  every  move  of  the  volunteers  in 
Camp  Douglas  was  watched  with  great  care.  Night  and  day, 
for  several  weeks,  there  was  a  body  of  armed  men  -around  the 


BRIGHAM  ARRESTED  FOR  POLYGAMY. 


605 


Prophet,  and  signals  agreed  upon  by  which  the  whole  people 
could  be  rallied  by  night  or  by  day. 

During  this  excitement  Chief-Justice  Kinney  came  to  the 
Prophet's  aid,  and  on  the  affidavit  of  a  compositor— one  of 
the  brethren — accusing  Brigham  of  an  infraction  of  the  law  in 
taking  to  himself  another  wife,  Judge  Kinney  issued  a  writ  for 
his  apprehension.  This  smart  practice  was  adopted  in  order 
to  render  it  impossible  for  Judge  Drake  or  Judge  Waite  to  arrest 
him  if  such  was  their  desire.  The  U.  S.  Marshal  waited  upon 
Brigham,  and  in  a  friendly  way  told  him  that  the  Chief  Justice 
required  his  presence  in  Chambers.  Brigham  comprehended 
the  situation,  and  was  soon  there  and  under  bail  to  await  the 
action  of  the  Grand  Jury  !  This  latter  honourable  body,  com- 
posed of  apostles,  bishops,  and  elders,  found  no  evidence  to 
satisfy  them  that  Brigham  Young  had  married  Amelia  Fol- 
som  !  ! !  ^ 

The  same  Grand  Jury  found  a  true  bill  against  the  Morris- 
ites  for  "  armed  resistance  to  the  laws,"  censured  Governor 
Harding,  and  voted  Camp  Douglas  "  a  nuisance."  f 

*  There  was  no  act  of  Brigham's  social  life  better  known  in  Salt  Lake  City.  He 
had  been  the  talk  and  amusement  of  every  circle  of  confidential  friends  for  months. 
His  gallantry  was  the  theme  of  admiration !  He  had  patted  one  rival  quietly  on 
the  shoulder  and  conveyed  to  him  enough  in  that  way  so  that  he  understood  that 
his  future  course  was  fortune  if  he  retired  gracefully  ;  and  when  another  young  man 
sprang  up  and  meant  matrimonial  business,  he  received  a  mission  from  "  the  Lord," 
that  sent  him  out  of  the  city.  Miss  Folsom  could  play  the  piano  and  sing  "  Fair 
"  Bingen  on  the  Rhine."  Such  accomplishments,  at  that  time,  were  rare  and  appre- 
ciated. Brigham  had  not  taken  to  himself  a  wife  for  a  goodly  number  of  years,  and 
"  had  got  all  the  wives  he  wanted  ; "  but  Amelia  attracted  him.  His  carriage  lin- 
gered by  her  mother's  door  for  hours  nearly  every  day.  He  got  barbered  and 
perfumed  every  morning,  and  replaced  his  homespun  garments  with  broadcloth. 
Twice  the  Endowment  House  was  warmed  and  m^de  comfortable  for  the  marriage 
ceremony  :  twice  the  prophet  was  disappointed.  Finally  the  young  woman  was  told 
that  it  was  the  will  of  the  Lord,"  but  the  Prophet  would  trouble  her  no  more. 
Alarmed  with  the  fear  of  possibly  doing  wrong,  she  sent  for  the  Prophet,  the  Endow- 
ment House  was  again  warmed,  and  the  sealing  "  was  performed.  That  no  one 
of  that  Grand  Jury  knew  that  Brigham  Young  had  married  Amelia  Folsom,  is  very 
strange ! 

I  It  was  currently  reported  that  the  water  issuing  from  Red  Butte  Canon  was 
purposely  fouled  by  the  volunteers,  in  order  to  annoy  the  citizens  in  some  of  the 
wards,  who  used  it  for  culinary  purposes.  With  the  Sunday  sermons  dinned  into 
their  ears,  the  Mormons  could  not  but  feel  annoyed  that  the  troops  were  stationed 
at  the  head  of  the  stream ;  but  of  any  intentional  fouling  of  the  waters  there  has 


606 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


At  the  March  session  of  the  Third  Judicial  District  Court, 
the  Morrisites  were  tried.  Ten  of  them  were  indicted  for  kill- 
ing two  of  the  posse  during  the  fight ;  seven  of  these  were  con- 
victed, one  was  '^nolled,"  and  two  were  acquitted.  Sixty-six 
others  were  fined  $100  each  for  resisting  the  posse.  Of  the 
seven  convicted  of  "  murder  in  the  second  degree,"  one  was  sen- 
tenced to  fifteen  years'  imprisonment,  one  to  twelve  years,  and 
five  to  ten  years  each.  Governor  Harding,  regarding  the  pris- 
oners as  deserving  of  clemency,  pardoned  them  all.  Most  of 
those  who  had  professed  the  Morrisite  faith,  and  who  did  not 
immediately  leave  the  Territory,  found  employment  and  refuge 
at  Camp  Douglas.  A  month  later.  Colonel  Connor  took  two 
hundred  and  fifty  of  them,  and  a  company  of  the  California 
Volunteers,  to  Soda  Springs,  where  he  established  a  post  in 
Idaho,  immediately  beyond  the  northern  Territorial  limits  of 
Utah,  and  this  for  a  time  ended  the  Morrisite  secession."^ 

The  volunteers  were  not  numerous  enough  to  ^'overawe" 
the  Mormons,  and  their  presence  was,  on  that  account,  all  the 
more  irksome.  To  know  that  they  "  could  use  them  up  any 
"  morning  before  breakfast,"  and  yet  be  forced  to  tolerate  their 
presence  on  the  brow  of  a  hill,  like  a  watch-tower,  was  irritat- 
ing to  the  Prophet's  mind.  The  Tabernacle  resounded  with 
fierce  denunciations  every  Sunday.  Mischief-makers  poured 
into  the  ears  of  the  Prophet  every  story  that  could  increase  his 
prejudice  against  Colonel  Connor;  and  the  latter  heard  quite 
as  much  to  incense  him  against  Brigham.  A  collision  for  a 
long  time  seemed  inevitable.  The  Prophet  was  then  in  his 
glory;  the  nation  was  engaged  in  war;  the  prophecies  of  the 
modern  Seer  were  being  fulfilled ;  and  the  republic  was  going 
to  pieces — he  had  nothing  to  fear.    Sometimes  it  seemed  that 

never  been  any  reliable  evidence.  The  story  of  passing  the  stream  through  the 
stables  for  that  purpose  is  denied.  Had  the  stream  supplied  Brigham  Young,  there 
might  have  been  some  ground  for  the  charge ;  but,  for  the  people,  neither  the  com- 
mander nor  his  officers  had  any  feeling  but  sympathy.  Later  in  the  year  there  was 
ground  for  complaint,  as  the  water  that  irrigated  the  gardens  was  proportionally 
diminished  by  the  camp,  and  was  an  injury  to  those  wards. 

*  Five  years  later,  one  of  the  Morrisites,  who  had  been  a  merchant-trader  in  Salt 
Lake  City,  recovered  a  valuable  property  that  was  sold  at  that  time  by  order  of  the 
court  to  pay  his  fine.  The  property  had  been  sold  for  "  a  mere  song,"  and  all  about 
the  transaction  had  the  air  of  unnecessary  persecution. 


A  "SCARE''  AMONG  THE  SAINTS. 


his  better  sense  prevailed,  and  there  would  be  hope  of  a  per- 
manent peace ;  but  new  rumours  would  reach  him,  and,  on  the 
following  Sunday,  he  would  go  to  the  Tabernacle  and  open  the 
phials  of  his  wrath,  and  all  again  was  excitement,  and  every- 
body was  on  the  qui  vive. 

Providing  for  the  possibility  of  a  rupture  at  any  moment, 
it  was  agreed  that,  if  the  struggle  came  by  night,  the  citizens 
were  to  be  summoned  to  arms  by  the  firing  of  cannon  from  the 
hill-side,  at  the  east  of  Brigham's  residence ;  and,  if  the  diffi- 
culty began  during  the  day,  the  flag  was  to  be  hoisted  over  his 
Bee-Hive  residence.  To  the  latter  signal  the  citizens  had  once 
responded ;  and  it  was  believed  that  their  readiness  to  fight 
for  the  Prophet  had  intimidated  the  commander  of  the  volun- 
teers, so  that  he  would  be  unlikely  to  make  an  attack  by  day. 
At  that  time,  it  w^as  believed  that  Colonel  Connor,  having  been 
foiled  in  this  first  attempt,*^  entertained  the  idea  of  making  a 
dash  upon  the  Prophet's  bedroom  the  dead  of  night," 
seizing  him,  and  running  him  off  to  the  States  before  the 
Mormons  could  learn  of  his  situation,  and  render  him  any 
assistance. 

On  the  night  of  the  29th  of  March,  the  citizens  were  aroused 
by  the  booming  of  cannon,  and  as  hastily  as  garments  could  be 
thrown  on,  and  arms  could  be  seized,  the  brethren  were  seen 
hurrying  from  their  homes  towards  the  Prophet's  residence. 
The  struggle  was  apparently  at  hand.  The  signal  cannon  had 
been  distinctly  heard,  and,  as  there  was  a  gentle  current  of  air 
from  the  east,  those  who  lived  west  of  the  Prophet  could  hear 
the  very  music  to  which  the  volunteers  were  supposed  to  be 
marching  into  the  heart  of  the  city  ! 

For  his  great  victory  over  Bear-Hunter  and  other  Indian 
chiefs,  in  a  desperate  battle  in  the  deptb  of  winter,  two  months 

*  General  Connor  never  had  orders  to  arrest  Brigham  Young,  or  he  would  have 
done  so — or  tried.  At  the  time  of  the  conversation  with  Judge  Waite,  already  re- 
ferred to,  which  created  the  panic  and  the  assembling  of  the  Mormons  in  arms,  the 
prophet  was  not  the  subject  of  consideration.  One  of  the  brethren  had  married  the 
three  widows  of  a  wealthy  merchant  within  sight  of  Judge  Waite's  residence,  and 
as  that  was  an  excellent  case  in  which  to  try  the  application  of  the  Anti-Polygamic 
Law,  the  General  repUed  to  the  Judge  that  he  would  arrest  him  if  the  Court  fur- 
nished the  order.  The  anticipation  that  a  difficulty  would  arise,  from  Judge  Waite 
acting  within  Judge  Kinney's  Judicial  District  while  the  latter  was  present,  was  the 
only  thing  that  prevented  the  arrest. 


608 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


before,  Colonel  Connor  had  now  been  promoted  to  tbe  rank  of 
Brigadier-General,  and  the  news  had  only  just  reached  Camp 
Douglas  !  The  military  band  had  been  called  out  to  serenade 
the  promoted  commander,  and  the  cannon  was  roaring  over 
the  mountains  in  honour  of  the  victor ! 


Majok-General  p.  Edward  Connor.* 


Fortunately  for  those  concerned,  Elder  A.  O.  Smoot,  and 
not  some  mad  fanatic,  was  mayor  of  the  city  of  the  Saints  in 
those  troublesome  times.  The  Grand  J ury  had  presented  Camp 
Douglas  as  "  a  nuisance,"  and,  following  the  municipal  law,  it 
should  have  been  "  abated."    The  camp  annoyed  Brigham,  for 

*  General  Connor  raised  the  Third  Kegiment  of  California  Infantry  for  the  war, 
and  was  mortified  to  find  himself  sent  to  watch  Brigham  Young."  This  forced 
detention  in  Utah  was  probably  the  prevailing  cause  of  the  first  ill-feeling  among 
the  volunteers  toward  the  Prophet.  The  General,  however,  made  the  most  of  his 
situation,  and  never  missed  an  opportunity  of  making  Brigham  feel  that  he  was 
there.  He  started  a  weekly  paper — The  Vedette — at  Camp  Douglas,  in  November, 
1863,  which  was  ably  edited  by  Major  C.  H.  Hempstead,  and  all  the  editorial  work, 
composition,  and  delivery,  were  performed  by  the  officers  and  soldiers.  It  became 
a  "  daily  "  in  the  following  spring,  and  established  itself  in  Salt  Lake  City,  much  to 
the  annoyance  of  the  faithful.  In  May,  1866,  he  was  breve tted  Major-General  of 
Volunteers,  for  gallant  conduct  at  the  battle  of  Tongue  River  during  the  Powder 
River  Campaign,  Montana.  It  is  believed,  by  the  General,  that  Brigham  once  pre- 
dicted that  he  would  live  to  bury  him  head  downward,  and  in  his  body  plant  a  peach- 
stone,  which  would  sprout,  grow  up,  and  bear  fruit  that  would  gratify  the  Prophet's 
taste  I 


BRIGHAM  ORDERED  CAMP  DOUGLAS  TO  BE  REMOVED.  609 


he  could  never  look  out  of  his  door  without  seeing  it  growing 
larger  and  larger,  and  every  day  more  permanent.  In  the 
wrath  of  the  moment  he  ordered  the  mayor  to  "  move  Connor 
and  his  men"  out  of  the  city  limits.^  Eut  Mayor  Smoot  is  a 
sober,  calculating,  brave  man.  He  counted  the  cost  of  that 
task  ;  and  after  he  had  estimated  how  many  men  he  would  re- 
quire, he  informed  the  Prophet  that  he  had  sufficient,  and  that 
his  plans  were  complete.  Brigham's  second  thought  had  come, 
and  his  temper  had  passed  away.  He  made  no  answer ;  and 
the  good  sense  of  Abraham  O.  Smoot  saved  Mormonism.  Had 
Brigham  given  that  order  to  such  a  man  as  the  present  mayor, 
Daniel  H.  Wells,  Camp  Douglas  would  have  been  attacked, 
probably  the  garrison  would  have  been  ''wiped  out,"  many 
of  the  Mormons  would  have  been  killed,  and,  in  tlie  course  of 
a  few  months,  volunteers  from  tlie  Pacific  States  and  the  Ter- 
ritories would  have  poured  into  Utah,  and  there  would  have 
been  a  bloody  settlement  of  that  passionate  speech.f 

Governor  Harding,  J  Secretary  Fuller,  and  Judge  Kinney, 
w^ere  removed;  James  Duane  Doty  was  appointed  Governor; 
Amos  Eeed,  Secretary ;  and  John  Titus,  Chief  Justice.  The 
Government  was  striving  to  restore  peace  in  Utah.  Governor 
Doty  had  been  in  the  Territory  as  Superintendent  of  Indian 
AlFairs,  and  was  a  very  discreet  gentleman ;  Mr.  Reed  was 
conservative ;  Judge  Titus  was  then  unknown.  Brigham  re- 
garded the  removal  of  Judge  Kinney  as  the  result  of  the  latter's 
devotion  to  the  priesthood,  and,  by  way  of  compensation,  the 
honourable  gentleman  was  sent  Delegate  to  Congress  in  1863. 

Judge  Waite  resigned  in  1864,  and  "  left  the  Territory  in 

*  Though  the  centre  of  the  post  is  two  and  a  half  miles  from  the  City  Hall,  a 
portion  of  the  military  reservation  lapped  over  the  nominal  municipal  boundary. 
It  was  this  that  furnished  the  ground  for  quarrel. 

f  After  the  General  had  heard  of  that  order,  he  said  to  the  Author :  "  I  know, 
"  sir,  that  Brigham  Young  could  use  up  this  handful  of  men ;  but  there  are  sixty 
*' thousand  men  in  California  who  would  avenge  our  blood;"  and  to  that  was  re- 
sponded, "Yes ;  and  behind  them  there  would  be  the  whole  nation."  Nothing  was 
more  certain  than,  had  that  order  been  executed,  there  would  have  been  no  church, 
or  prophets  and  apostles,  in  the  Rocky  Mountains  to-day. 

if  There  are  no  castle-walls  high  enough  in  Utah  to  conceal  even  private  Ufe^ 
when  the  Saints  are  after  an  enemy ;  and  they  were  not  long  in  discovering  that 
S.  S.  H.  was  not  the  proper  person  to  lecture  them  on  the  immorality  of  Polygamy. 
His  removal  did  credit  to  the  Government. 


610 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


disgust : "  Solomon  McCiirdj,  of  Missouri,  was  appointed  his 
successor. 

During  the  Southern  Eebellion,  when  the  Confederacy  pre- 
vailed, the  Spirit  of  "the  Lord"  was  noisy;  but,  when  the 
Union  cause  was  in  the  ascendency,  the  preaching  in  the  Tab- 
ernacle became  more  conservative. 

The  Church  organ,  the  Deseret  JVews,^  was  intensely  "  Cop- 
perhead," and  chronicled  the  reverses  of  the  Union  arms  with 
undisguised  pleasure.  By  way  of  correction.  General  Connor 
established  a  Provost  Guard  in  the  city.  As  the  war  drew  to 
a  close,  it  was  difficult  to  "  quench  the  Spirit ; "  and,  on  the 
Sunday  afternoon  preceding  the  surrender  of  General  Lee, 
Brigham  predicted  in  the  Tabernacle  that  there  would  be  four 
more  years  of  war.f 

*  When  some  leading  men  represented  to  Brigham  that  the  course  of  the  JV^ews 
would  certainly  provoke  a  difficulty  with  the  troops — and  it  is  true  that  at  one  time 
they  seriously  entertained  the  idea  of  "  gutting  out "  the  printing-office — the  Prophet 
came  out  in  "  a  card,"  and  disclaimed  his  personal  responsibility  for  anything  in  that 
paper  but  what  carried  his  own  signature.  It  was  necessary,  however,  to  sacrifice 
somebody,  and  the  editor  of  the  JVews^  the  Hon.  Elias  Smith,  Judge  of  Probate,  was 
selected  for  the  victim.  A  violent  letter  from  a  sergeant  in  Camp  Douglas  had  been 
published  in  the  JVews  without  what  Brigham  considered  a  proper  reply,  and,  under 
the  pretext  of  righteous  indignation.  Judge  Smith  was  removed.  A  more  prudent, 
honourable  gentleman  than  Judge  Smith  was  not  in  Mormondom.  He  was  not  the 
"  Copperhead,"  but  the  faithful  exponent  of  the  orthodox  faith. 

I  Of  course,  Brigham  has  had  to  wriggle  out  of  this  prediction.  He  did  not 
mean  to  say  exactly  that.  He  meant,  he  said,  that  there  would  be  other  four  years 
of  wrangling  and  fighting  in  the  settlement  of  the  controversy !  Poor  Brigham  I 
He  has  twice  put  dates  to  his  predictions,  and  in  both  instances  he  came  to  grie£ 
Probably  he  won't  venture  a  third. 


CHAPTER  LII. 


AFTER  THE  WAR.— G-rand  Procession  of  Mormons  and  Gentiles— Prospective 
Peace — The  Federal  OflS.cers  and  Mormon  Dignitaries  wine  together — The  City 
honours  General  Connor  in  the  Social  Hall — The  Prophets  and  the  Gentile 
Ladies  decline  attending  the  Ball — Vice-President  Colfax  and  Literary  Friends 
visit  Zion — The  Interview  with  the  Prophet — The  Hon.  James  M.  Ashley  sees 
the  Difficulty  of  convicting  the  Apostles  for  Polygamy — He  tells  Tom  Corwin's 
BtoYj  of  tb.Q Meven  Jurors  who  had  some  of  the  Ham'''' — A  Gentile  marries  a 
Mormon  Elder's  Second  Wife — Mr.  Brassfield  assassinated — Great  Excitement 
among  the  Gentiles — General  Sherman  gives  Brigham  a  Hint  that  he  will  send 
Troops  to  Zion — ^Brigham  hastens  to  assert  his  Innocence — Contention  over  the 
Warm  Springs — Dr.  Eobinson,  the  Contestant,  is  assassinated — A  Foul  and 
Dreadful  Murder — Brigham  joins  the  Gentiles  in  offering  a  Reward  for  the  Mur- 
derers— No  Detection — Years  after,  Brigham  withdraws  his  Reward — Afraid  of 
tempting  Men  to  Perjury — Three  Apostates  charged  with  stealing  a  Cow — 
Arrested,  confined,  two  murdered  in  "  attempting  to  escape  " — The  Brethren 
arrested  for  Murder,  and  escape — Chief-Justice  Titus  grossly  insulted. 

With  the  closing  of  the  war,  there  was  some  expectation 
of  peace  in  Utah ;  but  peace  there  at  any  time  can  only  be 
temporary.  The  success  of  the  Union  arras  was  a  suggestive 
lesson ;  and,  on  the  reinauguration  of  President  Lincoln,  the 
Mormons  were  most  loyal.  On  the  4th  of  March,  1865,  there 
was  a  grand  Mormon  and  Gentile  procession  throughout  the 
principal  streets  of  the  city,  and  right  in  the  centre  of  the  main 
street  hustings  were  erected,  and  on  the  platform  the  Federal 
officers — civil  and  military — met  the  Mormon  apostles,  city 
dignitaries,  and  principal  citizens.  The  past  was  to  be  forgot- 
ten, and  there  was  evinced  to  the  on-looker  a  feeling  evidently 
genuine  and  fraternal.  General  Connor  was  greatly  moved  at 
the  sight  of  the  tradesmen  and  working-people  who  paraded 
through  the  streets,  and  who  cheered  most  heartily — and  no 


612 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


doubt  honestly'^ — the  patriotic,  loyal  sentiments  that  were  ut- 
tered by  the  speakers.  He  wanted  differences  to  be  forgotten, 
and  with  gentlemanly  frankness  he  approached  the  Author 
with  extended  hand,  and  expressed  the  joy  he  experienced  in 
witnessing  the  loyalty  of  the  masses  of  the  people.  The  Yedette 
and  the  Telegrwph  had  waged  a  fierce  warfare,  but  peace  for 
the  future  was  resolved  upori ;  and,  as  an  evidence  of  good 
faith,  the  General  proposed  to  immediately  close  the  former 
journal. 

At  the  end  of  the  reinauguration  services,  the  officers  from 
Camp  Douglas  were  entertained  in  the  City  Hall,  and  there 
met  with  apostles,  bishops,  and  the  chief  men  of  the  city,  and 
they  partook  together  of  a  cold  collation  and  a  glass  of  wine 
in  the  utmost  friendship.  The  officers  of  the  Nauvoo  Legion 
escorted  the  officers  of  the  California  Yolunteers  back  to  their 
quarters,  and  every  thing  promised  fair  for  the  future. 

A  day  or  two  aftci:,  tlie  Author  with  a  friend  visited  Camp 
Douglas,  and  with  the  General  and  his  friend.  Major  Hemp- 
stead, passed  a  pleasant  honr  in  contemplating  and  chatting 
over  proposed  changes.  General  Connor  had  been  called  to 
take  command  of  the  Department  of  the  Platte,  and  he  thought 
that,  if  the  Mormon  people  were  desirous  of  making  "  a  new 
"  departure,"  the  silence  of  the  Vedette  was  a  proper  thing. 

A  ball  was  soon  after  given  by  the  city  authorities  at  the 
Social  Hall  in  honour  of  General  Connor,  pre'ceding  his  depart- 
ure for  the  Platte.  It  was  conceived  in  kindness,  but  it  was 
altogether  a  mistake.  Brigham  and  his  counsellors  would  not 
deign  to  be  present;  their  wives  and  daughters,  also,  did  not 
attend.  The  ladies  of  Camp  Douglas,  with  a  very  few  excep- 
tions, would  not  accompany  their  husbands  to  meet  ^'  the  Mor- 
"  mon  women."  Of  the  disposition  of  the  Prophet  and  the  ladies 
of  Camp  Douglas  nothing  was  known  until  their  absence  from 
the  Hall  made  everything  palpably  clear.  The  offending  par- 
ties doubtless  calculated  upon  the  annoyance  and  mortification 

*  It  is  folly  to  charge  the  people  with  disloyalty  to  the  Republic — it  is  only  the 
faith  that  is  disloyal.  The  Mormon  community  would  be  glad  to-day  to  be  in  har- 
mony with  the  nation.  The  native-born  American  naturally  loves  his  country  and 
her  institutions,  and  the  foreign-born  population  instinctively  would  render  willing 
obedience  to  the  laws  of  Congress.  Disloyalty  is  not  congenial  to  the  people  ;  it  ia 
a  burden  to  them. 


VICE-PRESIDENT  COLFAX  VISITS  ZION. 


613 


that  their  absence  would  cause  each  the  other;  but  on  learning 
of  the  absence  on  both  sides,  conditions  were  changed,  and  the 
absent  and  the  present  alike  felt  insulted.  The  dance,  how- 
ever, went  on ;  no  one  pretended  to  notice  what  all  felt,  and 
the  night  was  pleasantly  passed ;  but  further  reconciliation  was 
at  an  end. 

Two  months  later,  Vice-President  Colfax,  ex-Governor 
Bross,  of  Illinois,  Samuel  Bowles,  Esq.,  editor  of  the  Spring- 
field (Mass.)  Republican^  and  Albert  D.  Eichardson,  Esq.,  of 
the  New  York  Tribune^  made  their  great  overland  trip  to  the 
Pacific.  Their  visit  to  the  chief  citj^  of  Zion  afforded  opportu- 
nities, both  to  the  Mormons  and  the  Gentiles,  for  exhibiting 
their  devotion  to  the  Government,  and  in  a  quiet  way  raking 
up  again  their  local  hostilities,  and  pouring  their  grievances 
and  dislikes  into  the  ears  of  the  visitors.  During  their  stay 
they  had  fi'ee  intercourse  with  the  Prophet,  heard  him  preach, 
and  frankly  talked  over  the  subject  of  Polygamy.^ 

At  the  first  meeting  of  the  Prophet  and  the  Yice-President, 
in  the  hotel  of  the  latter,  Mr.  Colfax,  in  a  very  good-natured 
way,  expressed  to  Brigham  the  hope  that  "  the  Prophets  of  the 
Church  would  have  a  new  revelation  on  the  subject  [Polyga- 
"  my],  which  would  put  a  stop  to  the  practice."  In  that  friend- 
ly discussion  the  biblical  usage  and  authority"  were  pressed 
as  a  sanction  for  polygamy,  and  the  question  was  asked  the 
Mormon  speaker^  whether  "  the  same  usage  and  authority  for 
''human  sacrifice  "would  justify  them  in  offering  such  sacri- 
fices to-day.  To  the  direct  question,  "Would  you,  if  com- 
"manded  by  God,  offer  up  your  son  or  your  enemy  as  a  sacri- 
"fice?"  he  promptly  replied,  "Yes." 

Brigham's  sentiments  on  the  Southern  rebellion  were  in  the 
course  of  the  interview  the  subject  of  inquiry,  and  the  Prophet 
is  thus  reported  by  Mr.  Bowles : 

*  It  has  generally  been  charged  that  the  very  pleasant  attentions  shown  to  Yice- 
President  Colfax  and  his  friends,  making  them  the  guests  of  the  city,  and  extending 
to  them  every  courtesy  and  consideration,  was  a  piece  of  the  Prophet's  diplomacy 
to  parade  his  pretended  loyalty,  etc.  This  is  not  true.  Brigham  had  not  then  be- 
gun to  ask  the  good  opinion  of  the  world.  The  Hon.  Wm.  H.  Hooper  considered  it 
proper  that  the  city  should  show  its  respect  "  to  the  second  officer  of  the  Govern- 
ment," and  with  his  suggestion  Brigham  acquiesced,  possibly  with  some  reluctance 
at  first.  Brigham  was  strong  in  those  days ;  there  was  no  bowing  to  Gentiles  in  hia 
programme  at  that  time. 


614 


THE  EOCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


"  Now  that  peace  is  established,  let  all  be  pardoned ;  but  early  in  oi 
during  the  war  he  would  have  disposed  of  the  rebel  chiefs  who  fell  into 
the  hands  of  the  Government  without  mercy  or  hesitation.  Had  he  been 
President  when  Mason  and  Slidell  were  captured,  he  would  have  speedily 
put  them  '  where  they  never  would  peep,'  and  negotiated  with  England 
afterwards.  He  uttered  this  sentiment  with  such  a  wicked  working  of  the 
lower  jaw  and  lip,  and  such  an  almost  demon-like  spirit  in  his  whole  face, 
that,  quite  disposed  to  be  incredulous  on  those  matters,  I  could  not  help 
thinking  of  the  Mountain  Meadows  Massacre,  of  recusant  Mormons,  of 
Danites  and  Avenging  Angels,  and  their  reported  achievements."  * 

About  two  weeks  later  the  Honourable  Jas.  M.  Ashley,  of 
Ohio,  then  Chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Territories,  visited 
Zion.  Brigham  met  the  gentleman  frankly,  and  in  the  parlour 
of  Delegate  Hooper  there  was  a  free  conversation  upon  the 
probable  future  relations  between  the  Government  and  the 
Mormons.  The  first  question  from  Brigham  was :  "  Well,  Mr. 
"  Ashley,  are  you  also  going  to  recommend  us  to  get  a  new 
"  revelation  to  abolish  polygamy,  or  what  are  you  going  to  do 
"  with  us  "  Now,  Mr.  President,  I  don't  know  what 

we  can  do  with  you.  Your  situation  reminds  me  of  an  experi- 
"  ence  of  Tom  Corw^in.  In  the  days  of  Tom's  poverty,  some- 
"  where  in  Ohio,  he  thought  that  he  would  hang  out  his  law- 
"  yer's  shingle,  and  catch  a  share  of  business.  One  day  a 
"  smart  fellow  solicited  his  legal  services ;  he  wanted  Tom  to 
"  defend  him,  and  proposed  to  give  him  a  fee  of  fifty  dollars. 

That  was  a  big  sum  to  Tom  then ;  but  when  he  heard  the 
"  situation  of  his  client  he  stated  that  he  was  under  profes- 
"  sional  obligations  to  say  that  he  could  be  of  no  service  to 
"  him.    The  client  insisted  that  Tom  should  make  a  speech  in 
court,  and  that  was  all  he  wanted.    The  case  came  on  :  the 
evidence  was  clear,  witnesses  had  seen  the  prisoner  steal  some 
"  hams,  carry  them  to  a  house,  and  there  the  hams  were  found 
^'  in  the  client's  possession.    It  was  a  clear  case  of  theft ;  the 
^'  evidence  was  incontestable,  and  the  prosecutor  thought  it 
"  needless  to  address  the  jury.    The  defendant,  however,  in- 
sisted  that  Tom  should  make  his  speech.    A  brilliant  efibrt 
was  made,  the  jury  retired,  and  in  a  few  minutes  returned 
with  a  verdict  of  '  Not  guilty.'    The  judge,  the  prosecutor, 
^  ind  Tom,  were  perfectly  confounded.    They  glanced  at  each 

*  "Across  the  Continent,"  p.  113. 


ASSASSINATION  OF  MR.  BRASSFIELD. 


615 


"  other  a  look  of  inquiry.  Nothing  more  could  be  done,  and 
"  the  prisoner  was  discharged.  As  they  retired  from  the  court, 
"  the  lawyer  said  to  the  thief:  'Now,  old  fellow,  I  want  you 
"  '  to  tell  me  how  that  was  done  ! '  '  Your  speech  did  it,'  was 
"  the  reply.  '  No  it  didn't,  and  I  want  to  know  how  you  did 
"'it.'  'Well,  if  you'll  not  speak  of  it  till  I  get  out  of  the 
'' '  State,  I  shall  tell  you.'  Tom  accorded  to  this,  and  in  perfect 
"  confidence  his  client  whispered  :  '  Welly  eleven  of  the  jurors 
"  '  had  some  of  the  ham^  " 

Brigham  roared  and  laughed.  With  a  Mormon  jury,  some 
of  them  doubtless  polygamistSj  the  institution  was  perfectly 
secure ! 

In  the  spring  of  1866,  a  Gentile — O.  N.  Brassfield — was 
assassinated.  Mr.  Brassfield  was  married  by  Judge  McCurdy, 
on  the  20th  of  March,  to  the  second  wife  of  one  of  the  brethren, 
who  was  then  in  Europe  on  mission,  and  on  the  evening  of  the 
3d  of  April  he  was  shot  by  some  unknown  person  as  he  was 
entering  his  boarding-house.  Every  consistent  Mormon  in  his 
faith  sustained  the  deed,  as  the  sentiment  of  the  Church  made 
it  obligatory  upon  the  "nearest  of  kin"  to  avenge  the  absent 
husband.  Without  any  opinion  upon  Polygamy  as  an  institu- 
tion, it  was  an  imprudent  act  to  marry  any  woman  who  was 
the  recognized  "wife"  of  another  man,  and  the  mother  of  his 
children— until  some  formal  separation  had  been  made — even 
though  that  woman  was  before  the  law  no  "  wife  "  at  all.  As 
an  individual,  Mr.  Hill  was  wronged,  but  as  a  people  the  Mor- 
mons had  no  right  to  complain,  for  the  example  had  been  set 
Brassfield  by  the  dignitaries  of  the  Church.  The  conservative 
among  the  Gentiles  took  that  view  of  the  Brassfield  marriage, 
but  there  were  some  among  the  Mormons  who  afterward  deeply 
regretted  the  defence  they  had  made  of  "the  avenger,"  when 
they  had  reason  to  believe  that  the  death  of  Brassfield  was 
probably  more  an  act  of  vindictiveness  than  the  result  of  an 
enthusiast's  conviction  in  carrying  out  the  obligations  which, 
it  was  asserted,  the  faith  imposed.  That  the  shooting  was  pre- 
meditated, and  the  intention  known  to  others,  there  can  be  no 
doubt.  No  effort  was  made  to  arrest  the  perpetrator  of  the 
crime.    The  Gentile  community  was  at  first  panic-stricken; 


616 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


but,  on  recovering  from  the  first  stupor,  they  offered  a  reward 
of  $4,500  for  the  arrest  of  the  murderer,  which,  however,  elicited 
no  information.  Orders  had  been  given  by  the  Secretary  of 
War  to  disband  the  volunteers,  but  it  w^as  immediately  coun- 
termanded till  regular  troops  could  relieve  them. 

General  Sherman,  then  commanding  the  Department  of  the 
Plains,  telegraphed  to  Brigham  that  he  hoped  to  hear  of  no 
more  murders  of  Gentiles  in  Utah,  and  he  took  that  opportu- 
nity of  assuring  the  Prophet  that,  though  his  language  was  not 
intended  as  "  a  threat,"  yet  he  might  say  that  there  were  a 
great  many  soldiers  who  had  just  been  mustered  out  of  service, 
who  would  readily  gather  again  and  pay  him  a  visit — should 
the  lives  of  citizens  be  afterwards  imperilled  in  the  Territory. 
Brigham  had  a  clear  perception  that  W.  Tecumseh  Sherman 
was  not  a  man  of  many  words,  and  he  hastened  to  inform 
him  that  there  was  a  misiepresentation  ;  that  Brassfield  had 
seduced  a  man's  wife;"  and  that  life  in  Zion  was  as  secure 
as  elsewhere,  if  persons  attended  to  their  own  business.  The 
Prophet  prepared  a  second  telegram,  that  was  signed  by  influ- 
ential Gentiles,  confirming  that  statement.  Some  of  these 
gentlemen  did  regret  that  they  were  forced  to  do  so;  but 
the  only  choice  then  was  between  open  hostility  or  quiet  sub- 
mission, and  they  were  not  prepared  for  the  former. 

In  October  of  the  same  year,  Dr.  J.  King  Eobinson  was 
barbarously  murdered. 

Dr.  Eobinson  was  a  native  of  Calais,  Maine.  He  came  to 
Utah  from  California  in  1864,  and  was  assistant-surgeon  at 
Camp  Douglas,  till  he  was  mustered  out  of  the  service  the 
beginning  of  the  winter  preceding  his  assassination.  He  then 
commenced  the  practice  of  his  profession  in  the  city,  and  in 
the  spring  of  1866  he  married  a  very  respectable  young  lady, 
the  daughter  of  one  w^ho  had  in  life  been  a  prominent  Mormon, 
but  the  widow  and  the  family  had  outgrown  the  faith  of  the 
Prophet.  The  doctor  was  a  man  of  excellent  moral  character, 
and  had  devoted  much  of  his  time  to  the  children  of  the  Gen- 
tile Sunday-school.  He  was  the  intimate  friend  of  the  Eev. 
Norman  McLeod,  who  at  that  time  was  chaplain  at  the  mili- 
tary post,  and  was  preaching  in  Independence  Hall  in  opposi- 
tion to  the  Mormon  faith.    The  doctor,  doubtless,  shared  the 


CRUEL  MURDER  OF  DR.  ROBINSOK  617 

sentiments  of  the  minister,  and  botli  of  them  were  thoroughly 
disliked  by  the  prominent  Mormons. 

"While  in  the  United  States  service,  the  doctor  and  another 
surgeon  formed  the  idea  of  taking  possession  of  what  is  known 
as  the  Warm  Springs  to  the  north  of  the  city,  and  intended  at 
some  time  to  erect  there  a  hospital.  A  small  board  "  shanty  " 
was  erected  upon  the  ground,  and  other  work  was  performed  in- 
dicative of  a  purpose  to  hold  possession  of  the  property.  The 
city  Council  claimed  that  the  city  owned  the  Springs  and  the 
land  surrounding  them,  and  the  Marshal  was  ordered  to  re- 
move the  property  of  the  doctor.  He  immediately  brought  an 
action  against  the  city,  and  after  a  protracted  trial  Chief- Jus- 
tice Titus  decided  against  him.  Three  days  afterwards  he  was 
assassinated.^ 

A  large  reward  was  offered  for  the  apprehension  of  the 
murderers,  and  at  the  head  of  the  list  was  the  name  of  Brig- 
ham  Young  for  $500 ;  and  very  strangely  indeed,  about  a  year 
ago  when  several  of  the  brethren  had  been  arrested  upon  in- 
dictments found  by  the  Grand  Jury  for  that  murder,  Brigham 
gave  public  notice  that  he  withdrew  that  portion  of  the  offered 
reward,  as  he  did  not  wish  to  be  a  party  to  any  temptation  to 
perjury ! 

The  whole  community  was  terribly  excited.  The^Mormons 
felt  that  the  murder  was  a  great  calamity  to  them.  They  saw 
at  once  that  Dr.  Robinson's  contest  with  the  city  authorities 
would  certainly  be  regarded  as  the  cause  of  his  "  taking  off." 
The  Author  well  remembers  meeting  a  prominent  citizen  the 
next  morning,  and  learning  the  news  from  him.  The  first 
moment  there  was  an  ejaculation  of  painful  surprise,  and  the 
first  words  uttered  were  the  expression  of  Talleyrand,  that  it 
was  "  worse  than  a  crime,  it  was  a  blunder."  It  was  so  fatal  an 
error  that  it  was  with  difficulty  that  the  mind  could  be  brought 
to  conclude  that  Mormons  had  done  it.  Even  after  the  lapse 
of  several  years  it  is  hard  to  believe  that  the  assassination 
of  Dr.  Robinson  was  either  ordered  or  planned.    Some  of  the 

*  As  the  dastardly  and  foul  murder  of  this  gentleman  is  an  important  feature  in 
Utah  history,  and  will  yet  occupy  the  attention  of  the  public,  as  a  cause  celebre^  the 
speech  of  Governor  John  B.  Weller,  at  the  close  of  the  examination  of  witnesses,  is 
given  entire  in  the  appendix. 


618 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


brethren  who  were  arrested  in  1871,  on  the  indictment  of  a 
grand  jury  for  the  commission  of  the  crime,  were  persons  on 
whom  such  a  suspicion  would  not  have  fallen,  but  for  the  asser- 
tion of  some  witnesses  that  they  were  seen  in  the  locality. 

About  that  time  several  acts  of  violence  had  occurred  to  un- 
popular Gentiles  who  had  attempted  to  take  and  hold  possession 
of  what  they  claimed  were  unoccupied  lands.  The  race-course 
on  the  west  side  of  the  Jordan  had  been  looked  upon  with  en- 
vious eyes,  and  some  one  had  placed  a  "  shanty  "  upon  it  and 
attempted  to  "jump  "  some  one's  title.  The  occupant  and  the 
shanty  went  into  the  Jordan  together  one  night,  and  the  former 
received  a  pistol-ball  in  one  of  his  limbs  after  he  reached  the 
river.  Two  or  three  nights  after.  Lieutenant  Brown  and  Dr. 
Williamson,  formerly  of  the  California  Yolunteers,  had  put  up 
a  tent  upon  a  choice  piece  of  land  on  the  east  side  of  the  Jor- 
dan. One  night  they  were  suddenly  pounced  upon,  wrapped 
up  in  an  old  tent-cover,  and  prepared  for  the  same  liquid 
grave.  The  lieutenant  had  had  charge  of  the  provost  guard 
in  the  city,  and  was  much  respected,  and  so  also  was  Dr.  Wil- 
liamson ;  their  personal  characters  were  irreproachable.  The 
lieutenant  begged  of  the  attacking  party  to  shoot  him  like  a 
man  rather  than  drown  him  like  a  dog.  One  of  his  assailants 
is  said  to  have  then  recognized  him,  and,  remembering  some 
personal  service  rendered  by  the  lieutenant,  plead  for  him. 
This  may  have  been  only  a  part  of  a  drama  that  was  intended 
to  frighten  the  occupants  off  the  piece  of  land ;  Lieutenant 
Brown  and  Dr.  Williamson,  however,  accepted  the  interfer- 
ence, and  promised  to  immediately  leave  the  country,  which 
they  did. 

It  has  always  appeared  to  the  Author's  mind  that  the  Rob- 
inson murder  was  an  accident  and  not  premeditated.  As  one 
occurrence  frequently  suggests  another  of  a  similar  character, 
it  is  very  probable  that  the  party  attacking  Dr.  Robinson  de- 
signed only  to  give  him  a  beating  and  some  rough  usage.  He 
was  a  young,  athletic  man,  and  when  he  first  discovered  so 
many  men  of  evil  purpose  he  very  likely  became  alarmed,  and 
in  seeking  to  disengage  himself  from  them,  probably  recognized 
some  of  them,  and  for  their  own  protection  and  concealment 
the  fatal  violence  was  resorted  to.    From  the  angle  of  the 


THE  ASSASSINATION. 


619 


wound  upon  the  doctor's  face  the  blow  was  evidently  the  work 
of  a  tall  man,  and  from  the  direction  the  pistol-ball  took,  that 
was  clearly  the  act  of  a  short  man.  A  tall  and  short  man  were 
not  purposely  selected  as  the  victims  of  public  suspicion ;  but, 
five  years  after  the  assassination,  parties  gave  evidence  before 
the  grand  jury  against  a  number  of  persons  whom  they  declared 
they  had  seen  running  away  from  the  scene  of  the  outrage,  and, 
whether  they  were  innocent  or  not,  two  of  them  were  readily 
selected  as  being  the  two  who  killed  the  doctor.  Had  there 
been  a  settled  purpose  to  kill  him,  it  does  not  seem  reasonable 
that  seven  men  would  have  been  intrusted  with  the  work — 
they  were  too  many  to  intrust  with  such  a  secret— neither 
would  they  have  attacked  him  within  seventy-five  steps  from 
his  own  door,  and  at  a  place  surrounded  by  houses. 


Assassination  of  Dr.  J.  King  Robinson. 


The  inquest  was  held  before  Dr.  Jeter  Clinton,  an  alderman 
of  the  city,  and  the  most  perfect  type  of  Dogberry  (though 
without  the  simplicit}^  of  that  worthy)  that  was  ever  seen  in 
America.  As  a  show  of  fairness,  he  at  once  associated  with  the 
city  prosecuting-attorney  a  Gentile  lawyer,  Mr.  C.  H.  Hemp- 
stead ;  then  added  Governor  John  B.  Weller  and  Thomas  Mar- 
shall, Esq.,  men  of  undoubted  ability;  and  asked  Chief-Justice 
Titus  and  Associate-Justice  McCurdy  to  sit  on  the  bench  with 
him.  Probably  nothing  else  could  have  been  done  then,  but  the 
eight  days'  examination  was  a  waste  of  time.  Upon  the  hy- 
pothesis that  nothing  of  such  grave  importance  is  ever  done  in 
Utah  without  the  order  of  Brigham  Young,  the  labours  of  the 


620 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


Gentile  lawyers  were  evidently  directed  towards  '  tracing  the 
crime  to  the  immediate  order  of  some  one  in  authority,  and 
thereby  bringing  it  home  to  the  Prophet.  It  is  very  probable 
that,  within  thirteen  hours  after  it  was  committed,  Brigham 
knew  something  of  how  it  occurred,  but  it  is  very  doubtful 
whether  lie  knew  beforehand  that  it  was  contemplated.  He 
knows  too  much  of  human  nature  to  have  confided  that  deed 
to  so  many  men.  One  of  those  men  will  probably  some  day 
tell  the  story,  just  as  some  others  are  now  seeking  relief  for  their 
consciences  by  confessing  to  the  Mountain  Meadows  massacre. 

The  funeral-procession  of  the  murdered  doctor  rallied  all 
the  Gentiles.  It  was  a  grand  sight.  Probably  there  never 
was  such  a  funeral  before.  As  the  procession  moved  slowly  up 
the  principal  streets  and  along  in  front  of  Brigham's  residence 
on  the  way  to  Camp  Douglas  Cemetery,  there  was  a  calm  ex- 
terior, but  any  outrage  then  would  have  been  met  by  men  who 
w^ere  ready  and  willing  to  avenge  the  doctor's  death.  There 
w^as  probably  not  a  man  in  that  long  procession  who  did  not 
feel  the  inspiration  of  vengeance.  It  was  a  public  protest 
against  the  deadly  influences  that  then  ruled  in  Zion. 

The  death  of  Morris  shook  the  faith  of  some ;  the  assassina- 
ation  of  Eobinson  withered  the  faith  of  many  more.  Whether 
the  ruling  authorities  had  or  had  not  any  share  in  the  deed, 
the  fact  remained  the  same,  and  painfully  impressed  the  mind 
with  the  knowledge  that  so  dreadful  a  crime  could  be  com- 
mitted and  the  perpetrators  escape  discovery.  To  make  the 
matter  worse,  Brigham  in  the  Tabernacle,  to  give  the  people 
something  to  think  about,  related  that  it  was  suggested  that 
some  of  the  soldiers  who  had  been  confined  in  the  hospital  and 
disliked  the  severity  of  the  doctor's  regime^  had  taken  ven- 
geance upon  him  when  they  got  better !  He  stated  that  it 
w^as  also  surmised  that  the  doctor  might  have  been  gambling 
and  have  quarrelled,  and  some  one  in  anger  had  killed  him  ! 
For  neither  story  w^as  there  a  particle  of  foundation.  It  never 
would  do  to  let  the  people's  minds  be  occupied  with  guessing 
for  themselves,  but  never  did  Brigham  Young  seem  so  weak 
and  ridiculous  as  when  he  uttered  these  silly  stories.  Some 
men,  whom  he  saw  almost  hourly  and  heard  their  praises, 
winced  terribly  that  day  under  the  consciousness  of  shame. 


CHIEF- JUSTICE  TITUS  INSULTED. 


621 


With  Chief-Justice  Titus  there  had  been  no  open  rupture 
for  a  considerable  time  after  his  arrival,  but  they  well  knew 
that  he  held  the  leaders  in  detestation.  Three  apostates  had 
been  arrested  in  the  country  on  the  charge  of  stealing  a  cow ; 
they  were  probably  no  great  ornaments  to  society,  but  they 
had,  however,  a  right  to  trial  by  jury.  They  were  lodged  in  a 
place  of  confinement  in  Coalville — the  first  Mormon  settlement 
on  the  line  of  the  Pacific  Eailroad — and  placed  under  the  sur- 
veillance of  an  armed  guard.  The  first  that  was  heard  of  them 
afterwards  was  the  story  that  "  they  had  attempted  to  escape," 
and  that  the  guard  had  been  forced  to  fire  upon  them.  Potter 
and  Wilson  were  shot,  and  the  former  had  his  throat  cut. 
Walker  "  dodged  "  the  first  shot  of  the  guard,  and  was  only 
slightly  wounded.  In  his  flight  he  was  a  second  time  hit,  but 
managed  to  make  good  his  escape  and  reached  Camp  Douglas. 
On  his  affidavit.  Judge  Titus  caused  the  arrest  of  the  parties 
whom  he  accused  of  the  murders,  but  they  soon  after  succeeded 
in  escaping  from  the  company  of  the  Mormon  marshal.  The 
judge  was  dreadfully  annoyed,  and  made  no  concealment  of  his 
sentiments.  Walker  soon  after  disappeared,  and  was  never 
again  seen. 

In  their  foolish  zeal  and  antagonism,  one  of  the  apostles  and 
Brigham's  agent  got  some  silly  women  to  make  a  very  long 
night  chemise^  about  ten  feet  in  length— the  judge  is  a  very 
tall  man — and  tried  to  get  a  deputation  of  "  sisters  "  to  carry  % 
it  to  him  with  the  compliments  of  the  women  of  Utah.  Sev- 
eral respectable  ladies  were  invited  to  head  this  deputation, 
but  declined  (those  ladies  are  now  apostates),  and  the  deputa- 
tion motion  was  set  aside,  and  finally  an  African  was  hired  to 
carry  the  "  present."  The  judge  looked  upon  this  incident  as 
a  threat  as  well  as  an  insult,  and  considered  that  the  lengthy 
night-garment  was  intended  as  a  shroud.  It  was  evidently 
in  the  mind  of  some  one  at  that  time  to  strike  terror  into  the 
souls  of  all  who  were  obnoxious  in  Zion. 

*  During  October,  1872,  Chief-Justice  Titus  had  occasion  to  pass  through  Salt 
Lake  City,  and  the  Mormon  papers  were  perfectly  nauseating  in  their  comphmenta 
to  him.  His  Honour  regarded  the  change  of  tone  towards  him  as  an  attempt  to  in- 
jure the  present  Federal  officers  by  way  of  contrast. 


CHAPTER  LIII. 


THE  DAWNING  OF  FEEEDOM.— The  Mercantile  Struggle  against  Despotism— 
*' Freezing  out  the  Gentiles" — Police  Surveillance  of  Apostates'  Stores — The 
"Walker  Brothers — ^Brigham  refuses  a  Check  from  them  for  $500 — A  Bishop  told 
to  "  cut  away  " — Handed  over  to  the  Buffetings  of  Satan — The  Fight  with  Brig- 
ham — Fears  of  Violence — Gentile  Merchants  offer  to  sell  out  at  a  Great  Loss  and 
leave  the  City — ^Brigham's  Eeplj — The  Gentiles  and  Apostates  under  the  Ban — 
Zion's  Cooperative  Mercantile  Institution  organized — Trouble  among  the  Mor- 
mon Merchants — Euin  of  the  Small  Traders — "  The  Seed  of  the  Prophet  Joseph" 
go  to  Zion — The  Eeorganized  Church — "  Young  Joseph  " — Alexander  H.  and 
David  Hyrum  Smith  in  Utah — ^Brigham's  Jealousy — The  Sons  of  Joseph  meet 
with  Success — The  New  Movement" — The  Utah  Magazine — Wonderful  Eevela- 
tions  of  Messrs.  Godbe  and  Harrison — Voices  from  Heaven  against  Brigham — 
The  Beginning  of  the  Great  Apostacy — Godbe,  Harrison  and  Kelsey  expelled 
from  the  Church — The  Magazine  opens  its  Batteries  upon  the  Prophet — The  Gen- 
tiles and  Liberal  Mormons  encourage  the  "Eebels" — The  "  Eeformers  "  start 
a  Newspaper — They  preach  and  write  themselves  into  Spiritualism — The  Fet- 
ters burst  and  the  Gentile  Merchants  triumph — Brigham' s  Power  waning — His 
Sceptre  broken.  * 

At  the  departure  of  the  Federal  troops  from  Camp  Floyd, 
those  who  had  there  been  engaged  in  business  as  merchants 
came  to  the  city  and  opened  stores.  Up  to  that  time  there 
were  few  Mormon  merchants — business  was  chiefly  in  the 
hands  of  the  Gentiles  and  a  few  Hebrews.  Brigham  Young 
had  discouraged  the  brethren  from  entering  into  commerce : 
he  hated  the  principal  business  street  and  called  it  vile  names. 
A  few  of  the  brethren,  however,  found  "  trading  "  profitable, 
and  others  followed  their  example. 

For  a  time  efforts  were  made  through  the  "  teachers  "  to  in- 
duce the  Saints  to  deal  exclusively  with  the  merchants  of  "  the 
"  household  of  faith  ;  "  but  the  priesthood  could  not  control 
everybody.  Besides,  the  Gentile  merchants,  through  having 
contracts  for  supplying  the  troops  and  others,  could  often  take 


THE  WALKER  BROTHERS. 


623 


in  exchange  for  their  goods  produce  at  better  figures  than  the 
brethren  could  afibrd  to  give,  and  in  other  particulars  the  Gen- 
tiles had  the  preference  with  the  people. 

Preceding  the  assassination  of  Dr.  Eobinson,  a  large  pro- 
portion of  the  Tabernacle  sermons  were  devoted  to  "freezing 
"out  "the  Gentiles,  and  surveillance  was  offensively  placed 
upon  their  stores,  in  order  to  discover  who  among  the  Saints 
would  persist  in  trading  with  them.  The  police  in  sauntering 
to  and  fro  could  see  the  offenders  and  report  them,  and  with 
these  official  eyes  upon  them,  it  took  courage  in  the  people  to 
deal  with  a  Gentile,  Jew,  or  Apostate — especially  with  the  latter. 

Prominent  and  particularly  exposed  to  this  annoyance  and 
injury  were  the  Walker  Brothers — four  young  men  who  "  had 
"  had  the  misfortune  to  have  heard  Mormonism  in  their  youth 
"in  England."  They  had  been  reared  by  parents  who  were  in 
excellent  circumstances  in  life  ;  but  who,  in  the  confidence  in- 
spired by  the  enterprises  of  Hudson  the  "Railway  King," 
risked  and  lost  a  fortune.  The  change  from  afiSiuence  to  want 
did  not,  however,  rob  them  of  the  teachings  and  morality  that 
had  been  instilled  into  them  by  honest  parents.  The  father 
could  not  at  the  moment  leave  England,  but  the  mother  and 
the  four  young  boys  sailed  for  America,  stopped  a  short  time 
in  St.  Louis,  and  ultimately  reached  Salt  Lake  City.  They 
passed  through  all  the  poverty  and  labour  that  were  known  in 
Utah  history.  They  toiled  hard  and  honestly,  ever  keeping 
in  their  minds  what  they  had  been.  On  the  arrival  of  the 
United  States  troops  at  Camp  Floyd,  in  1858,  they  entered 
into  commerce  on  their  own  account.  With  untiring  labour  and 
close  application  to  business,  they  began  to  accumulate  prop- 
erty. They  had  long  been  dissatisfied  with  Mormonism — they 
had  outgrown  it,  yet  they  were  in  a  Mormon  community,  and 
.they  kept  their  thoughts  to  themselves.  They  contributed  lib- 
erally to  whatever  was  before  the  people,  but  they  did  not  be- 
lieve in  paying  a  tithing  of  their  annual  incomes  to  the  Church — 
they  did  not  see  evidence  of  its  expenditure.  A  call  was  made 
upon  them,  and  the  leading  member  of  the  firm  sent  a  check  for 
$500  as  "  a  contribution  to  the  poor."  The  bishop  of  their  ward 
took  it  to  Brigham,  but  he  would  not  accept  it — "  he  would 
"  make  them  pay  their  tithing,  or  he  would  cut  them  off  from 


624 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


the  Church."  When  the  bishop  returned  the  check,  the  broth- 
ers came  to  the  conclusion  that  the  issue  might  as  well  be  met 
then  as  at  a  later  date.  "  Eob,"  as  J.  Eobinson  Walker  is 
familiarly  called,  took  the  check,  tore  it  in  pieces  before  the 
bishop,  and  told  him  to  cut  away."  From  that  hour,  Brig- 
ham  waged  against  them  unceasing  warfare. 


The  Walker  Brothers  never  afterwards  knew  peace.  Their 
names  were  openly  mentioned  in  Tabernacle  sermons,  and  in 
ward  meetings,  and  the  Saints  were  warned  against  dealing 
with  them  ;  but  the  "  buffetings  of  Satan  "  did  not  break  their 
spirits.  With  all  his  machinery  at  work,  Brigham  is  a  heavy 
enemy ;  but  the  Walker  Brothers  were  economical  and  tried 
to  please  their  customers,  and  w^hile  the  policemen  marched  to 
and  fro  before  the  front-door  of  their  store,  to  see  who  did  busi- 
ness with  them,  customers  would  slip  in  at  the  back-door. 
Every  scheme  had  to  be  resorted  to.  When  Mormon  traders 
in  the  country  purchased  of  the  "  Apostates,"  the  goods  would 
be  marked  in  such  a  way  as  to  conceal  that  they  had  come 
from  the  Walker  Brothers,  but  finally  Brigham  got  wind  of  that 
also,  and  the  bishops  compelled  the  traders  to  produce  their 
invoices !     Some  who  had  dealt  for  years  with  the  Walker 


J.  Robinson  Walker. 


GENTILE  MERCHANTS  OFFER  TO  LEAVE  THE  TERRITORY.  625 

Brothers  had  now  to  stop  that  commerce,  or  lose  their  fellow- 
ship with  the  Church  ! 

After  the  assassination  of  Dr.  Eobinson,  fears  of  violence 
were  not  unnatural,  and  many  men,  who  had  never  before  car- 
ried arms,  buckled  on  their  revolvers.  Highly-respectable 
men  in  Salt  Lake  City  forsook  the  sidewalks  after  dusk,  and 
as  they  repaired  to  their  residences  traversed  the  middle  of  the 
public  street,  carrying  their  revolvers  in  their  hands. 

With  such  a  feeling  of  uneasiness,  nearly  all  the  non-Mormon 
merchants  joined  in  a  letter  to  Brigham  Young,  offering  if  the 
Church  would  purchase  their  goods  and  estates  at  twenty-five 
per  cent,  less  than  their  valuation,  they  would  leave  the  Terri- 
tory. Brigham  answered  them  cavalierly  that  he  had  not 
asked  them  to  come  into  the  Territory,  did  not  ask  them  to 
leave  it,  and  that  they  might  staj^  as  long  as  they  pleased. 

It  was  clear  that  Brigham  felt  himself  master  of  the  situa- 
tion, and  the  merchants  had  to  "  bide  their  time  "  and  await 
the  coming  change  that  was  anticipated  from  the  completion 
of  the  Pacific  Railroad.  As  the  great  iron  way  approached  the 
mountains,  and  every  day  gave  greater  evidence  of  its  being 
finished  at  a  much  earlier  period  than  was  at  first  anticipated, 
the  hope  of  what  it  would  accomplish  nerved  the  discontented 
to  struggle  with  the  passing  day. 

The  preaching  did  not,  however,  altogether  succeed  in  pre- 
venting the  Saints  from  "  trading  with  the  Gentiles."  The 
country  Saints  would  plead  that  they  did  not  know  a  Gentile 
from  a  Mormon  store,  especially  as  some  of  the  brethren  were 
serving  behind  Gentile  counters.  To  remedy  this,  Brigham 
called  a  meeting  of  the  merchants  in  the  City  Hall,  October, 
1868,  and  there  it  was  determined  that  the  words  "  Holiness 
"  to  the  Lord,"  over  an  all-seeing  eye,  should  be  written  on 
every  sign-board,  and  be  put  over  the  door  of  every  Mormon 
store,  so  that  "  the  wayfaring  man,  though  a  fool,  might  not  err 
"  therein."  But  even  that  did  not  suffice,  and,  later  in  the 
same  year,  the  Prophet  conceived  the  idea  of  uniting  all  the 
Mormon  merchants  in  one  grand  cooperative"^  commercial 

*  One  of  the  brethren,  a  small  trader  *  *  *  claims  that  he  went  up  to  Brigham 
once  to  obtain  his  counsel  and  permission  to  start  a  cooperative  scheme  on  a  small 
scale  throughout  the  Territory,  and  that  Brigham  told  him  to  let  it  pass  for  the 
moment,  and  afterwards  used  it  as  the  foundation  of  his  grand  mercantile  institution. 


626 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


scheme,  by  wliich  lie  hoped  finally  to  be  able  to  ^'freeze  out 
"  the  Gentiles  "  who  were  then  in  business,  and  discourage 
those  who  might  have  entertained  the  idea  of  coming  there 
when  the  railroad  was  finished.  For  some  months  he  laboured 
to  this  end,  but  the  brethren  saw  the  utter  ruin  of  their  com- 
mercial credit  abroad  if  their  stocks  of  goods  were  thrown  to- 
gether into  one  institution,  to  be  controlled  by  other  and  irre- 
sponsible men,  and  as  far  as  they  dared  they  opposed  the 
Prophet's  cooperative  scheme.  His  first  project  was  for  the 
merchants  to  deliver  over  their  goods,  and,  if  they  did  not  find 
occupation  in  the  institution,  they  could  engage  in  some  other 
branch  of  business  or  manufacture,  and  rent  their  stores  for 
any  other  purpose,  or,  if  they  could  do  no  better,  close  them 
and  "  go  to  farming."  He  contemplated  one  general  wholesale 
cooperative  store  that  would  supply  branch-stores  in  every 
ward  in  the  city  and  in  the  country  with  all  the  goods  that 
would  be  necessary  for  the  people's  consumption.  The  main 
business  street  in  Salt  Lake  City  was  then  to  be  left  to  the 
Gentiles,  and  they  would  soon  have  more  stores  than  cus- 
tomers. 

The  Prophet  was  determined  to  succeed  this  time,  and  it 
was  nothing  to  him  if,  in  seeking  the  ruin  of  the  Gentiles,  his 
merchant  brethren  were  sacrificed.  The  business  that  had 
been  created  by  years  of  untiring  labour  was  instantly  to  be 
abandoned.  To  one  gentleman  who  represented  that  a  mer- 
chant friend  of  his  would  be  utterly  ruined  if  forced  into  the 
cooperative  scheme,  and  that  he  would  probably  have  to  sacri- 
fice even  his  homestead  in  meeting  his  obligations  at  that  time, 
while,  if  let  alone,  he  could,  with  personal  attention  to  his  own 
affairs,  maintain  his  credit,  pay  his  debts,  and  preserve  his  prop- 
erty, Brigham  answered  heartlessly,  that  "  he  had  no  business 
"  to  get  into  debt,  and  if  he  loses  his  property  it  serves  him 
u  right."  ^ 

The  organization  was  at  length  effected  in  the  beginning 
of  1869,  with  a  president,  vice-president,  and  five  directors 
Brigham  was  president;  Delegate  Hooper,  vice-president;  the 
apostles  George  A.  Smith,  George  Q.  Cannon,  Horace  Eldredge, 

*  When  the  gentleman  alluded  to  related  this  to  the  Author,  he  added :  "  I  never 
"  knew  Brother  Brigham  till  then.    His  words  and  manner  opened  my  eyes." 


"ZION'S  fcOOPERATIYE  MERCANTILE  INSTITUTION."  627 

Wm.  Jennings,  and  Henry  W.  Lawrence,  directors  ;  Wm.  Clay- 
ton, secretary ;  and  H.  B.  Clawson,  superintendent.  This  or- 
ganization gave  Brigliam  the  controlling  power  should  any 
such  thing  as  opposition  occur. 

Mr.  Jennings,  a  shrewd  business  man,  who  had  rapidly 
amassed  a  fortune  in  commerce,  saw  that  when  the  raih'oad 
w^as  finished  all  goods  would  be  depreciated  by  the  change  in 
freight,  and,  much  as  he  might  dislike  closing  the  business  that 
he  had  so  successfully  built  up,  he  conceived  very  wisely  that 
submission  would  be  in  this  case  profitable,  and  sold  his  stock 
to  the  cooperative,  for  about  $170,000,  and  rented  his  store  for 
three  years,  at  an  annual  rental  of  $8,000.  Eldredge  and  Claw- 
son  sold  their  stock  also,  and  other  merchants  put  in  part  of 
their  goods,  and  in  this  way  began  "  Zion's  Cooperative  Mer- 
"  cantile  Institution,"  and  the  Prophet  became  a  merchant. 

The  Mormon  merchants  who  did  not  join  the  Cooperative 
Institution  and  bring  their  goods  there,  and  who  did  not  put 
"  Z.  C.  M.  I."  and  the  all-seeing  eye  over  their  doors,  soon  had 
a  little  of  the  Gentile  experience.  The  police  walked  before 
their  stores,  and,  by  their  presence,  morally  intimidated  the 
Saints  from  buying  of  the  rebellious  brother. 

In  every  ward  a  stock-holders'  store  was  opened,  and  there 
the  people  were  instructed  to  purchase  their  goods.  But  even 
all  this  did  not  accomplish  the  desired  end — the  people  would 
find  some  excuse  for  coming  into  the  principal  business  street, 
and  Zion's  Cooperative  Mercantile  Institution,  that  was  created 
a  w^holesale  establishment,  opened  retail  stores  in  every  branch 
of  merchandise.  A  few  of  the  wealthy  merchants  were  able 
to  survive  this  colossal  competition  supported  by  the  teachings 
of  the  Tabernacle,  and  the  all-pervading  surveillance  of  the 
bishops  throughout  the  Territory ;  but  the  smaller  merchants, 
both  in  and  out  of  the  Church,  had  to  close  business,  and  some 
of  them,  in  the  forced  settlement  of  their  affairs,  lost  nearly 
everything.  The  Walker  Brothers,  the  Kahn  Brothers,  the 
Auerbachs,  and  a  very  few  other  wealthy  Gentile  and  Hebrew 
merchants,  were  able  to  continue  business,  but  at  an  immense 
daily  sacrifice.  The  Walkers,  who  had  before  done  a  very  ex- 
tensive business.  Were  greatly  injured.  Their  commerce  instant- 
ly fell  from  thousands  of  dollars  per  day  to  hundreds.   They  had 


628 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS/ 


valuable  property  at  home,  real  estate  elsewhere,  U.  S.  bonds, 
and  high  commercial  credit ;  and  they  resolved  to  "  see  it  out," 
and  kept  on  their  numerous  staff  of  clerks,  warehousemen,  and 
book-keepers.  When  advised  to  close  the  business  and  leave 
the  Territory,  "  Eob  "  answered  that  they  had  $120,000  which 
they  could  spare,  and  they  would  "  hold  on." 

Most  of  the  ward  stores  could  not  succeed,  and  the  stock- 
holders lost  their  money,  but  the  grand  experiment  served  the 
Prophet  well.  It  made  him  at  once  the  business  associate  of 
the  leading  Mormon  merchants — the  men  of  energy  and  suc- 
cess— and,  without  the  toil  and  trouble  of  creating  a  business, 
he  suddenly  found  himself  a  sharer  in  their  profits,"^  and,  in 
another  particular,  Z.  C.  M.  I. "  was  specially  useful,  for,  in 
the  varied  branches  of  this  commerce,  his  numerous  sons, 
sons-in-law,  and  special  friends  have  found  permanent  occu- 
pation. 

While  victory  seemed  to  perch  on  the  Prophet's  banner,  and 
the  merchants  appeared  certain  to  be  vanquished,  silent  and 
unseen  influences  were  at  work  against  the  infallibility  of  the 
Prophet,  and  the  divinity  of  his  faith. 

The  "  Reorganized  Church  of  True  Latter-Day  Saints," 
under  the  presidency  of  the  eldest  son  of  Joseph  Smith,  very 
naturally  had  a  longing  after  the  spiritual  welfare  of  the  Pocky 
Mountain  Saints.  Two  of  their  elders  had  been  to  Utah  in 
1862,  and  had  been  successful  in  turning  some  away  from  the 
faith  in  Brigham,  and  in  laying  the  foundation  for  a  still  better 
work  to  be  accomplished  at  a  more  convenient  season.  From 
the  death  of  the  founder  of  Mormonism,  the  Saints  had  had 
their  attention  riveted  on  "  the  seed "  of  the  Prophet,  and 
expected  that  some  day  the  young  man  Joseph  would  be  the 
head  of  the  Church, 

Brigham  had  fostered  this  faith  in  the  Saints  for  some  years, 
but  when,  iii  1860,  "young  Joseph"  was  chosen  President  of 
the  Peorganized  Church,  and  publicly  denounced  Brigham  and 
his  Polygamy,  it  was  evident  that  there  was  a  mistake  some- 

*  Yery  many  years  ago,  before  Brigham  lost  the  characteristic  innocence  of 
poverty,  he  used  to  claim  that,  if  he  had  not  been  a  Prophet,  he  had  at  least  been 
-Pro/liable  to  the  Saints.  Since  his  shrewd  manipulation  of  the  merchants,  the 
(Jentile  papers  now  speak  of  the  inspired  head  of  the  Church  as  *'  The  Profit." 


PRESIDENT  JOSEPH  SMITH. 


629 


where.  A  younger  brother — David  Hj^rum  Smith — was  then 
said  to  be  "the  coming  man." 

The  second  son  of  the  Prophet,  Alexander  H.  Smith,  a  good- 
looking,  muscular  Christian,  had  also,  as  a  missionary,  visited 
Utah.  Brigham  at  first  received  him  pleasantly,  but  would 
afford  him  no  opportunity  of  addressing  the  Saints,  and  Joseph 


F.  Smith,  one  of  Brigham's  young  apostles,  and  cousin  of  Alex- 
ander, gave  him  considerable  public  opposition."^  The  visit  to 
Utah  of  this  scion  of  the  "  royal  house  of  Smith  "  added  num- 
bers to  the  new  Church,  and  shook  the  faith  of  many  more  in 
Brigham.  The  success  of  his  mission  was  satisfactory  to  him, 
and,  atier  "  casting  his  bread  upon  the  waters/'  he  returned  to 
the  States. 

*  The  debate  of  the  two  Smiths  was  a  curious  spectacle  for  the  Saints  to  wit- 
ness. Here  were  the  sons  of  Joseph  and  Hyrum  Smith  quarrelling  over  Brigham 
Young  and  Polygamy — ^^Alexander  H.  maintaining  that  Brigham  was  a  usurper,  and 
that  polygamy  was  from  the  devil,  while  Joseph  F.  was  just  as  certain  that  Brigham 
was  the  true  successor  of  "  the  martyred  Joseph,"  and  that  polygamy  was  from 
heaven — and  each  "  knew"  that  his  position  was  true  by  revelation,"  and  '*by  the 
"  Holy  Ghost !  "  To  make  the  wrangling  still  more  interesting,  Joseph  F.  made  a 
malignant  attack  upon  Mrs.  Emma  Smith,  and  called  her  a  vile  name  before  a 
public  audience.  Alexander  H.  was  more  a  Christian  than  is  admired  by  people 
generally,  but  he  sprang  up  and  warmly  cautioned  Joseph  F.  that,  though  they  were 
cousins,  he  must  not  apply  such  an  epithet  to  his  mother  again. 


Joseph  Smith,  the  Prophet's  Son. 


630 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


Another  and  an  unlooked-for  phase  of  Mormon  experience 
was  soon  to  demand  public  attention.  Two  elders  were  trying 
to  estabhsh  a  literary  paper — The  Utah  Magazine.  The  pro- 
prietors were  W.  S.  Godbe  and  E.  L.  T.  Harrison ;  the  latter 
was  the  Editor.  Elder  Harrison  had  essayed,  once  before,  with 
his  friend  Edward  W.  Tullidge,  to  make  literature  a  profes- 
sion among  the  Saints,  and  had  established  the  Peep  Day  j 
but  they  met  with  insurmountable  difficulties,  and  the  paper 
stopped.  The  Magazine^  with  even  Mr.  Godbe's  willing  hand 
and  ready  purse  to  support  it,  realized  that  the  effort  to  estab- 
lish a  purely  literary  paper  in  Utah  was  premature.  The  ca- 
reer of  the  Magazine  was  fast  hastening  to  a  close,  and,  by  way 
of  rest  and  recreation,  the  editor  accompanied  the  merchant  to 
New  York.  Both  of  them  had  struggled  to  preserve  their  faith 
in  Morraonism,  but  the  contents  of  the  Book  of  Mormon,  criti- 
cally viewed,  was  a  terrible  test  of  credulity,  and  many  of  the 
revelations  of  "  the  Lord  "  savoured  too  much  of  Joseph  Smith, 
and  abounded  with  contradictions,  and  were  very  human  at 
that.  As  for  Brigham,  "he  was  a  hopeless  case;  many  of  his 
measures  were  utterly  devoid  of  even  commercial  sense,  and  far 
less  were  they  clothed  with  divine  wisdom — in  all  his  ways,  he 
was  destitute  of  the  magnanimity  of  a  great  soul,  and  was  in- 
tensely selfish."  To  their  developed  intellects  now,  Mormon- 
ism  seemed  a  crude  jargon  of  sense  and  nonsense,  honesty  and 
fraud,  devotion  and  cant,  hopeless  poverty  to  the  many,  over- 
flowing wealth  to  the  favoured  few — a  religion  as  unlike  their 
conceptions  of  the  teachings  of  Christ,  as  darkness  is  to  light. 
Still,  they  had  had  pleasant  associations  in  the  Church.  Mr. 
Godbe  had  been  industrious  and  successful  in  business ;  was 
kindly  looked  upon  by  the  community,  and  had  many  fpends, 
besides  three  wives,  and  a  pleasant  family  of  children ;  every- 
thing dear  to  him  was  in  Utah.  It  was  painful  to  lose  faith 
where  there  was  everything  to  gain  with  it ;  he  was  awkwardly 
situated.  Mr.  Harrison  was  an  excellent  writer,  and  was  pro- 
fessionally an  architect.  He  had  been  a  missionary  in  Europe 
for  many  years,  and  had  a  respectable  standing  among  the 
Saints,  and  he  and  Mr.  Godbe  were  both  presidents  of  Seven- 
ties, and  the  former  was  counsellor  to  his  bishop. 

Away  from  Utah,  and  travelling  together  over  the  Plains, 


THE  ORIGIN  OF  THE  *'NEW  MOVEMENT." 


631 


the  old  rumbling  stage-coach  afforded  the  two  friends,  as  every 
traveller  in  those  days  experienced,  an  excellent  opportunity 
for  reflection.  On  the  way  they  "  compared  notes  "  respecting 
the  situation  of  things  at  home,  and  spoke  frankly  together  of 
their  doubts  and  difficulties  with  the  faith.  They  discovered, 
clearly  enough,  that  they  were — in  the  language  of  the  ortho- 
dox— "  on  the  road  to  apostacy,"  yet  in  their  feelings  they  did 
not  want  to  leave  Mormonism,  or  Utah.  A  struggle  began  in 
their  minds.  With  their  conclusions  that  the  faith  was  not 
divine,  they  could  not  consistently  and  with  a  good  conscience 
continue  to  assume  that  it  was  so  in  future.  To  avow  that 
much  was  to  be  disfellowshipped,  and  incur  the  prospective 
ruin  of  all  earthly  hopes  while  they  remained  among  the 
Saints ;  yet  silence  was  hypocrisy.  One  proposition  followed 
another,  and  scheme  after  scheme  was  the  subject  of  discus- 
sion, but  not  one  of  those  schemes  or  propositions,  when  exam- 
ined, appearea  desirable ;  they  were  in  terrible  mental  anguish. 
Arrived  in  New  York  and  comfortable  in  their  hotel,  in  the 
evening  they  concluded  to  pray  for  guidance.  They  wanted 
light,  either  to  have  their  doubts  removed  and  their  faith  in 
Mormonism  confirmed,  or,  yet  again,  to  have  the  light  of  their 
own  intellects  increased  that  they  might  be  able  to  follow  un- 
waveringly their  convictions.  In  this  state  of  mind  the  two 
elders  assert  that  they  had  an    extraordinary  experience." 

They  claim  that  while  they  knelt  and  earnestly  prayed,  a 
voice  spoke  to  them  and  made  some  communication  upon  the 
subject  which  most  interested  them.  They  were  astonished 
and  bewildered,  but  instantly  were  calmed  and  self-possessed. 
For  three  weeks,  while,  during  the  day,  Mr.  Godbe  was  pur- 
chasing goods  in  the  busy  marts  of  commerce,  Mr.  Harrison 
was  sitting  quietly  in  the  hotel  preparing  a  series  of  questions 
upon  every  subject  of  religion  and  philosophy  tl.at  he  could 
think  of;  and  in  the  evening,  by  appointment,  a  band  of 
"spirits"  cafne  to  them,  and  held  converse  with  them,-  as 
friends  would  speak  with  friends.  One  by  one  the  questions 
prepared  by  Mr.  Harrison  were  read,  and  Mr.  Godbe  and  Mr. 
Harrison,  with  pencil  and  paper,  took  down  the  answers  as 
they  heard  them  given  by  the  spirits.  This  is  their  statement, 
and  they  firmly  believe  it. 


632 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


Tlie  reader  may  not  care  to  follow  their  statements  in  de- 
tail, bntin  order  to  explain  the  work  these  Elders  undertook,  it 
may  be  added,  that  they  maintain  that  dmnng  their  experience 
in  New  York  they  had  (but  not  by  table-rapping  "  or  by  "  medi- 
"  ums  ")  a  constant  stream  of  communication  by  means  of  audi- 
ble voices  from  a  number  of  most  distinguished  historical  person- 
ages.'^ Messrs.  Harrison  and  God  be  have  not  paraded  what  is 
here  stated,  but,  on  the  other  hand,  have  been  very  reticent 
when  speaking  on  the  subject.  These  facts,  however,  are  un- 
derstood by  their  confidential  friends,  and  Mr.  Harrison  is  said 
to  have  in  his  possession  intelligence  assumed  to  have  been 
given  him  by  Humboldt,  that  will  some  day  or  other  "  upset 
"  the  Darwinian  theory,"  and  which  is  as  much  beyond  the 
speculations  of  Mr.  Darwin,  as  the  latter  gentleman  supposes 
his  theory  to  be  beyond  the  Genesis  of  Moses. 

With  these  ^'  communications  "  was  given  much  information 
about  Mormonism,  how  it  originated,  and  how  Joseph  Smith 
had,  by  reason  of  his  surroundings,  his  lack  of  education,  the 
traditions  of  past  ages,  and  the  current  ideas  of  Christendom, 
turned  his  "  mediumistic  "  experience  into  the  church-kingdom- 
building  scheme  that  is  known  in  Utah.  "What  was  true  about 
Mormonism,  they  were  told,  should  be  preserved,  and  what  was 
false  should  be  rejected. 

As  a  phenomenon,  the  story  of  Elders  Godbe  and  Harrison 
will  doubtless  yet  occupy  the  attention  of  the  scientist  and  the 
spiritualist.  They  are  men  of  unimpeachable  veracity.  They 
returned  to  Utah,  and  to  a  very  small  circle  of  friends  confided 
what  has  here  been  only  very  briefly  related,  and  their  story  was 
listened  to.  Elder  Eli  B.  Kelsey,  a  Mormon  of  twenty-seven 
years'  standing,  and  who  was  also  a  president  of  Seventies,  was 
the  intimate  friend  of  Mr.  Godbe,  and  Elder  Edward  W.Tullidge, 
another  "  Sr-venty,"  was  the  bosom  friend  of  Mr.  Harrison. 
Believing  that  Brigham  had  set  out  to  build  up  a  dynasty  of 
his  own,  and  that  he,  like  David  the  king,  looked  upon  the 
people  as  his  "  heritage,"  these  four  Elders  resolved  to  sap  the 
foundations  of  his  throne,  and  to  place  before  the  people  the 

*  These  stances  lasted  about  two  hours  every  evening ;  "  the  voices  were  perfectly 
*'  audible,  but  only  on  one  occasion  could  they  see  the  forms  of  their  visitors,  and 
"  these  were  indistinct  in  detail.'* 


THE  UTAH  MAGAZINE— ITS  WRITERS. 


633 


best  intelligence  they  could  command  to  enable  them  to  realize 
their  true  position.  Elder  Henry  W.  Lawrence,  a  wealthy 
merchant,  a  bishop's  counsellor,  and  a  gentleman  of  the  high- 
est integrity,  w^as  early  informed  in  confidence  of  this  "New 
"  Moveme^it,"  and  to  his  friend  Mr.  Godbe  gave  valuable  ma- 
terial support.  The  Magazine^  that  had  before  this  been  hast- 
ening to  an  end,  took  a  new  lease  of  life,  and  became  a  brill- 
iant, well-conducted  paper. 

Not  a  word  was  ever  said  against  Brigham  or  the  faith ;  no 
fault  was  found  with  any  one  or  anything,  but  week  after 
week  the  whole  strength  of  four  vigorous  pens  was  let  loose 
upon  the  ignorance  and  superstitions  of  the  age.  Brigham 
had  instilled  into  the  minds  of  the  Saints  that  the  world  was 
degenerating  to  an  end,  propelled  by  lightning  speed  ;  Kelsey, 
without  ever  squinting  at  the  Prophet,  wrote  the  history  of 
the  past,  and  showed  "How  the  World  had  Grown  ; "  Tullidge 
resuscitated  the  "Great  Characters"  of  the  world,  and  without 
once  alluding  to  Brother  Brigham,  the  contrast  was  to  his  disad- 
vantage ;  Harrison  dwelt  upon  a  philosophical  faith,  and  Godbe 
exhibited  the  possibility  of  honest  error.  With  such  minds 
at  work,  and  with  such  a  field  for  labour,  and  innumerable  sub- 
jects to  handle,  the  writers  had  only  to  study  caution  and  pru- 
dence. The  Magazine  was  sought  after  by  the  reading  portion 
of  the  community;  soon  its  influence  was  felt,  and  the  argus- 
eyes  of  the  teachers  were  watchful  to  mark  who  "took  it  in." 

*  No  allusion  had  yet  been  made  to  the  "  ex|)erience  "  in  New 
York,  but  in  the  midst  of  this  preparatory  literary  work  for 
the  denoumsnt  that  was  sure  to  come,  two  of  the  sons  of  Jo- 
seph Smith — Alexander  H.  and  David  Hyrum — arrived  in  the 
city  as  missionaries.  This  afforded  the  Magazine  writers  their 
first  opportunity  of  showing  their  intention  of  reaching  Brig- 
ham's  dynasty. 

All  the  old  women  in  the  country  wanted  to  see  "  David  H." 
He  was  the  child  of  prediction,  and  Brigham  had  now  the  op- 
portunity of  fulfilling  his  promise  to  "  stand  aside  "  when  the 
sons  of  Joseph  should  come  to  Zion.  Another  experience, 
however,  awaited  the  two  brothers.  They  had  not  come  up  in 
"  the  right  spirit.  ...  If  they  were  only  on  the  right  track, 
"  he  could  almost  embrace  them."    They  had  yet  to  learn  that 


S34 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


to  reach  the  upper  seat  the  aspirant  must  come  into  the  fold 
humbly  "  by  the  door  of  the  kingdom  " — must  be  baptized  by 
one  of  Brigham's  elders,  receive  the  priesthood  through  him, 
and  acknowledge  that  Polygamy  was  divine ;  then  he  would 
be  introduced  to  the  Church  as  its  future  leader,  by  right  of 
birth  and  by  prediction. 

The  tw^o  brothers,  though  young,  are  intelligent  men  of 
good  address,  with  a  liberal  share  of  this  world's  experience. 
They  understood  Brigham  perfectly.  In  their  interview  with 
the  Prophet,  he  denied  them  the  use  of  the  Tabernacle,  and 
renewed  his  attack  upon  their  mother.    Alexander  says : 

^'  I,  of  course,  differed  from  him,  and  told  him  so ;  and  then  he  called 
mother  '  a  liar^  yes^  the  damnedest  liar  that  Uves,^  *  said  that  she  tried  to  poi- 
son father,  that  she  stole  Uncle  Hyrum's  portrait  and  large  ring.  .  .  .  After 
om*  interview  we  returned  to  John's,  and  I  vented  my  anger  in  biting  my 
food  and  swallowing  it ;  but  was  nervous  all  the  rest  of  the  day — perhaps 
from  indigestion,  as  it  did  not  sit  well  on  my  stomach."  t 

The  two  brothers  were  zealous,  and  resolved  to  preach 
wherever  they  could  obtain  a  hearing.  Independence  Hall 
was  obtained  for  their  use,  and  there  they  held  forth  against 
Polygamy.  But  Brigham  was  ''too  much"  for  them.  The 
bishops  of  the  city  wards  were  instructed  to  take  with  them 
early  the  old  ISTauvoo  Mormons  and  fill  the  room, to  the  exclu- 
sion of  many  others  who  wanted  honestly  to  listen  to  them. 
The  apostle  Joseph  F.,  their  cousin,  continued  to  contend  with 
them  that  their  father  was  truly  the  author  of  Polygamy  among 
the  Mormons,  and  the  meetings  were  often  nothing  but  a 
noisy  wrangle.:]: 

*  No  man  can  be  more  suave  in  manner  and  soft  in  speech  than  Brigham  Young 
when  he  has  an  object  in  view,  and  wants  to  impress  any  one  favourably  ;  but  when 
he  is  the  "  Lion  of  the  Lord,"  there  is  no  expression  too  harsh  for  him  to  use,  and, 
if  a  lady  is  the  object  of  his  wrath,  her  sex  is  no  protection  to  her. 

f  Alexander  H.  Smith's  letter  to  the  Latter-Day  Saints'  Herald^  vol.  xvi.,  p.  85. 

\  A  correspondent  of  the  San  Francisco  Bulletin^  reporting  one  of  the  meetings 
held  by  Joseph  F.,  relates  that  this  young  apostle  referred  to  the  denial  of  polygamy 
by  his  father  (see  p.  199),  wherein  he  classified  polygamy  with  false  and  corrupt  doc- 
trines.    To  this  J oseph  F.  answered  : 

"  It  is  said  that  I  have  proved  my  father  a  liar.  I  will  show  that  he  has  not 
lied.  There  is  a  difference  between  telling  a  lie  and  not  telling  the  truth  (! ! !).  Webster 
says ;  *  Polygamy,  a  man  having  several  wives,  or  a  woman  having  several  hus- 
bands.'   The  latter  part  my  father  meant  to  deny^  and  not  the  former;  therefore  he  did 


BRIGHAM  AS  A  EAILROAD  CONTRACTOR. 


635 


The  Magazine  modestly  essayed  the  part  of  umpire  between 
the  belligerents,  and,  under  the  pretext  of  advising  the  young 
Smiths,  seized  the  occasion  to  tell  Brigham  what  the  people 
felt  respecting  his  dynasty  project : 

"  If  we  know  the  true  feeUng  of  our  brethren,  it  is  that  they  never  in- 
tend Joseph  Smith's  nor  any  otJier  man^s  son  to  preside  over  them,  simply 
because  of  their  sonship.  The  principle  of  heirship  has  cursed  the  world 
for  ages,  and  with  our  brethren  we  expect  to  fight  it  till^  with  every  other 
relic  of  tyranny^  it  is  trodden  under  footy 

The  writer  of  that  paragraph,  Elder  Harrison,  was  immedi- 
ately after  appointed  on  a  mission  to  England. 

Neither  Brigham  nor  the  Magazine  writers  had  cared  as 
yet  to  show  their  hands  to  each  other.  The  Prophet  had,  how- 
ever, the  advantage  of  position,  and  could  force  the  others  to 
yield  or  rebel.  Besides  appointing  Mr.  Harrison  to  England, 
Mr.  Kelsey  was  appointed  to  go  to  the  Eastern  States,  and 
another  of  the  prominent  elders,  Mr.  William  H.  Shearman, 
who  was  supposed  to  be  in  sympathy  with  them,  also  received  a 
mission.   They  all  declined  to  go.   The  ball  was  now  in  motion. 

The  Pacific  Railroad  had  now  been  completed  six  months, 
and  the  hoped-for  change  and  amelioration  in  the  condition  of 
the  people  of  Utah  through  that  influence  had  resulted  in  dis- 
appointment. The  nearest  point  of  the  railroad  to  Salt  Lake 
City  was  Ogden — over  thirty-six  miles  distant — and  it  was  only 
very  rarely  that  the  traveller  passing  from  the  river  to  the  sea 
thought  it  worth  his  while  to  leave  the  comfort  of  a  Pullman 
car  to  be  jostled  over  a  hideously  rough  road,  in  a  Wells,  Fargo 
stage,  in  order  to  hear  Brigham  in  the  Tabernacle  and  see  the 
Saints  at  home. 

The  railroad  had  for  the  moment  been  a  great  injury  to  the 
Mormon  people.  Brigham  had  had  the  contract  for  building 
a  large  portion  of  the  road,  and  sublet  the  work  to  responsible 
parties  at  ten  per  cent,  less ;  these  sub-contractors  in  their  turn 
again  let  it  to  others  ;  and  whether  the  work  paid  the  men  who 
toiled,  or  not,  Brigham  and  his  friends  were  certain  of  their 
percentage  and  made  large  sums  of  money,  while  a  great  many 
of  the  small  contractors  and  labouring  men  were  utterly  ruined. 
It  was  many  months  after  the  completion  of  the  Pacific  Rail- 
road before  the  needy  men  could  get  their  pay,  and  then  it 


636 


THE  KOCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


was  in  Utali  Central  bonds  that  did  not  at  the  time  command 
more  than  forty -five  cents  on  the  dollar  in  Salt  Lake  City. 
The  merchants  who  had  credited  the  brethren  during  the 
building  of  the  road,  and  who  had  to  wait  an  indefinite  period 
for  the  return  of  their  money,  were  seriously  injured  by  this 
forced  delay.  The  railroad  had  its  future  mission,  but  some- 
thing else  was  then  wanted  to  break  the  bonds  of  theocracy. 

Curiously  enough,  Godbe  and  Harrison  claim  to  have 
been  informed,  in  those  remarkable  seances  in  New  York 
already  referred  to,  that  the  only  redemption  possible  for  the 
people  of  Utah  was  through  the  development  of  the  minerals 
in  the  mountains  ;  that,  so  long  as  they  were  poor,  they  were  at 
the  mercy  of  Brigham  Young,  and  never  could  free  themselves 
from  the  bondage  into  which  they  had  been  led  through  their 
confidence  in  the  principles  of  faith  taught  by  the  elders. 
Knowing  the  opposition  of  the  ruling  priesthood  to  the  discov- 
ery of  the  precious  ores,  it  was  a  matter  of  serious  considera- 
tion how  they  could  convey  that  intelligence  to  the  public, 
without  coming  in  direct  contact  with  Brigham,  and  bringing 
about  an  open  rupture. 

The  subject  had  been  considered  for  some  time  by  that 
small  circle  of  embryo  "  Reformers  " — as  one  writer  afterwards 
chose  to  designate  them — and  at  last  an  article  was  written  by 
Mr.  Harrison.  A  few  intimate  friends  had  read  it  in  manu- 
script before  it  went  into  the  hands  of  the  printer,  and  there 
was  a  general  feeling  that  the  hour  of  struggle  was  at  hand. 
It  was  no  slight  matter  for  a  few  men  who  had  given  a  score 
of  years  and  more  of  zealous,  devoted  labour  to  build  up  Mor- 
monism,  and  who  had  hitherto  been  as  humble  as  children 
under  the  direction  of  the  priesthood,  to  now  contemplate  a 
movement  in  opposition  to  a  powerful  hierarchy  that  had 
crushed  everything  that  ever  claimed  attention  without  the 
Prophet'a  approval.  It  was  a  daring  project,  and  was  not 
undertaken  without  the  most  serious  consideration  of  the  con- 
sequences that  it  would  and  might  involve.  But  men  of  reve- 
lation find  a  wonderful  strength  in  their  own  convictions ;  and 
before  their  sense  of  duty  there  are  no  sacrifices  too  great  to 
make. 

These  two  elders — Godbe  and  Harrison — with  their  imme- 


THE  "KEFORMERS"  TELL  THE  PEOPLE  TO  THINK.  637 

diate  friends  who  have  been  named,  and  a  few  brave  women 
of  spotless  character,  were  ready  "  to  walk  into  the  jaws  of 
death,"  if  it  were  necessary,  in  order  to  succeed  in  shattering 
that  gigantic  power  that  was  crushing  the  manhood  out  of  the 
people.  This  little  band  did  not  number  altogether  a  dozen 
persons,  and  what  they  knew,  or  thought  they  knew,  of  the 
purpose  of  others,  and  the  design  among  themselves,  were  mat- 
ters secretly  kept  within  their  own  bosoms. 

Some  very  pungent  articles  had  been  published  in  the  Mag- 
azine, that  had  awakened  attention,  and  in  some  measure  they 
had  foreshadowed  a  purpose  on  the  part  of  the  writers  to  judge 
of  the  teachings  and  measures  of  Brigham  Young  as  they  would 
those  of  any  other  man ;  but  of  the  true  nature  of  the  "  move- 
"  ment "  they  were  inaugurating,  nothing  had  been  fairly  stated. 
The  writers  at  first  only  aimed  to  provoke  the  people  to  think- 
ing. "  There  is,"  wrote  Harrison,  "  one  fatal  error,  which  pos- 
"  sesses  the  minds  of  some,  it  is  this :  that  God  Almighty  in- 
"  tended  the  priesthood  to  do  our  thinking.  .  .  .  Our  own  opin- 
ion  is  that,  when  we  invite  men  to  use  free  speech  and  free 
"  thought  to  get  into  the  Church,  we  should  not  call  upon  them, 
"  or  ourselves,  to  kick  down  the  ladder  by  which  they  and  we  as- 
"  cended  to  Mormonism.  They  should  be  called  upon  to  think 
"  on  as  before,  no  matter  who  has  or  has  not  thought  in  the 
"  same  direction.  .  .  .  Think  freely,  and  think  for  ever,  and, 
"  above  all,  never  fear  that  the  '  Ark  '  of  everlasting  truth  can 
"  ever  be  '  steadied  '  by  mortal  hand  or  shaken." 

This  was  very  dangerous  teaching  to  such  a  community. 
The  Mormon  people  had  never  listened  to  that  language  in 
Zion.  The  elements  of  revolution  were  gathering,  and  every- 
thing seemed  propitious  for  the  rebellion. 

Vice-President  Colfax,  ex-Governor  Bross,  and  Sam. 
Bowles,  Esq.,  were  again  to  pay  Zion  a  passing  call.  From  the 
period  of  their  first  visit,  they  had,  with  their  voice  and  pens, 
drawn  the  attention  of  the  world's  capitalists  to  that  great 
enterprise,  and  they  had  in  that  given  powerful  aid  to  build 
the  Pacific  Eailroad.  The  work  was  now  fully  achieved,  and 
they  had  passed  over  it  from  Omaha  to  San  Francisco,  and 
since  their  return  eastward  they  had  some  anxiety  to  see  what 
it  had  done  for  Zion. 


638 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


A  day  or  two  before  they  arrived,  the  Author's  attention 
was  accidentally  drawn  to  a  correspondence  from  Paris  to  the 
New  York  Herald^  on  the  political  condition  of  France  and 
what  French  journalists  assumed  the  people  had  suffered, 
through  remitting  all  political  power  into  the  hands  of  Napo- 
leon. It  awakened  thought  upon  Utah  and  Brigham  Young, 
and  an  editorial  upon  Progress  "  was  published  in  the  Tele- 
graph. It  was  mild,  impersonal,  never  once  named  the  Terri- 
tory or  the  Prophet — ^but  it  spoke  of  liberty.  Under  other 
circumstances  it  might  have  escaped  the  eyes  of  those  who 
select  the  matter  to  be  read  to  the  Prophet.^  Then,  it  was 
offensive,  as  it  showed  a  harmony  of  thought  witli  the  Mag- 
azine writers,  and  they  were  now  closely  watched. 

Mr.  Colfax  politely  refused  to  accept  the  proffered  cour- 
tesies of  the  city.  Brigham  was  reported  to  have  uttered  abu- 
sive language  in  the  Tabernacle  towards  the  Government  and 
Congress,  and  to  have  charged  the  President  and  Yice-Presi- 
dent  with  being  "  drunkards  and  gamblers."  One  of  the  al- 
dermen who  waited  upon  Mr.  Colfax,  to  tender  him  the  hospi- 
talities of  the  city,  could  only  say  that  ^'he  did  not  hear  Brig- 
^'ham  say  so."  The  weakness  of  the  denial  confirmed  the  im- 
pression obtained  from  so  many  sources  that  the  Prophet  had 
really  said  so,  and  Mr.  Colfax  followed  his  own  programme 
during  his  stay.  On  the  evening  before  his  departure,  he 
made  a  temperate  yet  firm  speech,  from  a  platform  in  front  of 
his  hotel,  reviewing  the  situation  of  the  Mormons  towards  the 
General  Government,  and  especially  in  their  preserving  the  in- 
stitution of  Polygamy  against  the  law  of  Congress. 

The  Yice-President  and  his  friends  were  made  acquainted 
with  the  forthcoming  opposition  from  members  of  the  Church, 
and  took  much  interest  in  the  Movement,"  believing  as  they 
did  that  the  one-man-power  and  the  infallibility  of  priesthood 
had  seen  their  day. 

Ten  days  after  their  departure,  an  article  was  published 

*  Brigham  is  nat  a  reader  in  the  ordinary  sense  of  the  expression.  Captain  R. 
F.  Burton  said  of  him  that  "his  mind  was  uncorrupted. by  books.''  He  probably 
never  read  a  book,  outside  of  the  Mormon  faith,  in  his  life.  His  secretary,  or  Mr. 
Cannon,  generally  reads  to  him  anything  considered  interesting  or  amusing.  Their 
enlightenment  of  his  mind  is  always  in  the  direction  of  his  own  prejudices. 


DENOUNCED  IN  THE  SCHOOL  OF  THE  PROPHETS.  639 


in  tlie  Magazine  on  "  The  True  Development  of  the  Territory  " 
— a  very  temperate  statement  of  the  difficulties  of  the  people, 
with  some  advice  to  them  to  devote  attention  to  mining. 

On  the  afternoon  of  the  day  on  which  that  article  was  pub- 
lished, Brigham,  in  "  the  School  of  the  Prophets,"  was  furious. 
The  names  of  Godbe,  Harrison,  Tullidge,  Stenhouse  and  three 
others — not  "  rebels  " — were  called,  and,  as  all  these  gentle- 
men were  absent,  Brigham,  in  his  anger,  moved  that  they  all 
be  disfellowshipped "  from  the  Church,  and  the  following 
brief  notification  was  sent  to  each : 

"  Salt  Lake  City,  October  16, 1869. 
Dear  Beother  :  I  lierebj^  inform  you  that  a  motion  was  made,  sec- 
onded, and  carried  by  a  unanimous  vote  of  the  School  of  the  Prophets  to- 
day, that  you  be  disfellowsMpijed  from  the  Church  until  you  appear  in 
the  School  and  give  satisfactory  reasons  for  your  irregular  attendance 
there.  Your  brother  in  the  Gospel, 

"  George  Goddard,  Secretary,'''' 

For  months,  the  events  of  that  day  had  been  anticipated, 
and  longed  for.  The  accused  were  all  well  known  to  the  public, 
as  well  as  to  the  Church,  and,  when  the  news  was  heard  on  the 
street,  it  created  great  excitement.   The  Gentiles  were  jubilant. 

On  the  Saturday  following,  the  rebels  "  appeared  in  the 
School.  Never  before  had  there  been  such  a  scene  in  the  old 
"Tabernacle."  Mr.  Godbe  frankly  stated  his  position,  and 
Brigham  followed  him  with  aggravating  mimicry,  turning 
everything  into  ridicule.  Mr.  Harrison  threw  caution  to  the 
winds,  and  answered  the  insinuations  of  the  Prophet  defiantly. 
It  was  a  squally  time,  and  not  without  apprehension  of  danger. 
The  proprietors  of  the  Magazine  were  finally  notified  that  they 
would  be  tried  on  the  Monday  succeeding,  and,  with  the  excep- 
tion of  ten  or  a  dozen  persons — -friends  of  the  writers — the 
whole  audience  of  about  a  thousand  elders  with  uplifted  hands 
voted  not  to  read  the  Magazine  !  The  trial  took  place  in  the 
City  Hall,  and  the  auditory  was  chiefly  composed  of  the  bish- 
ops, their  counsellors,  and  faithful  brethren  ;  a  few  friends  of 
the  accused  obtained  admission.  The  apostle  George  Q.  Can- 
non was  selected  to  prefer  the  charge  of  apostacy. 

Elders  Godbe  and  Harrison  had,  as  yet,  no  defined  pro- 
gramme, but  were  ready  for  anything.  They  awaited  the  charges 


640 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


of  the  apostle  and  manfully  contended  for  the  right  of  private 
judgment  in  all  matters  of  faith  or  ^'  counsel ;  "  but  the  apostle 
Cannon  maintained  that  'Ht  is  apostacy  to  differ  honestly  from 
"  the  measures  of  the  President  [Brigham] — a  man  may  he 
"  honest  even  in  hell ;  "  and  counsellor  Daniel  H.  Wells  volun- 
teered the  extraordinary  statement  that  the  accused  "  might  as 
"  loell  ash  the  question  whether  a  man  had  the  right  to  differ 
honestly  from  the  Almighty  !  "  Elders  Cannon  and  Wells 
were  faithful  exponents  of  the  Mormon  Priesthood,  and  the 
Council  could  do  no  other  than  cut  off  the  recusants  from  the 
Church.*^  When  the  vote  of  expulsion  was  taken.  Elder  Kelsey 
voted  negatively,  and,  for  the  endorsement  of  the  sentiments 
of  his  friends,  he  was  immediately  cut  off,  and  with  Godbe  and 
Harrison  was  "turned  over  to  the  buffetings  of  Satan." 

*  Excommunication  is  not  a  mere  use  of  words :  it  has  a  very  practical  applica- 
tion to  the  dissenter.  There  is  an  excellent  illustration  of  this  in  the  case  of  Elder 
John  Hyde.  When  he  was  excommunicated,  Brother  Heber  gave  a  very  clear  in- 
terpretation of  that  action  in  the  following  words : 

"  I  want  you,"  said  he,  to  an  audience  of  about  three  thousand  persons,  '*  to  vote, 
"  every  one  of  you,  either  for  or  against,  for  there  is  no  sympathy  to  he  shown  unto 
"  sui^h  a  man.  Brother  Wells  has  seconded  the  motion  I  have  made.  All  that  are 
"  in  favour  that  John  Hyde  be  cut  off  from  the  Church  of  Jesus  Christ  of  Latter-Day 
"  Saints,  and  that  he  be  delivered  over  to  Satan  to  be  buffeted  in  the  flesh,  will  raise 
"their  right  hands.    [All  hands  were  raised.] 

"  A  motion  has  been  put  and  unanimously  carried,  that  John  Hyde  be  cut  off 
"  root  and  branch ;  that  is,  himself,  and  all  the  roots  and  branches  that  are  within 
"  him.  This  has  no  allusion  to  his  family.  He  has  taken  a  course  by  which  he  has 
"  lost  his  family^  and  forfeited  his  priesthood ;  he  has  forfeited  his  membership. 

The  limb  is  cut  off,  but  the  priesthood  takes  the  fruit  that  was  attached  to  the  liwh 
"  and  saves  it,  if  it  will  be  saved.  Do  you  understand  me  ?  His  wife  is  not  cut  off 
"  from  this  Church,  but  she  is  free  from  him  ;  she  is  just  as  free  from  him  as  though 
"  she  had  never  belonged  to  Mm,  The  limb  she  is  connected  to  is  cut  off,  and  she  must 
"  again  be  grafted  into  the  tree,  if  she  wishes  to  be  saved ;  that  is  all  about  it." — 
Deseret  JSfews,  January  21,  1857. 

Mr.  Hyde  loved  his  wife,  a  beautiful,  well-educated  young  lady,  and  she  was 
devotedly  attached  to  him,  but  she  had  then  less  experience,  and  more  faith  in 
Mormonism,  than  her  husband.  He  had  left  Utah  on  mission,  and  feared  to  return 
after  he  announced  his  apostacy,  and  he  never  saw  his  wife  again.  Mr.  Hyde  placed 
funds  at  the  lady's  disposal  to  enable  her  to  leave  Utah,  but  she  was  counselled  to 
remain,  and,  afraid  that  Mormonism  might  be  true,  and  that  her  husband  might  be 
wrong,  she  clung  to  Zion.  In  course  of  time,  Mrs.  Hyde,  in  the  language  of  Brother 
Heber,  was  "  again  grafted  into  the  tree,"  and  is  now  entitled  to  the  third  share  of 
the  affections  and  protection  of  a  good-natured  brother,  who,  it  is  to  be  hoped,  will 
never  apostatize.  Mr.  Hyde  applied  for  a  divorce  in  an  English  court,  and  the  case 
here  stated  became  of  public  notoriety  in  that  country.  Mr.  Hyde  is  now  an  elo- 
quent and  distinguished  divine  in  the  Swedenborgian  Church  in  England,  and  haa 
a  very  happy  family.    Respect  for  the  lady  in  Utah  suggests  no  further  remark. 


BRIGHAM^S  PRIESTHOOD  FALLIBLE. 


641 


The  trial  was  as  fairly  conducted  as  these  things  ever  are. 
The  accused  were  unmistakably  guilty — all  "  reformers/'  "  dis- 
"  senters,"  must  be  guilty  !  Brigham,  throughout,  was  calm 
and  respectful.  He  had  no  interest  in  Mr.  Harrison,  but  he 
was  grieved  to  lose  Mr.  Godbe.  Brigham  called  him  "  one  of 
"  his  pets,"  whom  he  "  would  have  carried  around  in  his  vest- 
-pocket." Mr.  Godbe  was  a  man  of  untiring  energy,  useful  in 
many  ways,  liberal  in  contributions,  and  paid  a  heavy  tithing. 
Brigham  evidently  regretted  his  ill-tempered  mimicry  of  him  in 
the  Tabernacle.  Then,  he  probably  thought  that  he  could  bring 
the  rebels  to  their  knees.  In  the  trial,  he  discovered  that  there 
was  "  method  in  their  madness,"  and  he  could  see  by  their  de- 
fence, and  by  their  protest  against  excommunication  for  differ- 
ing from  him  on  matters  of  business  and  secular  measures,  that 
many  would  sustain  them.  It  was  then  that  he  announced 
like  Hildebrand  that  "  as  a  man  he  was  fallible,  but  he 
was  clothed  with  a  priesthood  that  was  infallible."  As  Brig- 
ham asserts  that  he  is  never  without  his  priesthood,  the  rebels 
failed  to  see  where  fallibility  ended  and  where  infallibility 
began. 

It  was  of  no  consequence  to  intelligent  persons  in  Utah, 
whether  Godbe  and  Harrison  had  received  revelations  or  not; 
neither  to  these  unbelievers  was  the  character  or  the  source  of 
the  revelations  worthy  of  a  moment's  consideration  ;  but  here 
was  an  element  that  could  reach  the  people  of  Utah.  Men 
and  women  who  had  left  Mormonism  before  and  opposed  the 
Church  were  easily  overcome,  as  they  had  nothing  to  present 
to  the  Saints.  Here  were  two  elders,  intelligent  men,  of  no 
ordinary  ability,  and  of  strictly  moral  lives,  claiming  that  they 
had  had  revelations  from  the  highest  circle  of  heavenly  beings 
who  were  breathing  anxiety  for  "  humanity  "  and  desirous  of 
communicating  with  the  Saints  for  their  deliverance.  The 
Gentiles,  of  course,  took  no  notice  of  the  sentiments  of  the 
revelations ;  but  they  saw  in  them  the  old  influence  of  the 
original  faith,  and  knew  that  it  would  affect  those  who  were 
dissatisfied  with  the  materialistic  religion  of  Brigham  Young. 
The  Tabernacle  sermons  were  almost  wholly  devoted  to  sec- 
ular interests — establishing  cooperative  stores,  constructing 
canals,  building  tabernacles  and  temples,  making  big  ditches, 


642 


THE  RO^KY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


paying  tithing,  marrying  young  wives,  manufacturing  cloth, 
plaiting  straw,  raising  fish,  cultivating  bees,  planting  mulberry- 
trees,  and  making  silk ;  to  which  was  added  here  and  there, 
by  way  of  variety,  a  tirade  of  abuse  upon  ''the  enemies  of  the 
"  Saints,"  Congress,  the  Chief  Executive,  and  tlie  Gentiles  in 
general,  with  a  special  hlessing  for  the  Federal  judges  in  Utah  ! 
Occasionally  there  would  be  an  attempt  at  a  higher  flight,  but  it 
was  rare.  To  all  this,  add  that  Elders  Godbe,  Harrison,  Kelsey, 
Tullidge,  Shearman,  Lawrence,  and  others,  had  a  living  faith 
to  preach — that  which  the  people  knew  to  be  the  original  faith 
of  the  founder  of  Mormonism,  and  "  the  gifts  "  came  back  again. 
The  converts  of  the  apostles,  too,  could  "  speak  in  tongues  " 
and  prophesy,  and  could  tell  of  visions,  dreams,  and  the  pres- 
ence of  angels  ! 

Twenty-five  years  before  that,  one  of  the  brethren  had  had 
a  dream  in  ISTauvoo — a  wonderful  dream !  He  saw  the  Saints 
enveloped  in  dark,  heavy  clouds,  and  saw  Brigham  and 
the  apostles  labouring  indefatigably  to  keep  them  together. 
The  Prophet  and  his  aids  were  working  like  coopers,  driving 
the  hoops  down  with  great  force  till  the  hoops  burst,  and  the 
people  rushed  out  of  the  circle,  and  ran  in  every  direction, 
each  one  taking  his  own  way.  Of  course,  its  interpretation 
was  that  "  a  grand  apostacy "  would  some  day  take  place. 
The  "New  Movement  "was  in  a  moment  caught  up  as  the 
fulfilment  of  Farnsworth's  dream.  The  dreamer,  however, 
had  to  add  that  Brigham's  future  after  that  was  to  be  glorious  ! 
The  latter  portion,  of  course,  was  regarded  by  the  "  dissent- 
"ers"  as  an  addendum.  Farnsworth's  dream,  however,  served  a 
purpose,  and  thousands  to-day  in  Utah  believe  that  Brigham 
and  the  apostles  have  burst  the  hoops.  They  never  can  again 
drive  them  as  tight  as  they  did  before. 

The  Magazine^  now  no  longer  restrained,  reviewed  the  teach- 
ings of  the  infallible  priesthood  with  great  ability,  but  gener- 
ally in  respectful  and  temperate  language.  From  all  parts  of 
the  Territory  the  "reformers"  were  encouraged  by  letters  ol 
sympathy,  and  the  Gentiles,  who  had  long  felt  the  lash  of  the 
Tabernacle,  gave  them  liberal  support.  In  less  than  two  months 
from  their  expulsion  from  the  Church,  they  dared  to  begin 
regular  preaching,  and,  from  the  liberal  contributions  which 


THE  GREATEST  APOSTACY  IN  ilORMONISM.  643 

Mr.  Godbe  had  given  to  the  erection  of  the  Thirteenth  Ward 
Assembly  Rooms,  he  forced  the  bishop  to  give  him  the  use  of 
the  building  on  a  part  of  every  Sunday.  On  the  morning  of  the 
19th  December,  1869,  they  preached  for  the  first  time,  and  the 
Assembly  Rooms  were  literally  packed.  Notwithstanding  the 
previous  general  apprehension  of  being  "  reported,"  a  spirit  of 
reckless  indifference  to  consequences  seized  all  classes,  and 
"  That's  true,"  "  Amen,"  could  be  heard  throughout  the  ad- 
dresses from  all  parts  of  the  auditory.  In  the  evening  the 
Masonic  Hall  was  occupied  in  the  same  way,  the  meetings  were 
spirited  and  enthusiastic,  and  every  good  point  made  was 
greeted  with  the  heartiest  applause.  The  Walker  Brothers 
gave  noble  support  to  the  movement,  and,  in  addition  to  liberal 
contributions,  they  fitted  up  one  of  their  large  stores  in  the 
centre  of  the  main  street,  and  gave  the  "  apostates "  its  use 
gratuitously.  There  the  "  Movement "  centred  the  opposing 
elements,  and  the  leading  elders  preached  every  Sunday  morn- 
ing and  evening,  and  one  evening  during  the  week.^ 

No  one  could  have  predicted  the  possibility  of  such  a  sudden 
change  from  fear  to  recklessness,  and  no  one  comprehended 
better  than  Brigham  that  it  was  the  best  policy  to  "  let  the 
fire  blaze  away."  At  first,  the  bishops  "  cut  off"  all  those  who 
were  tainted  with  apostacy,  as  soon  as  they  gave  any  indication 
of  the  malady  ;  but  the  cases  became  so  numerous,  and  added 
so  much  to  the  influence  of  the  "  Movement,"  that  "  the  cutting- 
"  off"  was  not  so  very  hastily  pressed. 

Of  all  the  apostacies  from  the  Mormon  Church,  this  was 
the  most  formidable,  and' has  done  more  damage  to  the  position 
of  Brigham  Young  than  all  of  them  put  together.  The  preach- 
ing of  the  "  reformers  "  first  shook  the  people's  confidence  in 
the  Prophet,  and,  as  they  travelled  further,  it  has  led  many  of 
them  out  of  Mormonism  altogether. 

The  "reformers"  preached  and  wrote  down  Brigham's 

*  Soon  after  its  inauguration,  the  "  New  Movement "  received  a  very  valuable 
accession  to  its  numbers  in  the  person  of  Elder  Amasa  M.  Lyman,  formerly  one  of 
the  Twelve  Apostles.  He  is  a  very  eloquent  preacher,  and  was  the  only  member  of 
the  apostles  who  ever  thought  it  worthy  of  his  time  to  speak  of  "  the  love  of  Christ  " 
and  "  the  redemption  of  humanity."  Amasa  believed  in  intellectual  Christianity, 
and  is  labouring  throughout  Utah  now,  appealing  to  the  higher  and  better  instincts 
of  the  people. 


4 


g44  THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 

Mormonism  effectively,  and,  to  better  support  their  canse,  they 
started  a  weekly  Tribune^  then  made  it  a  daily  Tribune^  and, 
with  secular  readers  and  secular  hearers,  they  have  written  and 
preached  themselves  into  modern  spiritualism,  and  to-day  main- 
tain stoutly  that  the  only  truth  about  and  in  Mormonism  has 
all  the  time  been  its  spiritual  experiences  ;  that  Joseph  Smith 
was  naturally  a  medium,  and,  glowing  with  magnetism,  electri- 
fied everybody  that  ever  came  near  him,  and,  believing  that  all 
his  experiences  came  directly  from  a  Divine  source,  he  readily 
and  honestly  claimed  that  he  was  a  prophet,  seer,  and  revelator ; 
and  of  Brigham  Young  they  say  also  that  he  was  an  '4mpres- 
"  sional  medium,"  and  by  reason  of  his  strong  will-power,  and 
the  opportunities  of  such  a  formidable  organization  of  priest- 
hood, he  has  been  able  to  rise  to  the  dizzy  height  of  claiming 
to  be  "  the  mouth-piece  of  God." 

But  for  the  boldness  of  the  "  reformers,"  Utah  to-day  would 
not  have  been  what  it  is.  Inspired  by  their  example,  the  people 
who  had  listened  to  them  disregarded  the  teachings  of  the 
priesthood  against  trading  with  or  purchasing  from  the  Gen- 
tiles. The  spell  was  broken,  and,  as  in  all  such  life-experience, 
the  other  extreme  was  for  a  time  threatened.  Walker  Brothers 
regained  their  lost  trade,  and,  in  one  year  from  the  time  that 
this  "New  Movement"  began,  the  stores  of  these  merchants 
were  so  crowded  during  the  Conference,  that  it  was  with  diffi- 
culty their  patrons  could  be  served.  The  success  of  the  Coopera- 
tive was  for  a  time  doubtful,  and  the  Institution  that  was  at  first 
backed  in  commercial  credit  by  such  responsible  names  as  Jen- 
nings, Hooper,  Eldredge,  and  Lawrence,  was  changed  into  a 
stock  company,  where  these  gentlemen  and  their  associates 
were  protected  by    limited  liability." 

It  is  gratifying  to  be  able  to  add,  that  the  Walker  Brothers 
have  fought  the  good  fight  for  liberty,  and  have  falsified  the 
predictions  of  the  Tabernacle,  and  exploded  a  powerful  bug- 
bear. According  to  Brigham  and  Amos  M.  Musser,  they  were 
to  have  become  poor  and  destitute,  and  glad  to  get  money 
enough  to  take  them  out  of  the  Territory.  They  were  roughly 
committed  to  the  tender  mercies  of  the  devil  many  years  ago, 

*  Another  year  later,  and  the  Tribune  passed  into  other  hands,  and  became 
Btrictly  a  secular  paper,  with  strong  inclinations  to  pitch  into  "  the  Profit," 


SATAN  AND  HIS  INSTRUMENT  AGAINST  THE  GENTILES.  645 


and  bis  majesty  was  to  buffet  tbem  witb  great  severity/^  Thej? 
certainly  did  bave  a  beavy  sbare  of  trouble  for  several  years, 
but  Brigbam  was  tbeir  Satan  and  Musser  was  tbeir  Buffeter.f 
They  bad,  bowever,  tbe  stamina  tbat  conquers,  and  to-day  tbey 
own  more  real  estate,  and  more  wealth  in  Zion,  than  any  other 
man  or  firm  in  the  Mormon  Church,  except  Brigbam  himself! 
Godbe,  Lawrence,  and  Kelsey,  turned  tbeir  attention  to  tbe 
mineral  industry  of  the  country,  and,  to  all  appearance,  they 
have  before  tbem  a  wealthy  future.  Elders  who  bad  devoted 
all  tbeir  lives  to  Mormonism  had  necessarily  to  come  to  grief, 
when  tbey  quarrelled  witb  Brigbam,  for,  like  Othello,  "  tbeir 
"occupation  was  gone,"  and  Satan  could  handle  them  roughly  ; 
but  it  is  worthy  of  mention  that,  notwithstanding  this  super- 
stitious threat,  it  is  indisputable  that  there  are  more  wealthy 
"  apostates "  than  there  are  wealthy  apostles  and  bishops  all 
put  together.  Reference  could  be  made  to  elders,  some  of 
whom  had  to  steal  away  from  Utah,  for  fear  of  violent  bands 
being  laid  upon  them,  bad  tbeir  intended  departure  been 
made  known,  who  are,  to-day,  wealthy  and  respected  gentle- 
men in  the  highest  walks  of  life,  both  in  the  United  States  and 
in  Europe. 

*  So  unrelenting  was  the  persecution  of  that  firm,  that  very  few  good  Mormons 
would  even  dare  to  work  for  the  Walker  Brothers,  though  the  quality  of  their  pay  " 
to  workmen  was  proverbially  superior  to  what  could  be  obtained  from  members  of 
the  Church.  Those  who  ventured  to  enter  their  service  as  clerks,  book-keepers, 
salesmen,  or  warehousemen,  were  always  suspected  of  being  weak  in  the  faith. 

f  Everybody  was  at  liberty  to  take  "  a  fling  "  at  the  Walker  Brothers,  but  as  a 
general  thing  it  was  only  done  as  a  passing  duty.  Brother  Musser,  however,  made  it 
a  special  mission,  and,  as  he  was  the  agent  of  the  Church,  and  was  constantly  travel- 
ling through  the  Territory,  he  was  a  most  vindictive  "  Buffeter."  His  defence  for 
pursuing  them  so  relentlessly  was :  "  Because  they  are  becoming  wealthy,  and  with 
"  wealth  they  gain  influence,  and  there  should  be  no  influence  among  the  Saints  but 
"that  of  the  priesthood." 


CHAPTEE  LIY. 


BRIGHAM  YOUNG.— His  Father's  Family— His  Early  Life  and  Occupation— Brig- 
ham's  Faith — The  "  Gift  of  Tongues" — "Brother  Brigham"  opposed  to  Mani- 
festations of  the  Gift" — His  Ideas  of  Unreasoning  Obedience — The  Prophet  at 
Home — The  "  Trustee  in  Trust" — The  Prophet's  "Wives — His  Favourites — Brig- 
ham'eS  Domestic  Life — His  Habits  and  Traits  of  Character — His  Hours  of  Business 
— The  Prophet  in  his  Ofiice — Extraordinary  IniBLuence  with  the  People — Unheard- 
of  Claims  to  Dictation  in  Secular  Affairs — Lovers  to  ask  Brigham's  Permission  to 
love — Troublesome  Elders  sent  on  Mission — Ordered  to  go  to  Dixie" — Mission 
to  the  Indians — How  the  Lamanites  "  were  to  be  made  a  White  and  Delight- 
some  People" — Heber's  Hint  to  the  Missionaries,  and  how  tliev  took  it — Brig- 
ham  on  his  Travels — The  ''Eoyal  Blood  of  Young" — Reception  of  the  Prophet 
among  the  Saints — "The  Lion  of  the  Lord"  in  his  Glory— The  Saints  listen 
to  the  Prophet — His  Style  of  Preaching — The  Prophet's  Successor — Brigham 
the  Second — Founding  a  Dynasty — Nepotism  greater  than  Birthright  and  Priest- 
hood—The Precedent  given  by  Brigham — George  A.  Smith,  Brigham's  Eightful 
Successor — Apostle  George  Q.  Cannon — A  Mission  to  Jerusalem— Influence  of 
the  Railroad — Influx  of  Gentiles — Brigham's  Lost  Opportunities — Great  Wealth 
of  the  Prophet — How  Brigham  balanced  his  Account  with  the  Church — How  the 
Prophet  got  rich— The  Probable  Future  of  Mormonism  at  his  Death. 

The  engraving  at  the  beginning  of  this  work  is  a  perfect 
representation  of  Brigham  Young,  on  the  seventy-first  anni- 
versary of  his  birth — June  1,  1872.  His  most  intimate  friends, 
and  members  of  his  family,  pronounce  it  a  faultless  likeness. 

In  a  personal  sketch  of  the  man,  there  need  be  but  little  said 
of  his  early  life ;  the  story  of  his  later  years  is  of  more  interest. 
A  brief  paragraph  relative  to  his  family,  and  furnished  by  him- 
self, contains,  probably,  all  that  the  reader  will  care  to  know : 

"  I  was  born  in  Whittingham,  Windham  County,  Vermont,  June  1, 
1801.  My  father  and  mother  removed  to  Smyrna,  Chenango  County,  !N*.  Y., 
when  I  was  about  eighteen  months  old.  We  lived  in  that  place  until 
1813.  Shortly  after  the  commencement  of  the  late  war  with  Great  Britain, 
my  father  and  his  family  removed  to  the  town  of  Genoa,  Cayuga  County, 


BRIGHAM  YOUNG  "SPEAKS  IN  TONGUES.'*  C49 


N.  Y.,  in  wMch  county  I  lived  until  1829.  I  then  moved  to  Mendon,  Mon- 
roe County,  and  in  1830  removed  from  thence  to  No.  9  Canandaigua,  into 
a  small  house  owned  by  Jonathan  Mack,  situated  on  the  west  side  of  the 
road,  opposite  to  where  Mr.  Mack  then  lived.  I  helped  to  finish  his  new 
house,  so  that  he  moved  into  it  before  I  left  the  place.  I  left  Canandaigua 
in  the  first  part  of  1832,  and  returned  to  Mendon.    April  14th,  same  year, 

I  was  baptized  into  the  Church  of  Jesus  Christ  of  Latter-Day  Saints  

After  my  return  to  Mendon,  I  removed  to  Kirtland,  Ohio  ;  from  thence  to 
Far  West,  Mo. ;  from  thence  to  Nauvoo,  111. ;  and  from  thence  to  the  moun- 
tains. There  are  five  brothers  of  us,  in  the  following  order :  John,  Joseph, 
Phineas  H.,  myself,  and  Lorenzo  D.  The  two  former  never  lived  in  No.  9. 
Phineas  H.  and  Lorenzo  D.  did  live  there,  but  removed  long  before  I  came. 
The  five  of  us,  with  my  two  living  sisters  (I  have  three  dead),  are  here." 

Brigliam  was  reared  in  the  humblest  walks  of  life ;  he  "  came 
"  of  poor  but  honest  parents."  By  force  of  circumstances,  he 
grew  up  in  the -practice  of  the  strictest  economy,  and  became 
early  inured  to  hard  work.  The  social  position  of  his  father's 
family  may  be  judged  from  the  boast  of  Brigham,  in  the  days 
when  the  meek  and  the  poor  were  to  inherit  the  kingdom, 
that  he  had  "  only  been  eleven  and  a  half  days  at  school."  He 
le^-rned  the  trade  of  a  painter  and  glazier,  but,  as  that  some- 
times was  insuflScient  for  him,  he  tells  that  he  "  did  many  a 
"hard  day's  work  for  six  hits  a  day."  His  "  straitened  circum- 
"  stances  "  were  not  improved  for  some  time  after  his  first  ac- 
quaintance with  Mormonism,  as  he  relates  that  he  had  to  borrow 
some  articles  of  clothing  as  well  as  a  pair  of  boots  to  enable  him 
to  attend  a  conference  of  the  Saints.  The  acceptance  of  Mor- 
monism was,  therefore,  no  sacrifice  to  him,  and  preaching  "  with- 
"  out  purse  or  scrip  "  was  no  lowering  of  his  dignity.  He  was 
eminently  suited  to  join  the  standard  of  the  Prophet  Joseph, 
which  he  did  two  years  after  the  organization  of  the  Church, 
when  Sidney  Rigdon  was  in  the  blush  of  his  greatness  in  Ohio, 
and  Oliver  Oowdery  was  away  in  "Western  Missouri  locating  the 
New  Jerusalem,  where  the  kingdom  was  to  be  established  "in 
"  power  and  glory."  Upon  such  a  man,  it  was  a  proper  thing  for 
the  first  manifestation  of  "  the  gift  of  tongues  "  to  fall.  Eigdon 
was  "  learned  in  the  Scriptures ; "  Oowdery  had  "  seen  angels ; " 
Parley  P.  Pratt  was  an  eloquent  preacher ;  Orson  Pratt  was  a 
Bible-reader  and  thinker ;  and,  as  in  all  these  Brigham  was  de- 
ficient, it  was  highly  proper  that  "the  Lord"  should  take  care 


G50  THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 

of  him,  and  endow  him  witli  qualifications  that  rose  above  all 
argument,  and  spurned  contemptuously  the  logic  of  facts.  It 
was  enough  for  Brigham  Young  to  know  that  he  had  received 
^' the  gift  of  tongues;"^  with  that  he  started  to  "bear  testi- 
"  mony  "  that  "  the  Lord  "  had  raised  up  a  prophet  "  in  these  lat- 
"  ter  days,"  and  that  the  Book  of  Mormon  v/as  necessarily  true. 

What  Brigham  Young  felt  in  Kirtland  exceeded  in  impor- 
tance any  thing  that  any  one  else  would  ever  have  to  say. 
Compared  with  his  experience,  learning,  eloquence,  and  reason, 
were  but  the  snares  of  the  evil  one.  He  only  once  felt  a  want 
of  confidence  in  Brother  Joseph  Smith,"  and  "  the  feeling  did 
"not  last  sixty  seconds,  and  perhaps  not  thirty;"  it  gave  him 
"  sorrow  of  heart,"  and  he  "  clearly  saw  and  understood,  by 
"  the  spirit  of  revelation,"  that  if  he  "was  to  harbour  a  thought 
"  in  his  heart  that  Joseph  could  be  wrong  in  any  thing,"  he 
would  go  from  doubt  to  doubt,  till,  from  "  lack  of  confidence 
"in  his  being  the  mouth-piece  of  the  Almighty,"  he  would 
continue  in  a  course  of  unbelief  till  he  said,  "there  is  no  God." 
Brigham  says  he  repented  of  his  unbelief  "  very  suddenly.  .  . 
"  about  as  quickly  as  I  committed  the  error."  From  this  on- 
ward, "  I  never,"  says  he,  "  had  the  feeling,  for  one  moment, 
"  to  believe  that  any  man,  or  set  of  men,  or  beings  upon  the 
"  face  of  the  whole  earth,  had  any  thing  to  do  with  him  [Joseph], 
"  for  he  was  superior  to  them  all,  and  held  the  keys  of  salvation 
"  over  them.f  .  .  .  He  was  God's  servant,  and  not  mine.  He 
"did  not  belong  to  the  people,  but  to  the  Lord,  and  was  doing 
"  the  work  of  the  Lord ;  and  if  he  should  suffer  him  to  lead  the 
"  people  astray,  it  would  be  because  they  ought  to  be  led  astray. 
"  If  he  should  suffer  them  to  be  chastised,  and  some  of  them  de- 
"  stroyed,  it  would  be  because  they  deserved  it^  or  to  accomplish 
"  some  righteous  purpose.  That  was  my  faith,  and  it  is  my  faith 

stilly  X 

With  such  a  blind,  unreasoning  faith  in  the  mission  of  Jo- 

*  It  is  a  curious  fact  that  Brigham  Young  is  to-day  the  least  desirous  of  listen- 
ing to  the  exercise  of  this  "  gift."  A  lady  tells  that,  one  day,  she  was  in  the  Prophet's 
house,  when  one  of  his  wives  laid  hands  upon  her  to  bless  her,  and  she  "spoke  in 
tongues."  Another  of  his  wives  was  present,  and  she  had  the  *'  gift  of  interpreta- 
tion." Before  the  lady  left,  they  both  requested  her  not  to  mention  the  circum- 
stance, as  "  Brother  Young  "  was  opposed  to  such  manifestations. 

t  "Journal  of  Discourses,"  vol.  iv.,  p.  297.  J  Ibid.,  p.  298. 


THE  PROPHET'S  HOME. 


651 


seph  Smith,  and  the  abject  slavery  of  mind  that  it  involves,  the 
key  to  Brigham  Young's  whole  life  is  clear.  No  one  had  a 
right  to  sit  in  judgment  upon  Joseph ;  no  one  should  now 
question  his  successor,  Brigham !  With  such  teachings,  the 
Prophet  is  never  wrong.  When  failure  would  close  the  argu- 
ment with  other  men,  he  is  still  right  !  But  of  the  faith,  more 
need  not  be  added  ;  of  the  Prophet  personally,  the  reader  may 
expect  some  information. 

Up  to  within  a  few  years,  Brigham  had  little  intercourse 
with  the  outside  world  ;  he  was  seldom  seen  by  others  than  his 
own  people,  except  on  Sundays.  There  was  nothing  of  the 
hermit  about  his  disposition,  but  he  always  had  "  something  to 
"  see  to  " — a  house  building,  a  mill  repairing,  something  was 
going  on  about  his  farm  or  his  garden,  the  Temple-building,  or 
the  Tabernacle ;  his  numerous  family  had  some  share  of  his  time, 
and  the  Church,  aflairs  every  day  were  brought  before  him. 


Brigham  Young's  Home. 


In  this  group  of  buildings  the  Prophet  is  understood  to 
have  his  home,  or  that  portion  of  it  which  a  man  with  numer- 
ous wives  can  ever  imagine  that  he  possesses.  The  left  build- 
ing is  called  the  Lion-House,"  from  the  figure  of  a  crouching 
lion  over  the  portico — the  work  of  a  clever  sculptor,  now  an 
apostate."  The  next  low  building  is  the  "  Tithing-Office," 
where  the  clerks  of  the  Trustee  in  Trust  and  the  clerks  of 
Brigham  Young  do  the  clerical  service  of  the  Church  and  the 
Prophet ;  the  smaller  building  beside  it  is  Brigham's  '^private 
"  office,"  where  he  is  visited  on  business,  and  where  he  receives 


652 


THUi  KOOKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


distingiiislied  strangers  who  feel  honoured  in  calling  upon 
"  Mr.  President  Young."  The  large  building  on  the  right  is 
the  Bee-Hive  House,  and  was  the  official  residence  of  Governor 
Young. 

With  fairness  it  may  be  said  that  his  home  is  in  the  Bee- 
Hive  House,  as  it  is  there  that  he  has  his  chamhre  a  coucher^ 
gets  his  buttons  fixed,  and  his  hose  repaired  ;  but,  as  the  Prophet 
is  master  of  his  own  actions,"  his  whereabouts  after  business- 
hours  is  very  difficult  to  determine.  The  Lion-House  is  a  long 
building,  with  twenty  rooms  on  the  "living-floor,"  sleeping- 
apartments  for  the  children  on  the  upper  floor,  and  dining- 
room,  weaving-rooms,  laundry,  and  other  divisions,  on  the  lower 
floor.  It  was  in  that  house  that  one  of  his  dozen  wives,  residing 
together,  is  reported  to  have  rubbed  off  the  chalk-mark  from 
her  neighbouring  sister's  door,  placing  it  on  her  own,  and 
thereby  enjoyed  the  extra  teachings  of  the  Prophet  without 
his  discovering  the  mistake. 

East  of  the  Bee-Hive  House,  the  distance  of  a  few  hundred 
yards,  and  on  the  hill-side,  is  the  White  House,  an  unpreten- 
tious building,  where  the  legal  Mrs.  Young  resides.  The  house 
of  his  present  favourite,  Ameli-a,  is  about  half  a  block  and  the 
width  of  a  street  from  the  Prophet's  office ;  it  is  pleasantly  and 
conveniently  situated.  On  the  opposite  side  of  the  street,  the 
Nauvoo  favourite  lives  quietly  and  undisturbed.  Directly  west 
of  Amelia,  on  the  same  block,  Emmeline,  the  longest  favoured 
one,  resides.  A  block  and  a  half  from  the  Prophet's  office. ig 
the  residence  of  his  last  loved  one,  a  very  handsome  young 
lady,  a  grass  widow,"  who  is  said  to  have  gained  immensely 
upon  the  affections  of  the  Prophet.  This  lady  added  a  little 
cherub  to  the  Prophet's  kingdom,  in  his  seventieth  year,  a 
circumstance  very  much  to  his  gratification,  but  not  to  Ame- 
lia's, as  she  makes  no  secret  that  she  questions  the  paternity 
of  the  little  stranger ;  but  it  is  proper  to  add  that  Mrs.  Gobb 
Young  is  a  lady  of  blameless  life. 

Brigham  Young  gave  the  revelation  of  Polygamy  to  the 
world,  and  his  own  illustration  of  the  patriarchal  institution 
can  therefore  with  propriety  be  here  given  to  the  world  with- 
out any  violation  of  the  rights  of  domestic  privacy. 


THE  WIVES  OF  THE  PROPHET. 


653 


Adjoining  his  private  office  he  had  for  many  years  his  dor- 
mitory, which  he  is  said  to  have  strictly  preserved  unto  him- 
self. To  that  room,  however,  there  were  two  doors ;  one  open- 
ing into  the  Bee-Hive  House,  and  another  to  a  passage-way 
that  terminated  at  the  Lion-House.  While  Emmeline  was  the 
favourite,  or  years  after,  when  Amelia  was  the  honoured  one, 
some  of  the  less  favoured  sisters  tell  that  the  Prophet  made 
frequent  and  very  prolonged  visits  to  the  Lion- House  after  the 
hour  of  evening  prayer.  Heber,  in  his  humourous  and  coarse 
way,  used  to  make  a  singular  and  exceedingly  practical  appli- 
cation to  his  own  children  of  I.  Thessalonians  v.  5 ;  and  with 
Brigham's  children  it  was  much  the  same. 

It  has  generally  been  supposed  that  Brigham  had  an  im- 
mense number  of  wives,  and  that  everything  around  him  and 
them  was  in  the  gorgeous  Oriental  style ;  but  this  is  purely 
imaginative.  There  are  probably  only  nineteen  "  sisters  "  who 
call  him  husband,"  and,  with  the  exception  of  Amelia  and 
Mary — the  rival  favourites — they  are  all  working-women,  with- 
out any  pretensions  to  being  mere  "  ornaments."  Brigham  is 
not  capable  of  appreciating  much  of  that  kind  of  thing.  His 
early  poverty  and  hard-working  experience,  sustained  by  a 
natural  acquisitive  'disposition,  have  enabled  him  to  eschew 
all  extravagance.  Speaking  of  his  wives,  he  said,  "  He  would 
"  provide  them  comfortable  homes,  clothe  them  properly,  and 
"  give  them  what  they  wanted  to  eat ;  but  Brigham  Young-was 
"  master  of  his  own  actions."  His  wives  have  no  idea,  from 
their  own  experience,  of  the  marital  relations  of  husband  and 
wife  in  the  Christian  sense.  He  sees  them  in  the  Lion-House, 
at  the  general  dining-table,  or  at  evening  prayer  in  the  par- 
lour, where  they  are  all  collected  at  the  ringing  of  the  bell ; 
but  many  of  them  he  seldom  sees  elsewhere.  He  calls  period- 
ically upon  a  few  of  them,  and  inquires  after  their  welfare,  but 
there  are  others  whom  he  rarely  ever  sees  within  their  own 
particular  habitations,  unless  in  case  of  sickness,  or  when  sent 
for.  There  is  no  romance  about  the  lives  of  his  wives  :  they 
are  quiet,  unobtrusive  women,  who  have  been  sacrificed  to 
their  faith.  There  has  been  but  a  single  instance  of  scandal 
associated  with  the  name  of  one  wife,  many  years  ago,  and 
that  was  evidently  without  foundation.    When  the  penalty 


654 


THE  ROCKY  j^^pUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


of  certain  death  stares  the  transgressor  in  the  face,  few  have 
the  hardihood  to  brave  it. 

His  attentions  to  his  wives  before  the  public  are  methodical 
and  calculated.  His  first  wife  and  Amelia  will  usually  sit  be- 
side him  on  the  sofa  in  the  ballroom,  and  the  other  wives  may 
find  places  elsewhere.  When  he  goes  on  to  the  floor  for  the 
first  cotilion,  it  is  generally  with  Amelia ;  and  the  half-dozen 
others,  who  may  be  present,  have  the  honour  of  dancing  with 
the  Prophet  during  the  course  of  the  evening.  He  is  a  lively 
dancer  for  a  man  of  his  years,  evidently  takes  great  pleas- 
ure in  always  being  correct,  and  enjoys  at  times  a  thorough 
"  brake-down  "  step  at  the  close. 

He  is  very  regular  in  his  habits.  He  generally  rises  be- 
tween seven  and  eight  in  the  morning,  and  dresses  at  once  for 
all  day.  He  steps  into  his  office,  at  times,  before  breakfast,  and 
takes  a  general  survey  of  those  who  are  there,  and  then  he  may, 
perhaps,  saunter  out  and  look  at  his  premises;  but,  usually, 
he  comes  to  the  office  about  nine  o'clock.  The  private  secre- 
tary has  his  letters  ready  for  his  personal  perusal,  and  also  such 
items  of  business  as  may  specially  require  his  attention.  He 
has,  he  says,  schooled  himself  into  the  habit  of  never  thinking 
twice  upon  any  subject;  and,  when  once  it* has  received  his  at- 
tention, and  he  has  pronounced  his  decision,  he  never  wants  to 
hear  of  it  again.  He  is  no  scholar,  and  therefore  never  answers 
correspondence.  As  the  autograph  of  all  "  great  men "  is 
sought  after,  the  reader  will  probably  peruse  with  interest  the 
fac  simile^  on  the  opposite  page,  of  a  genuine  letter,  which 
the  Prophet  wrote  over  fifteen  years  ago.  He  has  placed  his 
name  to  so  many  letters  and  documents  since  that  time,  that 
his  autograph  on  the  steel  engraving,  at  the  beginning  of  this 
work,  shows  considerable  improvement. 

The  barber  is  there  about  a  quarter  to  ten,  and  shaves  the 
Prophet  in  his  office,  no  matter  who  may  be  present. 

From  ten  to  eleven  he  is  to  be  seen  on  business. 

The  apostles,  bishops,  and  leading  citizens,  have  the  entree 
to  his  private  office  at  any  time,  and  enter  without  announce- 
ment, or  even  knocking  at  the  door ;  but  others  have  to  pass 
through  the  Titbing-Office,  and  it  is  the  duty  of  one  of  the 
clerks  there  to  learn  the  visitor's  business.    Formerlj'-  the 


TEE  DESPOTISM  OF  THE  MODERN  PROPHET.  657 


chief  clerk  of  tlie  Trustee  in  Trust  had  that  duty  to  perform^ 
and  if  the  business  could  be  disposed  of  without  carrying  it  to 
the  Prophet,  the  visitor  was  so  instructed.  "When  the  "  sisters 
have  any  complaints  to  make  of  their  husbands,  they  run  to 
the  Prophet;  but  if  the  clerk  can  turn  the  visitor  to  "the 
"  teachers,"  or  to  the  bishop  of  her  ward,  it  is  done.  When  the 
aggrieved  one  is  persistent,  the  clerk  informs  the  Prophet,  and 
he  either  sends  an  answer  or  grants  an  interview.  To  the 
humble,  believing  Saint,  the  answer  or  counsel  has  all  the 
force  of  a  revelation  from  heaven. 

No  one  to-day,  even  in  Utah,  can  form  any  idea  of  the 
thorough  control  that  Brigham  once  had  over  the  people. 
Nothing  was  ever  undertaken  without  his  permission — he  knew 
of  everything.  No  person  could  enter  into  business  without 
consulting  him,  nor  would  any  one  ever  think  of  leaving  the 
city  to  reside  in  any  other  part  of  the  country  without  first 
having  his  approval.  Merchants  w^ho  went  East  or  West  to 
purchase  goods,  had  to  present'themselves  at  his  ofiice,  and  re- 
port their  intention  of  going  to  the  States  at  such  a  time — ^if 
he  had  no  contrary  orders  to  give  them.  Some,  no  doubt,  may 
have  sought  his  counsel  on  their  proposed  undertakings  and 
journeys,  believing  that  his  superior  wisdom  could  aid  them, 
but  in  his  owm  mind  he  claimed  that  the  Saints  should  do 
nothing  without  his  knowledge  and  approval.  That  oft-reiter- 
ated expression,  that  it  was  his  right  to  dictate  and  control 
everything,  "  even  to  the  ribbons  that  a  woman  should  wear,  or 
"to  the  setting-up  of  a  stocking,"  was  the  truthful  illustration 
of  his  feelings. 

A  ball  even  could  not  take  place  until  he  was  consulted 
upon  the  propriety  of  dancing,  then,  and  before  the  invitations 
were  issued,  the  list  of  the  invited  was  read  to  him,  and  he 
erased  or  added  names  at  his  pleasure.  Before  any  of  the  mar- 
ried brethren  could  make  love  to  a  maiden  with  the  view  of 
making  her  a  second,  third,  or  tenth  wife,  he  was  expected  to 
go  and  obtain  Brigham's  permission,  and  even  the  young  men 
were  instructed  that  properly  they  should  do  likewise.  But 
the  worst  form  of  this  surveillance,  control,  and  dependance 
upon  his  will  was  the  power  which  Brigham  assumed  in  the 
most  vital  interests  of  every  man's  affairs.    He  not  only  sent 


658 


THE  KOCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


the  missionaries  abroad,  when  and  whither  he  pleased,  but 
when  he  desired  it,  he  sent  the  elders  away  for  some  cause  of 
offence,  real  or  imaginary.  He  once  told  the  best  Mormon 
lawyer  in  Zion,  who  had  been  a  Federal  judge,  that  if  he  came 
again  on  to  the  platform  where  he  stood,  he  would  kick  him 
off  it,  and  he  appointed  him  to  a  mission  in  Yan  Diemen's 
Land,  and  told  him  never  to  return — he  never  wanted  to  see 
him  there  again.  The  lawyer  went,  performed  his  mission, 
and  returned  to  his  family,  and  has  since  been  of  great  service 
to  Brigham.  Time  after  time  he  has  called  men  living  in  Salt 
Lake  City  to  close  their  business,  and  go  down  to  "  Dixie  " — 
the  southern  part  of  the  Territory,  which  has  been  regarded 
most  people  as  a  penal  settlement,  or  place  of  banishment.  Re- 
pugnance to  such  a  country,  or  the  inadaptability  of  the  person 
to  any  pursuits  there,  was  nothing  to  him.  Quite  a  number  of 
persons  had  to  sacrifice  property  in  the  city  in  order  to  go  to 
"  Dixie,"  and  free  tongues  have  not  been  slow  to  insinuate  that, 
in  some  instances,  those  persoris  were  sent  away  for  the  very 
purpose  that  the  Prophet  might  the  more  easily  purchase  their 
property.  He  sent  at  one  time  a  mission  to  Fort  Limhi,  Sal- 
mon Kiver,  to  civilize  the  Indians.  The  brethren  were  coun- 
selled not  to  take  their  families  with  them,  but  they  were  to 
live  with  the  Lidians,  to  educate  and  civilize  them,  and  to 
teach  them  various  trades  and  farming.  When  Brigham  and 
Heber  afterwards  visited  the  missionaries  to  see  how  they  were 
succeeding,  Heber,  in  his  quaint  way,  told  them  that  he  did  not 
see  how  the  modern  predictions  could  well  be  fulfilled  about 
the  Indians  becoming  "  a  white  and  delightsome  people  "  with- 
out extending  polygamy  to  the  natives.  The  approach  of  the 
United  States  army,  in  1857,  contributed  to  break  up  that  mis- 
sion, but  not  before  Heber's  hint  had  been  clearly  understood, 
and  the  prophecy  half  fulfilled  !  Heber  was  very  practical,  and 
believed  that  the  people  should  never  ask  "  the  Lord  to  do  for 
them  what  they  could  do  themselves,  and,  as  all  Israel "  had 
long  prayed  that  the  Indians  might  speedily  become  a  "  white 
"  and  delightsome  people,"  he  thought  it  was  the  duty  of  the 
missionaries  to  assist  "  the  Lord  "  in  fulfilling  his  promises. 
This  was  not  the  first  time  that  a  Mormon  prophet  attempted 
to  aid  in  bringing  to  pass  the  prophecies  of  "  the  Lord,"  More 


MORMON  MISSIONARIES  AND  INDIAN  -SQUAWS.  659 


than  one  missionary  appears  to  have  thoroughly  understood 
him ! 

The  illustration  at  the  beginning  of  this  chapter  is  a  perfect 
representation  of  the  Prophet's  style  of  travelling  through  the 
settlements.  He  tries  to  visit  all  the  Saints  once  a  year.  His 
visit  north  occupies  between  three  and  four  weeks,  and  his 
southern  trip  takes  between  five  and  six  weeks. 

The  order  of  travel  after  leaving  Salt  Lake  City  is :  first, 
the  Prophet's  carriage;  next,  the  members  of  his  family;  then 
his  counsellors,  the  apostles,  chief-bishop,  bishops  generally ; 
then  distinguished  visitors.  The  latter  take  the  first  vacant 
place  in  the  long  suite,  and  remain  there  all  through  the  jour- 
ney. The  only  rank  and  aristocracy  in  Zion  is  priesthood,  and 
precedence  in  every  quorum  is  seniority  of  ordination.  In 
these  journeys,  the  last-ordained  apostle  is  the  last  in  the  order 
of  travel  among  the  apostles ;  but  if  the  youngest  apostle  should 
be  a  son  of  the  Prophet  he  overtops  them  all — the  "  royal  blood 
of  Young  "  is  more  honoured  than  the  royal  priesthood  of 
Melchisedec ! 

Some  miles  before  "  the  President's  company  "  arrives  at 
the  first  settlement  to  be  visited,  he  is  met  by  a  company  of 
mounted  cavalry,  bearing  aloft  the  stars  and  stripes,  and,  as 
they  near  the  settlement,  the  citizens  turn  out  to  greet  the 
Prophet,  and  there  is  usually  a  procession  of  the  school-chil- 
dren. If  it  is  a  very  large  settlement,  and  the  bishop  is  a  very 
"  live  man,"  the  procession  often  embraces  all  the  people.  On 
such  occasions  there  is  a  brass-band  heading  the  citizens,  the 
elderly  brethren  are  arranged  together,  bearing  in  front  of  them 
a  banner  with  the  inscription,  "  Fathers  in  Israel ;  "  the  elderly 
sisters  have  their  banner,  "Mothers  in  Israel;"  the  young 
men  carry  their  banner,  Defenders  of  Zion ; "  the  maidens 
their  banner,  Daughters  of  Zion,  Virtue ;  "  and  the  little,  tod- 
dling school-children  are,  "  The  Hope  of  Israel."  Those  too 
young  to  walk  are,  as  usual,  in  the  arms  of  indulgent  mothers, 
standing  by  the  doors  to  make  up  the  other  part  of  the  picture. 

*  One  young  man  replied  to  Brother  Heber  that  it  was  the  teaching  of  the  Church 
that  the  elders  should  always  follow  their  "  file-l6aders,"  and  that  if  President 
Young  and  he  should  each  take  a  squaw  to  wife  and  thus  set  the  example,  they 
would  certainly  follow  suit."  That  ended  the  "  bleaching  "  of  the  "  Lamanites." 
There  was  no  further  instruction  upon  the  fulfilment  of  the  modern  prophecies. 


660 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


All  along  tlie  procession  may  be  seen  banners  bearing  the  de- 
vices, "  Hail  to  Zion's  Chief,"  "  God  Bless  Brigliarn  Young," 
and  kindred  sentiments  of  Welcome."  No  doubt  these  hon- 
est, simple  people  truly  and  thankfully  express  on  such  occa- 
sions their  kindly  feeling  for  "  Brother  Brigham  " — they  see 
him  but  seldom  ! 

On  arrival,  the  Prophet  is  taken  to  the  best  accommodation 
in  the  settlement,  his  suite  are  distributed  among  the  people, 
and  every  kind  attention  is  extended  to  them  all,  and  their 
horses  and  carriages  no  further  require  their  care.  The  people 
are  happy  to  see  their  "big  brethren,"  and  many  of  them  strain 
their  pockets  to  entertain  their  guests. 

There  is  usually  one  or  more  "  meetings  "  for  preaching,  and, 
as  these  visits  occnr  in  summer,  "  boweries  "  are  improvised,  and 
decorated  with  evergreens,  flowers,  and  fruits,  and  oftentimes 
the  homespun  cloth  and  home-made  coverlets  are  suspended 
through  the  Bowery  to  exhibit  the  manufactures  of  Zion. 

The  preaching  is  directed  by  the  Prophet.*^    The  people  all 

*»As  a  preacher,  Brigham  is  always  listened  to  attentively — not  so  much  either 
for  style  or  the  matter  of  his  discourse,  as  from  the  expectation  that  he  may  "  say 
something  that  the  auditor  is  anxious  to  learn.  When  he  has  moments  of  "  great 
freedom  "  he  can  make  himself  interesting ;  but  his  utterance  is  the  declamation  of 
the  unmethodical  itinerant,  and  not  the  logical  oratory  of  the  thinker  or  reader. 
When  he  tries  to  make  a  set  speech,  he  is  a  fearful  failure.  At  the  request  of  Vice- 
President  Colfax  and  his  friends,  he  spoke  in  the  Bowery,  and  made  astonishing  havoc 
with  history  and  Lindley  Murray.  On  that  occasion  in  support  of  Polygamy  he 
brought  up  the  very  questionable  charge  against  Martin  Luther,  that  he  countenanced 
Polygamy  in  acquiescing  in  the  marriage  of  Philip,  Landgrave  of  Hesse-Darmstadt, 
to  a  second  wife  while  his  first  was  still  alive.  Brigham  was  utterly  ignorant  of 
history,  and  the  brethren  in  his  office  prepared  him  notes  for  this  special  occasion — 
the  first  he  had  ever  tried  to  use — and  he  was  perfectly  confounded.  On  the  paper 
before  him  were  a  few  hard  words  about  Phihp,  Landgrave  of  Hesse,  and  poor 
Brigham,  innocent  that  the  word  "  Landgrave  "  was  a  title  of  nobility,  spoke  of  the 
supposed  poylgamist  as  "  Mr.  Philip  Landgrave  " — a  worthy  example  for  the  world 
to  follow.  The  visitors  could  hardly  contain  their  mirth,  while  the  intelligent  Mor- 
mons almost  expired  with  mortification. 

Of  that  occasion,  Mr.  Bowles  wrote : 

"  There  was  every  incentive  for  him  to  do  his  best ;  he  had  an  immense  audi- 
ence spread  out  under  the  *  Bowery'  to  the  number  of  five  or  six  thousand  ;  before 
him  was  Mr.  Colfax,  who  had  asked  him  to  preach  upon  the  distinctive  Mormon 
doctrines;  around  him  were  all  his  elders  and  bishops,  in  unusual  numbers;  and 
he  was  fresh  from  the  exciting  discussion  of  yesterday  on  the  subject  of  Polygamy. 
But  his  address  lacked  logic,  lacked  effect,  lacked  wholly  magnetism  or  impressive- 
ness.  It  was  a  curious  medley  of  Scriptural  exposition  and  exhortation,  bold  and 
bare  statement,  coarse  denunciation,  and  vulgar  allusion,  cheap  rant,  and  poor 
eant."—"  Across  the  Continent,"  page  118. 


WHO  SHALL  SUCCEED  BRIGHAM  YOUNG?  661 


want  to  hear  him;  but  in  such  long  journeys  he  calls  upon 
every  one  of  the  visitors  to  speak  to  the  Saints.  The  addresses 
are  usually  upon  some  general  policy  of  the  time,  and  exhort- 
ing the  Saints  to  faithfulness.  Frequently  there  is  a  dance  in 
the  evening,  or  a  serenade-party  of  singers  at  the  Prophet's 
headquarters,  and  before  his  door  and  around  the  house  where 
he  sleeps  there  is  a  vigilant  armed  guard  walking  all  the  night. 
Next  morning  he  is  escorted  by  the  cavalry  till  another  body 
of  cavalry  meets  him,  and  thus  he  travels  from  settlement  to 
settlement  until  his  return  to  Salt  Lake  City.  These  visits  are 
exceedingly  pleasant  to  those  who  accompany  the  Prophet,  and 
exhibit  clearly  his  influence  over  the  people  for  weal  or  woe. 

The  Prophet  usually  takes  his  favourite  wife  with  him  on 
such  occasions,  and  of  late  years  his  second  son,  Brigham, 
Junior,  has  always  accompanied  him,  and  here  occurs  the. 
thought :  Who  shall  succeed  him  in  all  this  ? 


The  Apostle  George  A.  Smith. 


By  right  of  rank  it  should  be  his  first  counsellor,  George 
A.  Smith,  a  nephew  of  the  Prophet  Joseph  Smith,  and  an 
apostle. 

At  the  death  of  Joseph,  Brigham  claimed  that  the  Quorum 
of  the  First  Presidency— composed  of  Joseph  and  Hyrum  Smith 
and  Sidney  Rigdon— was  dissolved  by  the  assassination  of  the 


662 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


first  two  named,  and  that  the  ruling  authority  then  devolved 
upon  the  Quorum  of  the  Twelve  Apostles,  of  which  he  was 
the  President.  Had  Hyrum  Smith  lived,  he  would  have  been 
the  President  at  the  death  of  Joseph,  and  by  that  same  order 
George  A.  Smith  should  now  succeed  Brigham  Young  as  Presi- 
dent of  the  Mormon  Church ;  but  few,  it  any,  believe  that,  if 
he  outlives  Brigham,  such  will  be  the  case. 


The  Apostle  Brigham  Young,  Junior. 


An  apostle  once  asked  Brigham,  in  a  disinterested  way  [for^ 
at  that  time,  that' apostle  was  certainly  free  from  guile],  who 
would'be  his  successor.  It  was  an  ill-timed  question,  for  Brig- 
ham had  only  just  then  taken  a  young  wife,  and  was  looking 
after  others  ;  besides,  it  was  exceedingly  unpleasant  to  suggest 
to  a  newly-married  man,  that  there  would  be  a  pair  of  empty- 
slippers  in  his  house  some  day.  The  Prophet  answered,  very 
•curtly,  that  "the  Lord"  would -manifest  that  in  due  time. 
"The  Lord's"  due  time  has  evidently  come,  and  "Young 
^^Brig,"  as  he  is  called,  is  the  manifestation. 

Wherever  the  Prophet  goes,  the  junior  accompanies  him, 
and  the  people  are  getting  used  to  his  presence.  The  junior  is 
learning  how  the  senior  manages  the  bishops,  and  is  garnishing 
his  mind  with  useful  information  ;  and  there  is  no  doubt  that^ 


BRIGHAM  ORDAINS  HIS  SONS  APOSTLES. 


665 


by  this  training  and  constant  association  of  the  son  with  the 
father  before  the  people,  the  latter  will  clearly  get  into  their 
minds  what  "  the  Lord  "  has  set  his  hand  to  do.'^ 

Personally,  Brigham  Young,  Junior,  is  not  a  popular  man 
with  the  Saints  ;  he  is  not  their  choice  for  president ;  but  the 
Prophet  his  father  has  determined  to  build  up  a  dynasty,  and 
preserve  his  name  to  the  world,  and  Brigham,  Junior,  is  a  for- 
tunate accident.  Brigham  the  Second  will  always  suggest  to 
the  memory  Brigham  the  First.  Further,  no  one  could  imagine 
Brigham  Young,  Senior,  so  excessively  foolish  as  ever  to  leave 
such  an  inheritance  to  the  Smith  family  1  George  A.  Smith, 
by  favour  with  the  people,  as  well  as  by  rank,  is  the  legitimate 
successor  of  Brigham  Young,  according  to  Brigham's  own  pre- 
cedent, but  he  will  never  attain  to  that  position,  except  by 
revolution,  and  there  is  nothing  of  that  character  in  him. 
Brigham,  in  this,  however,  shows  to  the  Saints  that  he  will 
permit  nothing  to  stand  in  the  way  of  his  own  ambition  ;  that 
'rank  in  George  A.  Smith,  and  birthright  in  his  own  son, 
Joseph  A.,  are  nothing  when  his  purposes  are  considered.  All 
the  past  preaching  of  the  rank  and  birthright  of  the  priest- 
hood is  negatived  in  the  successorship  of  Brigham  Young, 
Senior,  by  Brigham  Young,  Junior.f 

*  Several  years  ago,  Brigham  secretly  ordained  his  three  sons  apostles — Joseph 
A.,  Brigham,  and  John  W. — with  the  intention  that  Brigham,  Junior,  should  subse- 
quently be  the  President  of  the  Church,  and  his  tv/o  brothers  be  his  counsellors. 
This  gave  terrible  offence  to  Brother  Heber,  who  was  the  first  in  the  line  of  succes- 
sion ;  but  Brigham  shrewdly  asked  Heber  to  join  him  in  the  ordination  of  the  three 
sons.  To  have  refused  would  have  caused  an  open  rupture,  and  for  Heber  to  com- 
ply, and  take  part  in  the  ordination,  for  ever  closed  Heber's  lips — almost. 

Joseph  A.,  the  eldest  son,  is  the  most  popular  of  the  Young  family,  but  he  has 
far  too  much  sense  to  desire  to  be  a  prophet.  John  W.  has,  of  late  years,  become 
engrossed  in  secular  affairs,  and  has  quite  a  clinging  respect  for  the  world  that  now 
is.  "  Briggy  "  is  by  no  means  a  dunce,  but  he  is,  under  the  circumstances,  the  most 
capable  of  the  three  of  filling  his  father's  shoes.  Joseph  A.  and  John  W.  are  both 
smart  young  men,  and  can  get  well  enough  through  the  world  ;  but  Brigham,  Junior, 
will  find  the  Tithing-Office  a  great  convenience. 

f  The  doctrine  of  inheriting  priesthood  has  ever  been  held  sacred  in  the  Mormon 
Church ;  hence  John  Smith,  the  eldest  son  of  Hyrum  Smith,  was  ordamed  Patriarch 
over  the  whole  Church,  solely  because  he  was  the  eldest  son.  Brigham  looked  upon 
him  as  a  very  unfit  person  for  the  office,  but  the  right  of  succession  was  inherent  in 
him,  and  he  could  not  be  set  aside  without  offending  the  Smith  family,  and  it  baa 
been  Brigham's  poficy  to  show  respect  to  those  members  of  the  "  royal  family  of 
Smith  "  whom  he  can  control 


664 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


The  most  promising  man  among  the  Mormons  for  the  suc- 
cessor of  Brigham,  at  one  time,  was  the  young  apostle  George 
Q.  Cannon. 


The  Apostle  George  Q.  Cannon. 


He  is  by  far  the  ablest  young  man  among  the  apostles.  He 
has  the  education  of  travel,  is  a  reader,  a  writer,  and  a  man  of 
pleasant  manners.  When  he  returned  from  his  mission  in 
Europe,  several  years  ago,  he  spoke  like  a  thinker,  and  showed, 
for  a  time,  a  capacity  that  commanded  respect;  but  he  soon 
learned  that  there  was  but  one  leader  in  "  Israel,"  and  he  grad- 
ually settled  down  to  the  level  of  the  other  apostles,  and,  while 
Brigham  sends  George  A.  Smith  on  a  mission  to  Jerusalem,  he 
sends  George  Q.  Cannon  delegate  to  Congress,  to  let  the  Saints 
feel  and  realize  that  the  Church  affairs  can  do  without  them 
both :  and  meantime  "  Briggy  "  is  being  initiated  into  the  mys- 
teries. 

The  public  generally  are  looking  forward  to  the  death  of 
Brigham  Young  for  the  utter  disintegration  of  Mormonism,  but 
in  this  there  will  be  disappointment.  There  will,  doubtless, 
be  many  changes  and  some  opposition,"^  and,  with  the  removal 

*  There  has  been  some  expectation  that  neither  Orson  Pratt  nor  John  Taylor  will 
submit  to  the  presidency  of  Brigham  Young,  Junior.  Of  late  years  Orson  has  so 
sunk  his  individuality  of  character,  that  little  confidence  can  now  be  placed  in  his 
doing  anything,  but  Brother  John  has  within  him  a  manacled  giant  that  may  then, 


HOW  BRIGHAM  BALANCES  HIS  ACCOUNTS. 


665 


of  Brigliam's  iron  hand,  there  will  be  an  independence  never 
before  realized  since  he  ruled  the  Church ;  but  it  will  take  a 
long  time  to  educate  the  people  out  of  the  system.  As  rail- 
roads are  built,  mines  developed,  and  enterprise  grows  up  in 
the  Territory,  the  influx  of  Gentiles,  and  the  establishment  of 
Christian  schools  and  institutions,  will  soon  break  in  upon  the 
doctrine  of  exclusive  salvation. 

Had  Brigliam  Young  been  a  great  man,  he  had  the  best 
opportunity  that  mortal  ever  possessed  of  showing  it.  There 
never  was  a  people  more  willing  to  do  what  they  were  told 
than  the  Mormons,  and  he  could  have  swayed  them  whither  he 
pleased.  He  could  have  left  behind  him  imperishable  records 
of  his  care  for  the  poor,  the  aged,  and  the  infirm  ;  but,  while 
there  is  not  a  single  hospital  or  institution,  worthy  the  name, 
founded  in  Zion,  he  has  himself  become  immensely  rich.  Hav- 
ing control  of  the  tithing,  and  possessing  unlimited  credit,  he 
has  added  "  house  to  house  and  field  to  field,"  while  every  one 
knew  that  he  had  no  personal  enterprises  sufficient  to  enable 
him  to  meet  anything  like  the  current  expenses  of  his  numer- 
ous wives  and  children.  As  Trustee  in  Trust  he  renders  no  ac- 
count of  the  funds  that  conre  into  his  hands,  but  tells  the  faith- 
ful that  they  are  at  perfect  liberty  to  examine  the  books  at  any 
moment.  He  is  charged  with  having,  in  1852,  balanced  his 
account  with  the  Church  to  the  modest  sum  of  $200,000,  by 
directing  the  clerk  to  place  to  his  credit  the  same  amount  ^^for 
'''' services  rendered  J '^'^  and,  in  1867,  he  further  discharged  his 
obligations,  amounting  to  the  small  sum  of  $967,000,  in  a 
similar  manner."^ 

perhaps,  burst  forth  into  freedom.  There  are  few  more  powerful  men  than  this 
apostle,  and,  had  not  Brigham  made  it  a  point  to  hedge  him  round,  and  arrest  his 
development,  he  would  have  been  a  great  man  in  Zion.  That  he  should  ever  submit 
to  the  dictation  of  young  Brigham  does  not  seem  possible. 

*  It  is  due  to  a  gentleman  who  was  once  the  chief  clerk  of  the  Church,  and  with 
whom  the  Author  was  on  very  intimate  terms,  to  state  here  that  it  was  not  from 
him  that  this  information  was  obtained.  Throughout  this  work,  the  Author  has 
observed  a  strict  reticence  upon  everything  that  was  at  any  time  communicated  to 
him  in  confidence.  Furthermore,  though  he  had  daily  intercourse  with  Brigham 
Young,  his  family,  and  his  immediate  friends,  not  a  single  thing  that  ever  transpired 
in  Brigham's  ofiace  or  house,  in  his  presence,  has  been  alluded  to.  On  all  that  he 
saw  or  heard  while  Brigham's  guest,  or  when  with  him  in  the  capacity  of  friend, 
a  studied  silence  has  been  maintained. 


666 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


For  several  years  past,  the  agent  of  the  Church,  A.  M.  Mus- 
ser,  has  been  engaged  in  securing  legal  deeds  for  all  the  property 
the  Prophet  claims,  and  by  this  he  will  be. able  to  secure  in  his 
lifetime  to  his  different  families  such  property  as  will  render 
them  independent  at  his  death.  The  building  of  the  Pacific 
Railroad  was  said  to  have  yielded  him  about  a  quarter  of  a 
million  ;  the  Utah  Central  Railroad  brought  him  also  a  very 
large  sum  of  money,  and,  altogether,  "the  Lord"  has  dealt 
liberally  with  his  servant  Brigham. 

The  actual  wealth  of  the  Prophet  will  never  be  known. 
There  is  probably  not  a  county  in  Utah  where  he  has  not  some 
valuable  property.  Whenever  new  settlements  have  been  laid 
out,  he  has  not  been  the  last  to  "place"  his  name  upon  the 
records.  With  his  "  opportunities,"  a  man  of  his  characteris- 
tics could  not  fail  to  become  a  great  landed  proprietor.  Heber 
used  to  preach  that  Brigham  and  he  would  one  day  "  own  the 
"  people,"  and  had  the  Tabernacle  predictions  about  "  famines, 
"  and  wars,  and  rumours  of  wars,"  received  the  terrible  fulfil- 
ment that  they  expected,  there  was  quite  a  possibility  of  He- 
ber's  words  coming  true.  Brigham  took  up  great  tracts  of 
land,  and  the  Legislature  gave  him  grants  of  all  he  coveted.* 
With  these  constantly  accumulating  in  value,  and  a  tithing- 
oflSce  at  the  Prophet's  command,  in  a  time  of  great  scarcity, 
when  the  Gentiles  were  to  come  to  Zion  begging  for  bread,  it 
is  not  difficult  to  imagine  the-  facilities  which  Brigham  would 
have  had  for  realizing  Heber's  boast. 

*  It  is  not  strange  that  a  man  of  his  prominence ^hould  have  had  many  favours 
shown  to  him ;  in  any  new  community  in  the  West  any  man  with  a  hundredth  part 
his  influence  could  not  fail  to  receive  many  advantages;  but  the  complaint  is^  that 
Brigham  was  never  satisfied  with  the  lion's  share  of  anything,  but  was  for  ever  want- 
ing to  "  gobble  up  "  everything  that  promised  immediate  value.  The  Legislative  rec- 
ords of  Utah  are  the  proofs  of  the  immensity  of  his  organ  of  acquisitiveness.  All  the 
Twentieth  Ward  "  Bench  "  to  the  north  of  the  city,  and  lying  east  of  his  premises, 
was  given  to  him.  He  had  it  surveyed  into  lots  half  the  ordinary  size,  and  from  that 
alone  he  has  derived  an  excellent  revenue.  A  few  years  ago.  Mayor  Wells  tried  to 
get  the  City  Council  to  give  Brigham  a  large  tract  of  land  on  the  west  of  the  city, 
and  he  wanted  the  Council  also  to  improve  it  for  the  Prophet ;  but  some  members 
protested,  on  the  ground  that  the  city  was  unable  to  do  so.  "  Squire  "  W^ells  was 
very  indignant,  and  tried  to  encourage  the  brethren  to  have  faith  in  the  Lord," 
and  illustrated  the  advantages  of  "trusting  in  the  Lord,"  by  stating  that  when  he 
went  on  a  mission  to  England  he  had  to  sell  some  land  to  pay  his  expenses,  but 
that,  on  his  return,  Brigham  had  handed  him  the  deeds  of  his  city  property  I  To 
the  credit  of  the  City  Council,  they  still  remained  weak  in  the  faith 


THE  INCOME  OF  THE  PROPHET. 


667 


The  report  has  been  circulated  that  Brigham  was  the 
third  largest  depositor  in  the  Bank  of  England;  but,  though 
George  Peabody  has  been  mentioned  as  confirming  this  story, 
it  does  not  seem  possible.  A  wealthy  Gentile,  who  called  upon 
the  Prophet  some  years  ago,  assured  the  Author  that  Brig- 
ham  voluntarily  stated  to  him  that  he  really  had  several 
millions  deposited  there.  In  seeking  to  fathom  Brigham's  rea- 
sons for  such  a  communication,  the  gentleman  could  only  ac- 
count for  it  by  the  Prophet's  ovv^n  statement  that  "  he  had  not 
"  asked  him  concerning  the  number  of  his  family,  or  tried  to 
"  pry  into  anything."  Brigham  was  rather  charmed  with  his 
visitor  on  this  account,  and  was  very  frank  and  communicative. 
The  Prophet's  sermons  have  long  established  for  him  the  repu- 
tation of  a  boaster ;  and,  as  he  will  be  second  to  no  man,  it  is 
quite  likely  that  he  took  some  pleasure  in  informing  this  gen- 
tleman that  he  had  a  bank-account  which  could  not  be  despised. 
Some  years  later — in  1871 — a  New  York  journalist  visiting  the 
Prophet,  referred  to  the  rumour  about  his  having  a  deposit  of 
$17,000,000  in  the  Bank  of  England  ;  and  Brigham  is  said  to 
have  regretted  that  it  was  untrue,  and  that  he  had  not  a  dollar 
outside  of  Utah,  but  that  the  Church"^  had  some  small  amount 
abroad  for  its  use.  That  Brigham  Young  has  money  salted 
"  away,"  that  he  will  not  touch  under  the  pressure  of  any  ne- 
cessity but  that  for  which  it  was  "  salted,"  is  most  assuredly  be- 
lieved by  some  who  have  had  excellent  opportunities  of  knowing 
his  business.  A  man  of  his  shrewdness,  with  so  many  threat- 
enings  of  forced  removal  from  Utah,  and  the  possible  contin- 
gencies of  the  application  of  law,  never  would  permit  himself 
to  be  caught  penniless.    Brigham  has  money — plenty  of  it. 

Of  his  income  from  his  numerous  and  vast  estates,  his 
theatre,  the  Cooperative  business,  his  railroad-bonds,f  mills, 
farms,  rents  in  the  city,  and  from  all  sources,  the  Internal 
Revenue  Office  at  Washington  has  on  record  the  following 
statement  :  For  1867,  $18,400;  for  1868,  $20,005;  1869, 
$28,584 ;  1870,  $25,500 ;  1871,  $111,680 ;  1872,  $39,592.  Of 

*  Louis  XIY.  said,  "  L'J^iaty  c*est  moV^  Brigham  could  as  truthfully  say, 
^^V^glise^  c'est  moV*  , 

f  Brigham  is  the  President  of  the  Utah  Central  Railroad,  but  has  only  six  shares 
in  that  property ;  he  has,  however,  managed  to  possess  $600,000  of  its  bonds  I 


668 


THE  KOCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


course,  no  one  believes  that  these  are  anything  like  the  cor- 
rect figures.  * 

Brigham,  though  of  a  "long-lived  family,"  is  not  a  strong 
man  physically.  He  has  flattered  himself  with  the  hope  that 
he  would  live  to  the  age  of  Moses,  but  he  is  not  likely  to 
"  drag  out "  to  a  hundred  and  twenty  years.  It  is  to  be  hoped, 
however,  that  the  limit  of  his  days  may  not  yet  arrive.  En- 
lightening agencies  now  at  work  in  Utah  are  quietly  telling 
upon  the  first  faith  of  the  people,  and  the  formerly  unchal- 
lenged authority  of  Brigham  to  dictate  in  all  things  is  being 
set  aside.  He  should  live  on  till  the  issue  of  Mormonism  with 
Christianity  has  been  fairly  reached  ;  and  when  the  barbarism 
of  the  worst  phases  of  the  Jewish  polity  revived  has  given  place 
to  civilization  and  development,  Mormonism,  having  abandoned 
its  Theocracy,  will  take  its  place  among  the  innumerable  sects 
of  the  day.    This  can  be  better  achieved  in  his  lifetime. 

The  early  death  of  Brigham  Young  would  make  the  fight 
with  his  successor  the  more  difficult,  as  the  latter  would  then 
feel  it  incumbent  upon  him  to  contend  for  the  idiosyncrasies 
of  his  predecessor.  If  Brigham  lives  but  a  few  years  longer, 
much  that  is  now  tottering  will  be  cast  down  and  disappear 
for  ever.  But  die  when  he  will,  and  succeed  him  who  may, 
the  "  one-man  power"  can  never  be  inherited.  Brigham  suc- 
ceeded Joseph  when  the  people  were  in  trouble  and  consterna- 
tion, and  they  threw  their  individuality  at  his  feet,  and  gave 
him  absolute  dictatorship — they  needed  a  deliverer.  Now,  all 
this  is  changed,  and  hundreds  who  hailed  with  acclamation  the 
sceptre  in  the  hands  of  Brigham  in  Nauvoo,  are  fatigued,  tired, 
and  weary  of  it  in  Salt  Lake  City,  and  never  would  endure  it 
in  the  hands  of  Brigham  Young,  Junior.  The  experiment  of 
Theocracy  will  die  out  with  Brigham's  flickering  flame  of  life ; 
and,  when  he  is  laid  in  the  tomb,  many  who  are  silent  now 
will  curse  his  memory  for  the  cruel  suffering  that  his  ambition 
caused  them  to  endure. 

*  It  is  a  curious  fact  that  one  Gentile — ^Mr.  Warren  B[ussey,  the  banker — ^paid 
last  year  to  the  Government,  within  a  few  hundred  dollars,  twice  as  mucji  as  the 
whole  amount  of  revenue-tax  paid  by  the  entire  Mormon  people,  including  Brigham 
Toung  and  all  the  Mormon  merchants ! 


MAP   OF    UTAH  TERRITORY. 


CHAPTEE  LY. 


THE  TEEEITOEY  OF  UTAH.— Its  Boundaries  and  Character— The  Lakes— Super- 
ficial Area — The  Settlements — ^Population — ^Excess  of  Male  Inhabitants— Mules 
voting  for  Delegates  to  Congress  I — "  Getting  up"  Petitions — The  Militia— The 
Nauvoo  Legion — The  Federal  Governors — A  Stormy  Political  Meeting— Gov- 
ernor Shaffer's  Difficulties — Change  of  Officers— A  Proclamation — Eesolute  Con- 
duct of  the  Governor — His  Last  Official  Act — Conflict  between  Mormon  Officials 
and  Federal  Officers— Delegate  Hooper  justifies  Polygamy  in  Congress— Dr. 
Newman  discusses  Polygamy  with  Orson  Pratt— Appointment  of  Chief-Justice 
McKean — ^His  Legal  Decisions — The  Hawkins  Case — Decisions  reserved  by  the 
Supreme  Court — Brigham's  Anxiety  for  a  State  Government. 

Geogeaphically,  Utah  lies  between  109^  and  114°  west 
longitude  and  37°  and  42°  north  latitude,  less  a  tract  equal  to 
1°  of  latitude  and  2°  of  longitude  taken  from  the  northeast  cor- 
ner by  act  of  Congress,  July,  1868,  and  attached  to  Wyoming 
Territory. 

-  When  the  Territory  of  Utah  was  created,  in  1850,  its  west- 
ern boundary  extended  to  the  eastern  limits  of  California,  and 
embraced  politically  the  country  now  known  as  the  State  of 
Nevada.  The  Territories  of  Idaho  and  Montana  to  the  north, 
Colorado  and  Wyoming  to  the  east,  and  Arizona  to  the  south, 
were  then  uncreated.  The  organization  of  these  Territorial 
governments  changed  the  boundaries  of  Utah,  but  left  ample 
space  for  the  growth  and  development  of  a  large  population. 
The  area  of  the  Territory  at  the  present  time  is  84,476  square 
miles,  or  54,065,075  acres. 

The  Territory  is  almost  divided  into  two  parts  by  a  mag- 
nificent range  of  mountains — the  Wahsatch— that  enters  its 
eastern  limits,  traverses  the  country  in  a  southwesterly  direc- 
tion a  distance  of  four  hundred  miles,  and  extends  beyond  its 
borders  into  the  adjoining  Territory  of  Arizona. 


672 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS, 


That  section  of  Utah  lying  east  of  the  Wahsatcli  range  con- 
sists of  an  elevated  plain  five  thousand  feet  above  the  level  of 
the  sea,  with  here  and  there  separate  and  distinct  ranges  of 
mountains.  Although  comparatively  unexplored,  it  is  ascer- 
tained that  deposits  of  a  superior  quality  of  bituminous  coal 
exist  there  in  several  localities,  while  reports  have  been  occa- 
sionally circulated  of  placer  gold  mines  of  great  richness  and 
extent  being  found  in  those  mountain  ranges. 

Aside  from  its  future  importance  as  a  mineral  region,  and 
as  affording  a  range  for  stock,  it  is  probable  that  but  little  of 
that  section,  beyond  the  Uintah  Indian  reservation,  will  prove 
of  much  value  to  the  farmer,  in  consequence  of  its  sterility. 

In  the  western  and  lesser  division  of  Utah,  a  series  of  beau- 
tiful valleys  is  found,  extending  throughout  the  entire  length 
of  the  Territory. 

Saline  and  fresh  water  lakes  are  numerous.  The  most  ex- 
tensive are  Great  Salt  Lake  and  Lake  Utab.*  The  former  is 
one  hundred  miles  in  length  in  a  southeasterly  and  northwest- 
erly direction,  by  fifty  miles  in  width,  showing  sixty  feet  of 
water  at  its  deepest  soundings,  and  holding  in  solution  twenty 
per  cent,  of  salt.  Lake  Utah  is  situated  forty  miles  south,  and 
is  connected  with  Great  Salt  Lake  by  the  river  Jordan.  It  con- 
tains fresh  water,  and  is  twenty-four  miles  long  by  twelve  miles 
wide.  These  lakes  will  be  most  useful  in  the  future  as  sources 
of  internal  communication  ;  but,  aside  from  this.  Lake  Utah  is 
now  invaluable  for  purposes  of  irrigation. 

The  rivers  formed  in  the  mountains  from  the  melting  of  the 
snow  are  numerous,  but  of  no  great  length — -Bear  River  in  the 
north,  and  the  Colorado  and  its  tributaries,  the  Green  and 
Grand,  which  drain  the  eastern  division,  excepted. 

The  Government  surveys  commenced  in  the  year  1855,  by 
the  establishment  of  an  independent  base  and  meridian  at  the 
southeast  corner  of  Temple  Block,  in  Salt  Lake  City,  latitude 
40°  46'  V  north,  longitude  111°  53'  30''  west,  and  continued 

*  Bear  Lake,  or  the  northern  boundary  line,  is  a  beautiful  azure  sheet  of  water, 
twenty-five  miles  long  and  six  wide.  The  rugged  mountains  on  the  eastern  side  of 
the  lake  are  magnificent,  and  look  the  very  counterpart  of  the  towering  peaks  of 
Savoy  that  environ  the  blue  waters  of  the  Lake  of  Geneva.  No  tourist  in  Europe 
ever  gazed  upon  a  prettier  mountain  country  than  that  of  northern  Utah,  between 
Bear  Lake  and  the  Pacific  Railroad. 


UTAH  TERRITORY.— THE  SETTLEMENTS. 


673 


until  1857.  Utah  was  subsequently  attached  to  Colorado  for 
surveying  purposes,  and,  by  act  of  Congress,  approved  July 
16,  1868,  it  was  again  constituted  a  separate  surveying  dis- 
trict, and  a  land  office  was  established  in  Salt  Lake  City. 

The  surveys  extended,  in  the  beginning  of  18Y2,  over 
4,016,825  acres,  of  which  92,637  acres  were  embraced  in 
vacated  Indian  reservations,  and  at  that  date  no  lines  had 
been  carried  eastward  beyond  the  base  of  the  Wahsatch 
Mountains. 

The  land  office  was  opened  March  15,  1869,  and  from  that 
date  declaratory  statements  under  the  Preemption  Act  of  Sep- 
tember 4,  1841,  had  been  filed  for  400,000  acres.  Of  that  ex- 
tent of  land,  68,315  acres  had  been  paid  for  with  cash,  mainly 
at  the  minimum  price  of  $1.25  per  acre.  In  addition,  20,480 
acres  had  been  located  with  military  bounty  land-warrants, 
and  23,200  acres  with  Agricultural  College  scrip. 

Homestead  entries,  covering  167,250  acres,  have  been  made 
under  the  act  of  May  29,  1862. 

Estimating  that  there  are  2,000,000  acres,  or  the  one 
twenty-seventh  part  of  the  Territory,  susceptible  of  cultiva- 
tion, there  yet  remain  1,500,000  acres  unappropriated  for 
future  settlement. 

The  Mormon  settlements  extend  to  the  full  limits  of  the 
Territory  in  every  direction,  but  the  necessity  in  the  beginning 
of  guarding  against  the  incursions  of  the  Indians  induced  the 
founders  of  new  homes  to  keep  within  supporting  distance ;  and 
following  the  natural  sweep  of  the  valleys  at  the  base  of  the 
mountains,  the  principal  settlements  are  found  near  to  each 
other,  almost  in  a  direct  line  from  north  to  south.  Brigham's 
policy  was,  to  occupy  as  fast  as  possible. the  best  lands,  and, 
though  there  is  doubtless  good  land  still  unclaimed,  the  Prophet 
may  be  said  to  have  made  his  point,  and  Utah  Territory  may 
truthfully  be  regarded  as  "  the  inheritance  of  the  Saints,"  and 
no  justly  thinking  person  can  grudge  them  possessions  for 
which  they  have  fought  so  bravely  and  so  long  through  many 
years  of  discouragement  and  privation. 

The  first  settlement  founded  was  Salt  Lake  City ;  and,  just 
as  soon  as  the  pioneers  could  save  seed  from  their  first  har- 
vests, they  were  urged  to  go  out  and  settle  in  every  direction. 


674 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


The  Prophet,  of  course,  had  the  control  of  everybody,  and  the 
men  whom  he  deemed  the  best  suited  to  intrust  with  the  task 
of  founding  cities  were  appointed  to  that  mission.  Scores  of 
others  were  called  to  accompany  them,  and  yolunteers  were 
permitted  to  join  their  ranks.  The  settlements  have  thus 
grown  in  number,  till  there  are  now  thirty  incorporated  cities 
and  about  fourscore  towns  and  villages  regularly  organized, 
with  a  bishop  or  acting-bishop  over  each. 

There  are  numerous  mining  cities  springing  into  existence 
in  the  canons,  but,  properly  speaking,  there  is  but  one  Gentile 
commercial  city  in  the  Territory — Gorinne,  a  very  enterprising 
town,  situated  on  the  Gentral  Pacific  Railroad,  about  sixty-five 
miles  north  of  Salt  Lake  Gity. 

The  population  of  Utah  for  several  years  was  reported  to 
be  about  125,000  souls,  but  with  the  recent  large  influx  of  Gen- 
tiles added,  there  are  probably  not  more  than  that  number  of 
inhabitants  at  the  present  time.  The  last  census  reports  (1870) 
fix  the  population  at  88,374,  but  there  were  probably  then 
about  100,000.^ 

From  the  first  effort  to  obtain  admission  for  Utah  into  the 
Union,  the  population  of  the  Territory  has  always  been  greatly 
overstated.  One  of  the  persons  last  engaged  in  taking  the 
census  related  to  the  Author  that  one  of  the  Mormon  sisters, 
in  the  southern  part  of  the  Territory,  in  reporting  to  him  the 


*  The  following  is  a  table  of  the  counties  in  Utah,  and  their  population  (Census 
Report,  ISYO): 


Box  Elder  4,T54 

Beaver  2,008 

Cache   8,229 

Davis  4,460 

Iron  2,141 

Juab   2,251 

Kane  1,513 

Morgan   1,972 


Millard   2,754 

Piute   257 

Rich   2,087 

Salt  Lake   18,406 

Sevier   365 

San  Pete.  .   6,884 

Summit   2,536 


Tooele   2,177 

Utali  13,885 

Weber   7,880 

Wahsfitch   1,252 

Washington   3,063 

Total   88,374 


The  principal  cities  and  towns,  with  a  population  of  over  600,  may  be  of  interest 
by  way  of  reference : 

North  Ogden   684 

OgdenCity   8,127 

Provo  City   2,720 

Payson   1,571 

Parowan   862 

8  alt  Lake  City   12,846 

Slaterville   508 

St.  George  City   1,442 

Sugar  House  Ward   651 

Tooele  City   958 

Washington   6l5 


BrighamCity  1,075 

Bountiful  1,517 

Beaver  City  1,209 

Corinne   873 

Cedar  City   522 

Centreville   544* 

Coalville   642 

EphraimCity   1,216 

Fillmore  City   905 

Farmington   976 

Fairview   540 

Fountain  Green   690 


Grantsville   755 

Gunnison   520 

Heber  City   663 

Kaysville  1,423 

Kanosh   521 

Logan   1,800 

Moroni   646 

Mount  Pleasant.  1,360 

Manti  1,154 

Minersville   510 

Mill  Creek   920 

NephiCity  1,388 


GETTING  UP"  PETITIONS. 


676 


number  of  the  family  in  her  domicile,  was  somewhat  surprised 
that  he  did  not  take  the  names  of  the  deceased  members  who 
had  once  lived  there,  and  innocently  added :  "  That  is  the 
"  way  we  used  to  do  it !  "  A  good  story  is  also  told  of  a  limb 
of  the  law  who  named  his  pair  of  mules,  and  then  cast  their 
votes  for  the  delegate  to  Congress.  The  Apostle  Benson  used 
to  say  on  the  Sunday  evening  preceding  the  election  :  "  Now, 
^'brethren,  let  us  have  a  good  vote ;  the  President  wants  a  rous- 
"ing  vote;  we  must  have  so  many !  "  Not  long  ago,  some  of 
the  teachers  engaged  in  obtaining  signatures  to  a  sisters'  peti- 
tion to  Mrs.  Grant,  asking  her  influence  with  the  President  to 
favour  the  non-interference  of  Congress  with  Polygamy,  took 
down  the  name  of  one  lady,  who  reports  the  circumstance,  and 
the  names  of  all  her  daughters,  including  a  little  girl  of  a  dozen 
summers,  and  then  asked  her  whether  she  had  not  some  chil- 
dren who  were  now  no  longer  living.  She  replied  in  the 
affirmative,  and  was  then  told  that  her  dead  daughters'  names 
ought  to  be  added,  as  petitioners,  to  the  list,  as  "they  were 
"  certain  to  be  polygamists  in  heaven  ! '' 

However  much  such  proceedings  might  be  deprecated  from 
a  moral  stand-point,  the  priesthood  who  favour  such  question- 
able doings  have  no  idea  of  responsibility  save  to  "  the  Lord," 
and  all  is  fair  that  is  done  for  his  service  and  for  "  the  king- 
"  dom's  sake ; "  "  any  thing  to  beat " — the  Gentiles  ! 

One-fifth  of  the  entire  population  of  the  Territory  is  in 
Salt  Lake  City,  and  singularly  enough  for  a  polygamic  Terri- 
tory, in  all  the  counties  save  three — Cache,  Iron,  and  Salt 
Lake — there  is  a  preponderance  of  male  inhabitants ;  in  one 
county — Washington — the  sexes  are  equal  in  number.  Ac- 
cording to  the  census,  there  are  two  thousand  and  fifty-six  more 
males  than  females  in  Utah ! 

All  able-bodied  citizens  between  the  ages  of  eighteen  and 
forty-five  are  enrolled  in  the  militia  of  the  Territory,  and  foriL 
part  of  the  organization  called  the  "Nauvoo  Legion."  The 
Governor  of  the  Territory  is  commander-in-chief  of  the  militia, 
and  such  was  Brigham  Young,  in  the  fullest  meaning  of  that 
term,  while  he  was  the  chief  Executive;  but  since, his  deposi- 
tion, no  Governor  has  felt  that  he  was  more  than  a  "  figure- 


G76 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


"head,"  and  that  virtually  the  militia  was  still  in  the  hands 
of  the  Prophet. 

The  "Legion"  has  a  thorough  organization,  and  numbers 
about  thirteen  thousand  men,  who  are  well  armed  and  equipped, 
and  well  drilled.  The  chief  of  the  Legion  is  Daniel  H.  "Wells, 
the  second  counsellor  of  Brigham  Young,  who  bears  the  title 
of  lieutenant-general.  There  are  two  major-generals,  nine 
brigadier-generals,  twenty-five  colonels,  and  one  hundred  and 
twelve  majors,  with  their  respective  staff-officers. 

The  Mormons  have  a  great  deal  of  pride  in  being  soldiers, 
and  on  muster  parade  they  make  a  good  show..  During  the 
early  occupation  of  the  Territory,  Brigham  tried  to  obtain  arms 
for  the  militia  from  the  Government,  but  "  fortunately  he  was 
"  unsuccessful,"  and  now  the  arms  with  which  the  Saints  are 
equipped  are  their  own  property.  The  reader  may  remember 
that,  after  Governor  Ford  made  a  demand  for  the  State  arms 
in  Nauvoo,  the  Mormons,  when  shortly  afterwards  hastily  sum- 
moned to  protect  the  city,  were  found  to  be  as  well  armed 
as  before.  For  many  years  it  has  been  rare  for  a  Utah  mission- 
ary in  England  to  return  to  Zion  without  tajiing  back  to  the 
mountains  a  sword,  the  best  rifle  he  could  obtain,  and  the  latest 
improved  revolvers. 

One-fifth  of  the  "Nauvoo  Legion"  is  enrolled  in  the  cav- 
alry, and  better  and  more  daring  riders  than  the  Utah  boys 
would  be  difficult  to  find  anywhere.  The  "  Legion  "  has  only 
a  few  pieces  of  artillery,  and  those  of  very  ancient  manufac- 
ture. In  former  years,  the  .Church  was  little  able  to  buy 
ordnance ;  it  was  difficult  to  transport  heavy  guns  secretly, 
and,  as  there  was  no  commercial  avarice  to  be  gratified  by  the 
possession  of  a  few  pieces,  Zion  is  to-day  very  badly  supplied 
with  this  important  arm  of  the  service.  With  all  the  bombast 
of  prediction  to  sustain  it,  there  is  not  in  "  the  kingdom  of 
"  God  upon  earth  "  twenty-four  hours'  defence  against  Grant, 
Sherman,  or  Sheridan. 

With  these  distinguished  generals  of  the  Eepublic  the  Au- 
thor has  had  the  honour  of  speaking  upon  Utah  afi*airs,  and  he  is 
much  gratified  at  being  able  to  state  that,  while  the  priesthood 
have,  in  their  folly,  laboured  to  array  the  Church  against  the 
Go>i  ernment,  these  soldiers  of  the  nation  have  breathed  only 


THE  "NAUVOO  LEGION." 


677 


forbearance  and  kindly  consideration  for  the  men  and  women 
who  have  braved  the  labours  of  the  desert  and  the  howling  wil- 
derness, and  they  have  expressed  the  wish  that  the  Mormons 
could  learn  without  bitter  and  sad  experience  that  they  were  a 
part  of  the  Republic,  and  a  valuable  connecting  link  between 
the  decaying  past  and  the  budding  future  of  the  world's  his- 
tory. But,  between  the  military  glory  that  the  most  devoted 
Saint  might  legitimately  crave,  and  that  obedience  to  the 
powers  that  be,"  which  a  faithful  representative  of  the  na- 
tion should  demand,  there  has  been  a  continual  strife.  It 
is  natural  for  Brigham  Young,  with  his  religious  faith,  to  de- 
sire the  conservation  of  all  civil,  judicial,  and  military  author- 
ity among  the  Saints,  but  it  is  as  natural  for  the  representa- 
tives of  the  Government  to  insist  that  the  Federal  authorities 
be  acknowledged  in  any  legitimate  sphere  of  action  to  which 
they  may  have  been  appointed.  The  Governors  who  suc- 
ceeded Alfred  Gumming  have,  each  and  all,  in  their  annual 
message  to  the  Legislature,  asked  to  be  properly  acknowledged 
commander-in-chief  of  the  militia,  but  the  legislators,  by  pur- 
posed delay  and  circumlocution,  manage  to  pass  over,  session 
after  session,  any  action  that  would  disturb  the  organization  of 
the  Nauvoo  Legion.  To  the  annual  drills  the  Governor  would 
be  invited,  and  before  him,  if  he  attended,  the  militia  would 
parade,  and  some  of  the  brethren  would  make  speeches  and 
compliment  the  chief  Executive,  but  the  latter  would  quietly 
smile  to  his  friends,  and  make  some  remark  that  might  be 
interpreted :  "  Well,  we  can't  help  it,  and  there's  no  use  in 
"  making  trouble." 

It  has  been  generally  understood  that  the  Secretary  of  W"ar, 
General  Eawlins,  had,  during  his  visit  to  Utah,  in  1868,  been 
much  dissatisfied  with  what  he  saw  of  Mormon  Theocracy, 
and,  on  his  return  to  Washington,  had  asked  the  appointment 
of  "  Wills  "  Shaffer,  of  Illinois,  for  Governor.  "The  reconstruc- 
tion of  the  South  "  was  then  thought  to  be  enough  for  the 
Government  to  deal  with,  but,  on  the  retirement  of  Governor 
Durkee,  General  J.  Wilson  Shaffer  was  appointed  to  Utah. 
His  appointment  was  regarded  as  the  precursor  of  a  different 
line  of  policy  from  that  which  had  previously  prevailed. 

Between  the  time  of  Governor  Durkee's  resignation  and 


678 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


the  arrival  of  Governor  Shaffer,  at  the  end  of  March,  1870, 
Secretary  S.  A.  Mann  had  been  acting-Governor.  Mr.  Mann 
had  outdistanced  even  Secretary  and  Acting-Governor  Fuller 
in  his  pliant  services  to  the  Prophet  and  the  Legislature. 

After  the  arrival  of  the  new  Governor  a  change  was  soon 
apparent.  Every  one — Mormon  and  anti-Mormon — felt  that 
there  was  a  man  of  energy  in  the  Executive  chair.  Governor 
Shaffer  was  sick  and  dying,  but  he  meant  to  be  Governor 
de  facto  as  well  as  de  jure.  The  New  Movement  orators  and 
writers  were  then  in  the  heat  of  their  little  battle  with  The- 
ocracy, and  had  allied  to  their  revelations  a  determination  to 
be  political.  A  few  weeks  before  Governor  Shaffer  arrived 
among  the  Saints,  a  political  meeting  of  "  Liberals  "  had  been 
broken  up  by  prominent  men  of  the  community.  The  rough- 
and-ready  brethren  from  several  of  the  wards  had  been  invited, 
who  rushed  in  and  filled  the  hall,  and  nothing  but  the  utmost 
coolness  and  prudence  on  the  part  of  the  Liberals  prevented 
the  effusion  of  blood.  "  The  brethren  "  were  armed,  and  when 
the  plot  of  the  priesthood  was  discovered,*  there  were  few  of 
the  Gentiles  present  who  did  not  expect  that  a  massacre  would 
take  place  before  the  meeting  was  finally  dispersed. 

*  Brigham  Young  sent  his  chief  clerk  the  next  morning  to  assume  responsibility 
for  the  damage  done  to  the  hall,  and  it  was  very  fortunate  that  only  broken  benches 
had  to  be  settled  for,  as  there  was  evidence  direct  as  to  who  gave  the  instructions 
to  overwhelm  the  Liberals,  If  an  investigation  of  this  occurrence  had  taken  place, 
it  would  have  revealed  that  dozens  of  men  sat  and  stood  in  that  hall  the  whole 
of  the  evening,  with  their  hands  upon  their  revolvers,  watching  for  the  first  blow. 
Two  notorious  "Minute  men"  were  seated  behind  one  of  the  leading  Liberals,  ap- 
parently there  as  other  citizens,  without  any  show  of  purpose ;  but,  if  a  fight  had 
begun,  it  was  believed  that  he  would  have  been  their  victim.  He  knew  of  their 
presence,  and  sat  unmoved  with  his  revolver  under  his  coat,  while  one  of  his  friends 
stood  close  by,  apparently  unconcerned,  but  with  his  revolver  also  ready,  watching 
the  other  two.  There  were  dozens  in  similar  positions  throughout  the  hall,  expect- 
ing every  moment  that  some  unguarded  word  might  begin  the  trouble.  That  meet- 
ing was  held  in  Zion. 

It  is  affirmed  that,  at  a  meeting  of  the  "  School  of  the  Prophets,"  a  short  time 
previous  to  this,  one  of  the  leading  men,  speaking  of  Godbe,  Harrison,  and  Kelsey, 
said  that  "the  best  thing  that  could  occur  to  them  was,  to  put  them  out  of  the  way.'*'* 
Seeing  that  the  sentiment  was  not  received  with  favour,  but  created  quite  a  feeling 
of  horror,  he  arose  and  said  that  "the  School  should  understand  that  that  was  not 
"  counselled."  A  number  of  the  members  of  the  School  threw  down  their  tickets 
of  membership  on  the  ground  when  they  left  the  building,  and  trampled  them  under 
their  feet,  and  never  returned  to  the  School  again. 


TIMES  OF  DANGER. 


679 


Tiie  New  Movement  had  caused  considerable  excitement, 
and  the  principal  leaders  had  good  reasons  for  believing  that 
they  owed  the  safety  of  their  lives  to  their  own  ability  to  de- 
fend them,  and  to  nothing  else.  Their  steps  were  dogged  at 
night,  and  for  some  months  dangerous  characters  were  seen 
prowling  around  their  houses,  evidently  seeking  their  oppor- 
tunity. The  "  Reformers "  never  went  out  of  doors  without 
arms,  and  every  precaution  was  taken  at  home  by  fixing  an 
extra  supply  of  bolts  and  bars  to  doors  and  windows.  Godbe, 
Harrison,  and  Kelsey,  were  never  permitted  by  their  brethren 
to  be  out  after  sunset  without  a  friendly  escort.  And  this 
dread  of  assassination  was  not  the  unfounded  apprehension  of 
cowardice.  Men  who  were  brave  enough  to  attack  the  Prophet 
and  Theocracy  in  the  chief  city  of  Zion,  with  at  the  same 
time  a  knowledge  of  the  desperate  deeds  that  had  already  been 
committed,  were  men  not  to  be  frightened  by  shadows. 

It  was  in  the  midst  of  this  trouble  that  Governor  Shafi*er 
arrived  among  the  Mormons,  and  no  man  of  his  intellect  and 
nerve  could  assume  the  duties  of  that  office  without  being  at 
once' forced  to  the  determination  of  adopting  such  legal  meas- 
'  ures  as  were  within  his  reach,  to  give  protection  to  those  whose 
persons  were  endangered. 

Before  he  left  Washington,  he  doubtless  had  the  assurance 
of  the  Government  that  he  would  be  sustained  in  everything 
that  was  legitimate  and  proper  to  do  in  affording  protection  to 
all  citizens  irrespective  of  faith.  Representations  were  made 
of  the  insecurity  felt  in  the  country,  as  well  as  in  the  city, 
wherever  there  was  dissent  from  the  Prophet,  and  a  few  com- 
panies of  United  States  troops  were  asked  for.  Lieutenant- 
General  Sheridan  visited  Utah,  and  made  hims-elf  acquainted 
with  the  actual  situation  of  affairs.  This  distinguished  soldier 
expressed  the  kindliest  sentiments  for  the  people,  admired  the 
work  they  had  accomplished,  and  hoped  that  nothing  would 
occur  to  disturb  them  in  the  peaceful  possessions  of  their  homes. 
His  visit  was  at  the  finest  season  of  the  year,  and  he  was  truly 
charmed  with  the  appearance  of  the  city.  Troops,  whenever 
wanted,  would,  however,  be  forthcoming,  not  as  a  menace  to 
the  community,  but  that  at  their  camp  the  oppressed  might 
find  beneath  the  stars  and  stripes  the  protection  of  the  Govern- 


680 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


ment.  Governor  Shaffer  is  dead ;  lie  cannot  answer  his  tra- 
ducers ;  but  these  were  his  sentiments,  and  almost  his  words 
to  the  Author,  as  well  as  the  words  of  the  great  cavalry-soldier 
of  the  Republic. 

The  constant  division  among  the  Federal  officers  of  the  Ter- 
ritory had  not  only  been  advantageous  to  the  priesthood,  but 
it  had  also  been  a  scandal  to  the  Government,  and  that  condi- 
tion of  affairs  Governor  Shaffer  was  charged  to  bring  to  an 
end.  A  new  Secretary  soon  succeeded  S.  A.  Mann,  and  the 
Hon.  James  B.  McKean,  of  New  York,  was  appointed  Chief- 
Justice  ;  there  was  also  a  new  marshal  in  the  person  of  Colonel 
M.  T.  Patrick,  of  Omaha. 

Governor  Shaffer  believed  that  the  Mormon  leaders  had 
been  disloyal  to  the  Government,  and  were  determined  to  pre- 
serve within  their  own  hands  the  militarj^  power  of  the  Terri- 
tory, and  to  practically  ignore  him  as  commander-in-chief,  as 
they  had  his  predecessors.  .  As  the  annual  three  days'  drill  was 
about  to  take  place,  he  issued  the  following  proclamation : 

ExEOUTivB  Depaetment,  Salt  Lake  City,  U.  T.,  September  15, 1870. 

Know  ye,  that  I,  J.  Wilson  Shaffer,  Governor  of  the  Territory  of  Utah,  < 
and  Commander-in-Chief  of  the  militia  of  the  Territory  of  Utah,  do  hereby 
forbid  and  prohibit  all  musters,  drills,  or  gatherings  of  any  nature,  kind,  . 
or  description  of  armed  persons,  within  the  Territory  of  Utah,  except  by 
my  order,  or  by  the  order  of  the  United  States  Marshal,  should  he  need 
a  posse  comitatus  to  execute  any  order  of  the  Court,  and  not  otherwise. 
And  it  is  hereby  further  ordered,  that  all  arms  and  munitions  of  war  be- 
longing to  either  the  United  States,  or  the  Territory  of  Utah,  not  in  pos- 
session of  United  States  soldiers,  be  immediately  delivered  by  the  parties 
having  the  same  in  their  possession,  to  Colonel  Wm.  M.  Johns,  Assistant- 
Adjutant  General. 

And  it  is  further  ordered,  that  should  the  United  States  Marshal  need 
3.  posse  comitatus  to  enforce  any  order  of  the  Court,  he  is  hereby  authorized 
and  empowered  to  make  a  requisition  upon  Major-General  P.  E.  Connor 
for  such  posse  comitatus,  or  armed  force,  and  Major-Gen eral  P.  E.  Connor 
is  hereby  authorized  to  order  out  the  militia,  or  any  part  thereof,  as  of  my 
order  for  said  purpose  or  purposes,  and  no  other. 

Witness  my  hand,  and  the  Great  Seal  of  said  Territory,  at  Salt  Lake 
City,  this  15th  day  of  September,  A.  6. 1870.    J.  W.  Shaffer,  Governor. 

Attest . 

Vernon  H.  Vaughan,  Secretary  of  Utah  Territory. 

This  was  an  extraordinary  document.  It  was  the  desperate 
act  of  a  man  driven  to  the  assertion  of  a  right  and  duty  of 


RESOLUTE  CONDUCT  OF  GOVERNOR  SHAFFER.  681 


oflSce  that  had  been  practically  denied  him.  The  Lieutenant- 
General  had  proceeded  with  his  usual  indifference  towards  the 
Governor,  and  issued  his  military  orders  for  mustering  and 
drilling  the  troops  as  if  he  had  had  no  superior.  The  Gov- 
ernor had  had  no  previous  opportunity  of  calling  him  to  ac- 
count, and  it  w^as  now  necessary  that  he  should  do  so,  or  quietly 
take  his  place  with  his  predecessors  who  had  been  known  in 
this  capacity  only  in  name. 

Governor  Shaffer  was  unhappily  situated  when  he  resolved 
to  assert  his  position  as  commander-in-chief  of  the  militia,  for 
he  had  no  choice  of  persons  whom  he  could  appoint  to  aid  him 
in  the  work  that  he  undertook  to  accomplish.  It  was  neces- 
sary that  he  should  appoint  some  one  to  take  command  of  the 
militia,  and  that  one — Major-General  P.  Edward  Connor — 
though  in  every  way  qualified  as  an  oflScer,  was  the  last  person 
in  the  Territory  whom  the  militia  would  at  that  time  have  de- 
sired to  see  placed  over  them. 

Could  Governor  Shaffer  have  found  an  officer  who  had  had 
no  controversy  with  the  leaders,  the  Mormons  might  have  ob- 
jected all  the  same  to  his  appointment,  but  in  the  appointment 
of  General  Connor  to  be  "  major-general  of  the  Utah  militia," 
they  had  argument  on  their  side.  Governor  Shaffer  had  the 
other  argument,  that  they  had  forced  him  to  that  appointment 
— he  had  no  alternative.  The  lieutenant-general,  through 
the  adjutant-general,  had  remonstrated,  and  asked  that  the 
musters  be  permitted  to  take  place,  as  the  orders  had  been 
issued,  but  the  Governor  was  inexorable,  and  sent  a  scorching 
letter  of  reply,  in  which  he  related  to  the  lieutenant-general 
his  treasonable  proceedings  and  the  disloyalty  of  the  Mormon 
leaders.  That  was  the  last  official  act  of  Governor  Shaffer, 
and  it  was  solely  his  own,  and  not  the  emanation  of  "  a  ring," 
as  charged  by  the  Mormons.  He  was  dictating  the  last  words 
of  the  letter  as  the  Author  entered  the  Executive  office,  and 
there  he  was  lying  upon  his  couch,  weak,  exhausted,  and 
scarcely  able  to  speak.  "  I  have  answered  their  letter,  Sten- 
"  house,"  he  said. 

"  And  I  expect,  Governor,  after  the  acknowledgment  of 
"  your  authority,  you  have  granted  them  permission." 

You  think  I  would  !    Stenhouse,  if  I  were  not  dying,  I 


682 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


"  would  get  up  and  whip  you.  Thej  are  traitors,  and  I  only 
^'  regret  that  I  shall  not  live  to  help  to  bring  them  to  justice. 

Brigham  Young  has  played  his  game  of  bluff  long  enough. 
"  I  will  make  him  show  his  hand." 

The  country  was  excited.  On  the  one  side  it  was  persist- 
ently asserted  that  the  drill  would  be  held  in  spite  of  the  Got- 
ernor ;  and  those  who  were  acquainted  with  the  latter  knew 
well  that  he  would  maintain  the  spirit  and  letter  of  his  procla- 
mation. Had  the  lieutenant-general  persevered,  the  Governor 
would  have  sent  the  marshal  to  arrest  hiyi  and  the  chief  offi- 
cers. The  marshal  would  have  been  walked  out  of  camp,  the 
Governor  would  have  telegraphed  for  five  thousand  regular 
troops,  they  would  have  been  sent,  and  the  looked-for  collision 
would  have  taken  place.  The  muster,  however,  did  not  take 
place  in  Salt  Lake  county,  but  in  distant  parts  of  the  Territory ; 
the  militia  were  assembled  and  drilled,  but  no  mention  was 
made  of  the  fact  in  the  Mormon  papers. 

The  Governor  died  on  the  last  day  of  October— six  weeks 
after  the  difficulty  had  begun  ;  the  militia  trouble  did  not  end 
with  his  life. 

The  return  of  the  Fourth  of  July  afforded  another  oppor- 
tunity for  a  difficulty.  "  Lieutenant-General "  Wells  issued  an 
order  for  a  portion  of  the  militia  to  take  part  in  the  procession 
on  the  nation's  birthday.  Governor  George  L.  Woods  was  ab- 
sent from  the  Territory,  and  George  A.  Black,  who  had  been 
Governor  Shaffer's  private  secretary,  w^as  now  Secretary  of  the 
Territory  and  acting-Governor.  He  immediately  issued  a 
proclamation,  forbidding  "  the  said  military  parade  under  the 
"  said  order  of  the  said  Daniel  H.  Wells,"  as  "no  such  office 
"  or  officer  (was)  recognized  by  the  commander-in-chief  of  the 
"  militia  of  this  Territory  as  that  of  lieutenant-general."  Wells 
was  furious,  and  threatened  to  bring  out  the  militia;  and  "he 
"would  see  if  a  boy  should  interfere  with  them." 

Age  not  being  considered  in  points  of  law  and  military  rule, 
acting-Governor  Black  paid  no  attention  to  sneers  or  threats, 
and  called  upon  the  commander  of  the  United  States  military 
at  Camp  Douglas  to  be  present  in  the  city  on  the  morning  of 
the  Fourth,  with  all  his  available  command,  to  await  further 


THE  INEVITABLE  CONTEST 


683 


requisitions.  The  commandant  of  the  United  States  troops 
had  had  a  newspaper  difficulty  with  Governor  Shafier.  He 
had  dined  with  Brigham  Young  and  a  few  of  his  wives,  was 
charmed  by  the  prophetic  entourage^  and  thought  "  le  Presi- 

dent  Young  est  vn  tres  gentil  homme^  et  ses  femmes  sont  i/res 
"  comme-il-fautP  He  was  on  the  side  of  Brigham  for  no  other 
reason  than  that  he  was  profoundly  ignorant  of  the  question  at 
.issue  between  thq  Republic  and  the  Theocracy,  and  the  instinct 
of  his  nationality  inclined  him  to  the  side  of  courtesy.  Gen- 
eral R.  De  Trobriand  was,  however,  a  soldier,  and  when  inter- 
rogated by  the  Mormons  as  to  what  he  would  do  on  the  order 
of  the  Governor,  he  answered:  "I  would  shoot  you  down." 
Before  such  a  matter-of-fact  reply  the  threatening  of  Daniel  H. 
Wells  succumbed,  and  he  countermanded  the  military  parade 
in  time  to  save  a  collision. 

From  these  incidents  the  reader  will  perceive  the  inevitable 
and  interminable  contest  that  must  for  ever  exist  on  this  sub- 
ject between  the  Mormons  and  the  Federal  Governor.  The 
militia  have  rights,  as  citizens,  to  elect  their  officers ;  and  un- 
doubtedly, if  left  to  their  own  selection,  their  chief  would  have 
been  Daniel  H.  Wells,  simply  because  Brigham  had  nominated 
him  to  that  post;  and  the  Governor  must  be  commander-in- 
chief,  because  Congress  had  appointed  him  to  that  position. 
Throughout  this  controversy,  it  was  evident  that-  Theocracy 
and  Republicanism  were  naturally  antagonistic,  and  that  the 
representatives  of  neither  theory  would  yield  to  the  other. 
The  militia  of  Utah  are  Brigham's  brethren ;  they  have  en- 
listed on  the  side  of  "  the  Kingdom,"  and  the  Republic  is  a 
Gentile  institution.  The  Federal  officers,  however,  reverse 
the  status  of  the  parties — the  Republic  is  everything,  Brigham 
and  his  "  kingdom"  are  but  an  ism." 

On  that  Fourth  of  July  (1871),  the  Saints  and  the  Gentiles 
had  separate  processions  in  honour  of  the  day,  and  all  passed 
off  peaceably  ;  but,  from  that  time  to  the  present,  the  Utah 
militia  has  never  been  mustered.  Gospel  and  law  were  now 
to  mingle  in  the  interesting  history  of  Utah. 

In  the  spring  of  1870,  Delegate  Hooper  delivered  a  very 
carefully  prepared  speech  in  the  House  of  Representatives  in 


684 


THE  KOCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


defence  of  his  constituents  practising  polygamy,  upon  the 
ground  that  the  Bible  sanctioned  that  institution,  and  that  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States  forbade  any  interference 
with  religious  worship.  To  this  speech,  the  Eev.  J.  P.  New- 
man, then  pastor  of  the  Metropolitan  Church  at  Washington, 
and  Chaplain  of  the  Senate,  delivered  a  reply.  A  Salt  Lake 
paper,  noticing  this,  intimated  that  the  reverend  gentleman 
had  delivered  the  sermon  in  the  wrong  place,  and  that  the 
Mormon  Tabernacle  was  the  place  where  it  should  be  heard. 
Regarding  this  as  a  challenge,  Dr.  Newman  announced  his 
purpose  of  visiting  Utah.  Early  in  August  he  arrived  among 
the  Saints,  accompanied  by  the  Eev.  Dr.  Sunderland,  of  the 
Congregational  Church,  at  Washington,  and,  immediately  on 
his  arrival,  he  notified  Brigham  Young  that  he  was  there  in 
compliance  with  his  challenge,  and  was  read}^  to  discuss  with 
him  the  subject  of  Polygamy  on  Biblical  grounds. 

Brigham  informed  the  Doctor  that  he  had  never  challenged 
him,  and  disavowed  all  responsibility  for  the  utterances  of  the 
journal  in  which  he  deemed  himself  invited  to  come  to  Utah. 
But  the  reverend  gentleman  was  determined  not  to  be  put  off, 
and  several  letters  passed  between  him  and  the  Prophet.  Fi- 
nally, the  apostle,  Orson  Pratt,  was  appointed  by  Brigham  to 
take  the  affirmative  in  the  discussion  upon  the  subject — ''Does 
"  the  Bible  sanction  Polygamy  ? "  The  Doctor  was  desirous 
of  a  thorough  and  exhaustive  discussion;  but  the  arrangement 
linally  agreed  upon  was,  that  the  argument  should  extend  over 
three  days,  and  that  the  speeches  should  be  of  one  hour  each. 
The  Tabernacle  on  the  Friday  and  Saturday  was  well  filled, 
and  on  the  Sunday  it  was  crowded.  The  debate  was  published 
in  full,  and  in  it  the  best  arguments  were  set  forth  that  could 
be  adduced  from  opposite  stand-points.  Dr.  Newman  exhibited 
at  least  one  important  fact  to  the  Mormons,  namely,  that  the 
greater,  portion  of  the  renowned  characters  mentioned  in  the 
Bible  were  monogamists,  and  not  polygamists.  He  denied 
that  Abraham  was  a  polygamist :  "  At  no  time  did  he  have 
"  more  than  one  wife ;  his  connection  with  Hagar  was  an  offence 
"  against  God,  who  commanded  him  to  put  her  away.  Jacob 
"  had  nothing  to  do  with  the  evil  after  his  conversion  at  Jabbok. 
"Isaac,  Joseph,  Moses,  Aaron,  and  Joshua,  were  all  monoga- 


NEWMAN  AND  PRATT  DISCUSS  POLYGAMY. 


685 


^'  mists.  David  lived  eleven  years  after  he  had  put  away  his 
"  wives.    Solomon  was  too  wicked  for  either  party  to  be  proud 

of.  The  great  Bible  law  is  :  '  Let  every  man  have  his  own 
" '  wife,  and  let  every  woman  have  her  own  husband.'  The 
"claims  of  the  Mormons  to  sustain  Polygamy  under  the  reli- 
"  gious  liberty  guaranteed  by  the  Federal  Constitution  was 

false  in  principle,  for  the  religious  liberty  of  the  American 
"  citizen  is  limited  in  respect  to  decency  and  morality,  and 
"  does  not  extend  to  license  which  would  be  subversive  of  the 
"  well-being  of  society  and  the  perpetuity  of  the  national  life." 

Had  the  reverend  gentleman  succeeded  in  securing  a  discus- 
sion with  the  apostle  Pratt,  upon  the  relative  merits  of  polyg- 
amy and  monogamy,  and  exhibiting  which  was  harmonious 
with  Christianity  and  the  civilization  of  the  nineteenth  century, 
the  discussion  would  doubtless  have  been  of  more  permanent 
value  in  Utah  ;  but,  so  long  have  the  people  there  had  drilled 
into  them  the  names  of  Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob,  David 
and  Solomon,  associated  with  polygamy  and  the  favour  of 
"  the  Lord,"  that  it  would  take  a  thorough  and  lengthened  im- 
mersion in  the  waters  of  Lethe  to  prepare  them  to  listen  to 
anything  to  the  contrary. 

The  appointment  of  Chief-Justice  McKean  had  been  flatter- 
ingly noticed  by  the  Mormon  press,  and  the  Saints  were  grati- 
fied with  the  assurance  that  he  was  "  both  a  lawyer  and  a 
"gentleman."  On  the  morning  after  his  arrival,  a  Mormon 
met  with  him  in  the  company  of  other  gentlemen,  and  in- 
tently surveying  the  new  arrival,  after  the  fashion  of  Western 
freedom,  he  burst  out  with  his  opinion:  "Judge,  in  three 
"  months  you  will  be  the  best-abused  man  that  was  ever 
"  in  Utah."  The  personal  bearing  of  Judge  McKean  im- 
pressed the  belief  that  he  was  an  honourable,  intellectual  man."^ 

*  When  Chief- Justice  Titus  went  to  Utah,  seven  years  before,  a  Mormon  gentle- 
man, who  had  travelled  with  him  across  the  plains,  gave  an  entertainment  to  the 
Judge  shortly  after  his  arrival.  That  Mormon  gentleman  was  then  a  good  Saint, 
high  in  the  confidence  of  the  Prophet.  After  dinner  he  said  to  the  Author :  "  How 
long  will  it  be  before  we  make  the  Judge  our  enemy  ?  "  In  his  mind  no  honourable, 
independent  man  could  fill  the  office  of  Federal  judge,  and  be  long  on  good  terms 
with  the  priesthood.  Before  the  three  months  expired,  Judge  McKean  was,anathe« 
matized,  and  the  cursings  of  the  priesthood  have  ever  since  largely  increased  upon 
his  devoted  head. 


686 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN"  SAINTS. 


The  associate-justices  then  and  now  in  Utah — Obed  F. 
Strickland  and  Cyrus  M.  Hawley — had  revived  the  contro- 
versy of  Judge  Stiles  [see  p.  282],  and  maintained  that  the 
United  States  Marshal  was  the  proper  ofBcer  of  the  District 
Court,  and  that  it  was  he  who  should  empanel  the  juries  of 
those  courts.  Chief-Justice  McKean  held  the  same  opinion. 
Soon  one  important  case  and  then  another  and  another  was 
brought  up  in  the  Third  District  Court,  over  which  Judge  Mc- 
Kean presided,  and  his  Honour's  rulings  were  against  the  laws 
of  the  Utah  Legislature  regulating  the  selection  of  jurors 
through  the  County  Court  and  the  Territorial  Marshal.  The 
three  Federal  judges,  forming  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  Ter- 
ritory, were  united  in  that  decision.  The  Mormon  lawyers 
filed  exceptions,  and  appealed  to  the  Supreme  Court  of  the 
United  States. 

Pending  the  reference  of  this  question  to  the  highest  tri- 
bunal, the  Third  District  Court  proceeded  with  its  business. 
On  the  resignation  of  the  United  States  District  Attorney"^ 
for  the  Territory,  Judge  McKean  appointed  R.  Baskin, 
Esq.,  acting-prosecutor,  and  the  latter  appointed  General 
George  R.  Maxwell  his  assistant.  Mr.  Baskin  was  the  counsel 
for  Dr.  Robinson,  when  the  latter  gentleman  was  assassinated, 
and  General  Maxwell  was  a  brave  and  fearless  soldier  during 
the  rebellion.  Maxwell  regarded  the  Mormon  leaders  as  dis- 
loyal to  the  Government.  Baskin  regarded  them  as  the  aiders 
and  abettors  of  murderers. 

During  the  September  [1871]  term  of  this  court,  indict- 

*  It  is  customary  for  Mormon  writers  to  array  Federal  officers  against  each 
other  ;  hence  the  apostle  Geo.  A.  Smith,  in  his  *'  Answer  to  Questions,"  p.  69,  says : 
"  C.  H.  Hempstead,  Esq.,  U.  S.  Attorney,  being  unwilling  to  prosecute  under  the 
rulings  of  the  court,  resigned."  It  is  fair  to  Judge  McKean  and  Mr.  Hempstead  to 
state  that,  whatever  might  be  Mr.  Hempstead's  opinion  of  the  rulings  of  Judge  Mc- 
Kean, he  had  sent  in  his  resignation  at  least  one  year  before  the  date  referred  to, 
and  had  only  "  held  over  "  at  the  special  request  of  President  Grant.  Mr.  Hemp- 
stead, on  his  resignation  of  the  office  of  Prosecuting  Attorney,  immediately  became 
one  of  the  counsel  for  Brigham  Young — an  act  for  which  no  one  could  reproach 
him.  No  gentleman  of  Mr.  Hempstead's  ability  would  retain  the  office  of  Prose- 
cuting Attorney — the  salary  being  nominal.  Mr.  Baskin  had  refused  it  several 
times,  and  only  accepted  it  pro  tern,  to  aid  in  the  prosecution  for  the  murders,  and 
during  that  prosecution  Mr.  B.,  it  is  stated,  was  offered  a  fee  of  $25,000  as  a  re- 
tainer on  the  part  of  some  of  the  accused. 


JUDGE  McKEAN  AND  "THE  HAWKINS  CASE."  687 


ments  were  found  against  leading  Mormons  for  murder,  and 
among  the  number  were  Brigham  and  Wells.  The  latter  was 
apprehended,  and  bail  accepted  for  his  appearance  when  want- 
ed. Brigham,  when  arrested,  was  permitted  to  remain  a  pris- 
oner in  his  own  house  under  the  charge  of  a  United  States 
deputy-marshal ;  the  others  were  sent  to  Camp  Douglas  for 
safe-keeping.  The  arrest  of  such  prominent  persons  created 
great  excitement,  and  for  a  time  it  was  uncertain  if  the  Mor- 
mons would  not  resist  the  officers  of  the  law,  and  deliver  their 
brethren.  In  the  midst  of  this  trouble,  George  C.  Bates,  Esq., 
of  Illinois,  was  appointed  United  States  Attorney  for  Utah, 
and  soon  his  influence  was  perceptibly  felt  in  favour  of  the  in- 
dicted Mormons.  It  should  be  added,  however,  that  Mr.  Bates 
claims  that  he  did  not  believe  in  the  rulings  of  the  judges. 

It  was  during  this  term  of  court  that  a  Mormon,  Thomas 
Hawkins,  was  tried  "  for  living  in  adultery  "  with  two  "  wives  " 
in  addition  to  his  legal  wife.  It  was  on*  the  affidavit,  of  the 
latter  that  the  proseciition  was  commenced,  and  Hawkins  was 
finally  convicted,  and  sentenced  to  three  years'  imprisonment, 
and  a  fine  of  $500.  This  was  regarded  as  a  test  case,  and 
showed  clearly  to  the  Mormons  that,  with  the  United  States 
marshal  to  select  the  jurors,  their  own  Territorial  laws  against 
"  lewd  and  lascivious  conduct "  could  convict  all  polygamists,* 
whenever  the  legal  wives  chose  to  make  complaint.  The  press 
and  pulpit  were  let  loose  on  Judge  McKean,  and  he  was  repre- 
sented as  everything  evil  that  rancour  conld  suggest.  He  was 
a  second  Jefireys,  and,  compared  with  him,  Nero  was  a  Chris- 
tian gentleman. 

To  give  the  arguments  and  the  authorities  et  con,  in  this 
long  and  bitter  controversy,  would  fill  a  volume.  The  Federal 
judges  claimed  that  their  rulings  were  harmonious  with  the  past 
decisions  of  the  United  States  Supreme  Court,  and  that  they 
could  not  recognize  the  right  of  the  Legislature  to  create  a 
Territorial  marshal,  and  to  place  him  in  their  courts.    In  this 

*  While  Chief-Justice  Eckles  was  at  Fort  Bridger,  in  the  winter  of  1857-8,  and 
held  his  court  within  the  military  encampment  of  General  Albert  S.  Johnston,  he 
charged  the  grand  jury  upon  this  same  Territorial  law,  in  almost  the  same  language 
as  did  Chief-Justice  McKean  upwards  of  twelve  years  later.  The  charge,  therefore, 
that  the  latter  gentleman  originated  the  idea,  and  tortured  the  Territorial  statute  to 
suit  his  purposes,  is  not  correct.    (See  Atlantic  Monthly ^  April,  1859.) 


688 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


they  were  sustained  by  the  opinion  of  the  then  United  States 
Attorney-General,  and  when  the  appeal  was  made  to  the  United 
States  Supreme  Court,  they  were  fully  satisfied  that  they  would 
be  sustained.  The  attorneys  for  the  Mormons  laboured  assidu- 
ously at  Washington,  and,  contrary  to  the  usual  custom  in  the 
Supreme  Court,  tlie  forthcoming  decision  had  been  whispered 
to  some  grateful  ears !  The  Mormon  anniversary  conference, 
beginning  on  the  6th  of  April,  was  continued  over,  without 
adjournment,  awaiting  that  decision.  On  the  15th  of  that 
month,  Chief- Justice  Ohase  delivered  a  decision  reversing  the 
ruling  of  the  Federal  judges  in  Utah,  and  sustaining  the  Leg- 
islature of  the  Territory  in  the  ^'  whole  matter  of  selecting, 
"  empanelling,  and  summoning  jurors."  This  ended  the  long 
and  troublesome  controversy,  and  all  the  Mormons  indicted 
for  murder  by  the  grand  jury  empanelled  by  the  United  States 
marshal  were  immediately  liberated,  and  Brother  Brigham" 
attended  the  conference,  and  the  prolonged  session  closed. 

The  winter  of  1871-2  was  a  remarkable  epoch  in  Mormon 
history,  both  at  home  and  abroad.  Brigham  fully  realized  his 
weakness.  Tears  before  he  had  boasted  that  he  would  send 
"  to  hell  across  lots  "  the  man  who  dared  to  arrest  him.  When, 
however,  the  time  came  for  making  good  his  threat,  he  quietly 
submitted  to  the  United  States  Marshal,  and  was  for  some  time 
a  prisoner  in  his  own  house  under  the  surveillance  of  that  offi- 
cer. In  his  service,  men  whom  he  had  despised  went  to  Wash- 
ington, and  proffers  were  made  to  them  of  senatorial  and  con- 
gressional honours,  if  they  could  only  get  Utah  admitted  into 
the  Union  as  a  State.  He  who  had  before-time  spurned  all 
Gentile  influences  and  defied  "  the  powers  that  be,"  consented 
to  accept  the  aid  of  both  men  and  women  at  the  seat  of  Gov- 
ernment, in  order  to  avert  the  threatening  doom.  Richard,  at 
Bosworth  Field,  shouting  :  "  My  kingdom  for  a  horse,"  evinced 
no  greater  anxiety  than  did  the  Prophet  for  the  admission  of 
Utah  into  the  Federal  Union.  Everything  failed  him  abroad, 
except  the  decision  of  the  Supreme  Court ;  but  with  that  ren- 
dering of  the  law  respecting  the  powers  of  the  Territorial  legis- 
lature, the  Probate  Courts  of  Utah  gathered  new  life,  and  the 
Federal  Courts  were  again  powerless  to  prosecute  the  Church 
leaders  for  any  crimes  of  which  they  might  be  accused. 


CHAPTEE  LYI. 


SALT  LAKE  CITY. — Its  Situation  and  Beauty — ^Its  Eailway  Communication — 
Water  Supply — Great  and  Increasing  Improvement — The  Tabernacle — ^Brigham 
the  Architect  of  Zion — Inspiring  the  Prophet  with  an  Idea — The  Great  Organ 
— The  Tabernacle  Services — Eesults  of  the  Influx  of  Gentiles — ^Brigham's  Com- 
mercial Street — Christian  Churches  in  Utah — Their  Work  and  Influence — The 
Episcopal  Church — Christian  Schools — Brigham's  Opinion  of  Gentile  Instruc- 
tion—The Methodist  Teacher's  Difficulties— Polygamy  opposed  by  Mr.  Mc- 
Leod — The  Liberal  Institute — ^Lectures  in  Zion — Evidences  of  Prosperity — 
Progress  of  Civilization  in  Utah. 

There  is  no  city  in  the  United  States,  with  a  population  of 
only  twenty  thousand  inhabitants,  so  universally  known  as  Salt 
Lake  City.  It  is  the  chief  city  of  Zion — the  dwelling-place  of 
the  Prophet — the  habitation  of  the  Saints — and  the  grand  cen- 
tre of  "  the  Kingdom  of  God  upon  earth."  It  is  the  city  of 
prediction,  "  beautiful  for  situation,  and  the  joy  of  the  whole 
"earth." 

But,  setting  aside  prediction,  and  the  innumerable  verses  of 
poetry  that  have  been  dedicated  to 

"  The  city  I  love  so  well," 

the  uninspired  visitor  to  Utah,  as  well  as  the  enthusiastic  dis- 
ciple, cannot  fail  to  be  pleased  with  the  first  glimpse  of  this 
oasis  in  the  desert.  When  the  journey  to  Utah  from  the  East 
was  made  by  the  mule  overland  stage  in  twenty  days,  or  by  the 
slow  ox-team  in  ninety  days,  the  weary  and  exhausted  pilgrims 
would  burst  out  into  expressions  of  rapturous  delight  at  behold- 
ing a  city  of  gardens  stretching  miles  away — east  and  west, 
north  and  south. 

The  entrance  to  the  Valley  at  that  time  was  through  the 
canons  of  the  Wahsatch  range  of  mountains  on  the  east,  and, 


692 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


these  being  still  comparatively  higli  on  the  rim  of  the  basin, 
the  eye  of  the  traveller  could  take  in  at  a  glance  almost  the 
whole  extent  of  the  city  that  lay  nestling  at  the  base  of  the 
mountains  on  the  northern  side  of  the  Yalley.  It  was  a  charm- 
ing picture  of  city  and  farm,  lake  and  mountain,  seldom  to  be 
seen  in  any  country.  But  all  the  enthusiastic  experience  of 
by-gone  days  is  now  greatly  modified.  The  city  "  stands  where 
"  it  did,"  and  is  improving  greatly  every  year,  but  the  low  lands 
on  which  the  railroad,  entering  the  Valley  from  the  north, 
has  been  constructed,  render  the  first  view  of  it  rather  disad- 
vantageous than  otherwise.  Besides,  the  comfort  and  luxury 
of  a  Pullman  palace  car,  and  the  hasty  journey  of  sixty  hours 
from  the  Missouri  river,  unfits  the  voyageur  for  appreciating 
the  delights  that  the  hope  of  visiting  the  city  once  inspired. 
It  is  one  thing  to  look  out  upon  a  desert  country  from  behind 
the  rich  damask  curtains  of  a  sleeping-car ;  and  it  is  another 
thing  to  have  travelled  over  that  same  desert,  exposed  to  tlie 
vertical  rays  of  a  burning  summer's  sun,  or  the  pitiless  storm 
that  threatened  to  blow  everything  into  shreds,  or  to  have 
felt  the  drenching  rains  pouring  through  the  wagon-covers  as 
if  they  were  sieves,  while  underneath  might  be  seen  the  kind 
mother  holding  tight  to  her  bosom  her  last  loved  one,  and 
paterfamilias  cowering  beneath  the  bows  of  the  wagon,  with 
umbrella  in  hand,  attempting  to  divert  at  least  a  little  of  the 
deluge  from  their  devoted  heads.  Add  to  that  the  enchanting 
experience  of  herding  cattle  by  night,  hunting  for  water  miles 
distant  from  camp,  gathering  "  buffalo-chips  "  for  the  fires  of 
the  cuisine  J  and  to  all  that  throw  in  the  possibility  of  a  stam- 
pede of  the  cattle,  or  an  Indian  attack,  and  the  reader  will 
have  no  difficulty  in  understanding  the  enthusiasm  that  in- 
spired the  early  pilgrims  to  Zion  when  they  reached  the  goal 
of  their  hopes. 

The  attention  of  every  visitor  to  Zion  in  summer  is  attracted 
by  the  excellent  arrangement  for  the  distribution  of  water 
through  all  parts  of  the  city.  The  melting  snows  rush  down 
City  Creek  Canon  on  the  north,  and  dash  and  foam  over  the 
rough  boulders,  and  clear  the  natural  obstructions  of  the  rug- 
ged and  tortuous  windings  of  the  mountain-gorge  with  all  the 
impetuosity  of  the  cataract  and  fall,  but  before  the  water 


SALT  LAKE  CITY. 


693 


reaches  the  city  boundary  it  is  controlled  by  the  will  of  man, 
and  conducted  to  the  extremities  of  the  city  east  and  west,  and 
by  an  admirable  system  of  ditching  it  flows  gently  down  each 
side  of  the  wide  streets,  serving  the  poorer  inhabitants  with  all 
the  water  they  require  for  household  use.  Every  garden-lot 
has  its  own  private  ditch,  through  which,  at  a  fixed  hour,  the 
water  is  conducted,  in  measured  quantity,  according  to  the 
extent  of  the  parched  soil  that  needs  the  magic  life  that  springs 
from  irrigation. 

In  the  spring  of  the  year,  when  the  fruit-trees  around  the 
dwellings  are  in  blossom,  and  the  young  leaves  are  in  their 
freshest  green,  the  view  of  the  city  is  very  beautiful ;  but  all 
the  romance  that  once  hung  around  that  picture  is  gone.  Is- 
rael is  no  longer  isolated  from  the  rest  of  the  world ;  the  "  un- 
"  godly  Gentiles  "  have  gained  a  foothold  among  the  brethren, 
and  other  men  than  Saints  take  unto  themselves  wives  of  "  the 
"  daughters  of  the  Lord." 

In  the  building  of  Western  cities  there  are  always  three 
very  marked  stages  of  progress — the  log-house,  the  adobe,  and 
the  rock  or  brick  building.  The  great  majority  of  the  homes 
of  the  Saints  in  the  city  are  now  in  the  transition  state  between 
the  two  extremes.  Many  very  fine  private  residences  have 
been  built  within  the  last  few  years,  and,  with  the  increasing 
development  of  the  mines,  and  the  extension  of  commerce, 
improvement  is  observable  in  every  direction. 

The  passing  visitor  will  find  but  very  little  to  occupy  his 
attention — there  are  very  few  places  of  immediate  interest ; 
but  the  student  who  can  make  a  lengthened  sojourn  with  the 
Saints,  will  find  the  Prophet  and  the  institutions  of  Zion  re- 
markably interesting. 

The  first  object — after  Brigham — that  every  visitor  should 
see  is  the  new  Tabernacle.*^  It  is  the  most  uncomely  edifice  that 

*  The  traveller  to  Zion  who  wants  to  see  polygamy  within  the  inner  threshold 
of  the  homes  of  the  Saints,  will  be  disappointed  if  he  expects  any  such  gratifica- 
tion, and  very  properly  so.  A  lady  visitor  to  Brigham's  oflBce,  after  being  courte- 
ously received  by  the  Prophet,  expressed  the  wish  that  she  might  see  his  wives ;  to 
which  he  politely  answered :  "  They  are  not  on  exhibition,  madam."  His  answer 
was  very  proper.  No  lady  or  gentleman  is  denied  admittance  to  his  oflSce,  on  sim- 
ply sending  in  a  card ;  but  the  better  way  to  secure  a  pleasant  interview  is  to 
ask  some  well-to-do  brother  to  give  a  personal  introduction,  and  the  visitor  should 


694 


TEE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


was  ever  erected  for  a  place  of  worship,  but  it  holds  a  great  many 
persons — twelve  thousand.  As  seen  from  a  distance,  it  looks 
like  a  huge  turtle.  From  east  to  west  it  measures  two  hundred 
and  fifty  feet ;  from  north  to  south,  one  hundred  and  fifty ;  and 
from  the  fioor  to  the  ceiling,  eighty.  It  is  oval  in  shape,  and 
without  a  column  to  obstruct  the  vision ;  but,  in  compensation 
for  that  advantage,  as  "  the  Lord  "  had  everything  to  do  with 
its  construction,  an  utter  disregard  for  what  Gentile  experience 
could  have  suggested  might  have  been  expected,  and  the  mas- 
sive building  grew  up  and  was  finished  free  from  every  taint  of 
the  science  of  acoustics.  When  it  was  dedicated  and  opened 
for  preaching,  not  one-third  of  the  audience  could  hear  any 
speaker  distinctly,  and  the  rest  of  the  auditory  heard  only  a 
rumbling  noise,  and  were  left  to  guess  the  subject  from  the 
gestures  of  the  preacher.  Of  course,  the  ungodly  considered 
those  who  heard  the  least  were  the  most  favoured ! 

Brigham  is  architect  enough  for '  everything  in  Zion ;  he 
knew  just  "  exactly  what  was  wanted,"  and  had  it  constructed 
according  to  his  own  views.  No  one  could  advise  him.  If 
any  friend  can  possibly  get  into  his  "  inspired  "  head  clear  ideas 
upon  any  subject,  and  be  dexterous  enough  to  have  it  appear 
that  it  is  the  Prophet  who  is  imparting  to  him  the  information, 
and  does  not  let  it  be  seen  even  to  himself  that  he  is  teaching 
the  Prophet,  all  is  well,  and  the  intelligence  will  be  acted  upon. 

I  think  it  is  your  idea.  President,  that  it  should  be  done 
" in  this  manner? " 

"  Let  me  look  at  that  again  ; — yes,  I  think  so,  don't  you  ? 

"Yes." 

"  Well,  go  ahead  and  do  it.'' 

When  the  Tabernacle  was  nearly  finished,  and  much  glory 
was  anticipated,  there  were  a  number  of  claimants  for  honour. 
Brother  Grow,  brother  Angel,  and  brother  Folsom,  wanted 
each  the  major  share  of  glory,  if  Brigham  should  leave  any  for 
distribution  :  but,  when  the  building  was  found  to  be  a  mag- 
nificent failure,  even  the  apostle,  Orson  Hyde,  hesitated  to 

make  sure  that  the  brother  is  in  good  relations  with  the  Prophet.  Brigham  is  very 
human,  and  he  can  button  himself  up  to  an  unwelcome  visitor  in  a  style  that  the 
stranger  is  not  likely  to  forget ;  but,  when  he  is  in  excellent  humour,  he  is  a  per* 
feet  Chesterfield. 


THE  MORMON  TABERNACLE. 


695 


credit  it  to  "  the  Lord."    After  many  weeks  of  hard  labour, 
and  endeavouring  to  arrive  at  some  conclusion,  Brigham  finally 
discovered  that  there  was  "  no  echo  in  the  building — the  voice 
only  reverberated  !  " 


Interior  of  the  Mormon  Tabernacle. 


The  organ  is  a  handsome  piece  of  work,  and  reflects  great 
credit  upon  the  Mormon  builder  and  mechanics.  The  Boston 
organ,  and  that  in  the  Plymouth  Church,  Brooklyn,  are  both 
larger,  but  they  are  of  foreign  manufacture.  This  organ  is 
said  to  be  the  largest  that  has  been  built  in  the  United  States. 

The  Tabernacle  should,  if  possible,  be  visited  on  a  Sunday 
afternoon — the  "  spirit  "  is  hardly  warmed  up  in  the  morning 
assembly.  The  organ  plays  better,  the  choir  sing  better,  and 
"  the  spirit "  flows  better.  Everything  is  better  on  a  Sunday 
afternoon. 

The  choir  occupy  the  upper  seats  round  the  organ,  and  di- 
rectly in  front  sit  the  Prophet  and  his  two  counsellors.  In 
front  of  them,  there  is  a  long  seat  for  the  twelve  apostles,  and 
before  these  is  the  "  President  of  the  Stake  "  and  his  two  coun- 


696 


THE  KOOKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


sellors.  On  tlie  lower  range,  directly  facing  the  audience,  sit 
the  chief  bishop  and  his  counsellors,  together  with  the  other 
bishops  and  their  counsellors,  who  may  be  appointed  to  admin- 
ister the  sacrament. 

The  Mormon  assembly  has  nothing  of  the  character  of 
"  worship  "  in  the  sense  of  that  term  as  used  by  the  old  estab- 
lished churches,  and  is  as  far  distant  from  the  intellectual  ad 
dresses  of  the  modern  pulpit  as  it  can  well  be.  There  is  no 
preparation  for  anything.  The  service  was  in  the  first  days 
of  the  Church  expected  to  be  directed  by  the  Spirit ; — probably 
that  may  be  the  expectation  now. 

In  every  Stake  of  Zion  there  is  a  president  and  two  coun- 
sellors, who  preside  over  the  spiritual  affairs  of  the  Church  in 
that  particular  locality.  Utah  is  a  Stake."  The  present  presi- 
dent is  Elder  John  W.  Young,  the  younger  of  Brigham's  three 
prominent  sons.  The  twenty  bishops  of  Salt  Lake  City  have 
each  two  counsellors,  and  are  the  presiding  element  in  all  the 
ward  assemblies  ;  but  in  the  Tabernacle  assembly  on  Sunday 
mornings  and  afternoons,  when  all  the  Saints  are  expected  to 
be  there  in  order  to  be  refreshed  by  "  the  droppings  of  the 
"Sanctuary,"  the  authority  of  the  bishops  is  unrecognized,  and 
either  the  President  of  the  Stake  or  one  of  his  counsellors  pre- 
sides, lie  announces  the  number  of  the  hymn.  At  the  eleva- 
tion of  the  conductor's  wand,  a  very  excellent  choir  starts  into 
position.  A  few  touches  of  the  organist,  and  a  great  volume 
of  human  voice  is  well  directed  in  the  rendering  of  some  famil- 
iar air,  or  it  may  be  some  Mormon  adaptation  of  a  new  popu- 
lar melodv. 
*/ 

After  the  hymn  some  brother,  or  apostle,  a  bishop,  or  some 
elder  who  is  conspicuous  on  the  platform,  is  invited  to  pray. 
If  it  should  fortunately  be  "  George  A."  [the  apostle  Smith], 
who  is  invited,  the  audience  listens  to  a  brief,  manly  petition, 
with  a  great  deal  of  satisfaction.  "  George  A."  is  no  weeping 
worshipper,  and,  when  he  lias  told  "  the  Lord  "  his  story,  the 
congregation  utter  vigorously,  "  Amen,"  and  sit  down  prepared 
to  hear  another  hymn. 

It  may  appear  invidious  to  make  such  a  distinction  among 
the  Mormon  praying  elders ;  but  no  visitor  to  the  Tabernacle 
can  listen  to  the  lengthy  confusion  of  utterances  that  often  are 


THE  "ENDOWMENT  HOUSE.' 


697 


inflicted  upon  that  long-suffering  people  without  appreciating 
the  terse,  brief,  and  hard-sense  petitions  of  the  elder  named. 
When  one  of  those  fearfully  long-praying  elders  "  lets  loose,"  he 
forgets  nothing,  and  will  "  run  half  an  hour."  He  generally  be- 
gins with  Brigham,  who  is  to  be  blessed  in  his  basket  and  in 
his  store ;  bis  wives,  his  families,  his  flocks  and  his  herds  are 
to  be  multiplied ;  his  houses  and  his  lands  are  to  be  increased ; 
he  is  to  be  made  the  wisest  man  in  the  world,  is  to  confound 
all  his  enemies,  and  those  who  rise  up  against  him  are  to  fall 
into  every  conceivable  snare,  and  finally  reach  the  nether  re- 
gions. After  he  gets  through  with  the  chief,  he  passes  on  to 
his  counsellors ;  then  he  groups  the  apostles,  and  is  very  par- 
ticular that  the  blessings  be  proportionate  to  their  rank ;  the 
bishops  are  next  in  order,  and,  as  they  are  numerous,  the  favours 
solicited  for  them  are  very  general ;  then  he  comes  to  the  Saints 
at  large,  and  they  need  the  greatest  care  and  protection  against 
the  inroads  of  the  Gentiles  and  the  attacks  of  the  Indians  ;  and 
here  he  remembers  with  peculiar  unction  that  the  red-skins  are 
to  become  a  "  white  and  delightsome  people,"  and  are  to  turn 
unto  "  the  Lord,"  in  fulfilment  of  the  predictions  of  the  "  Book 
"  of  Mormon."  The  sermons  need  not  be  described  here  ;  the 
quotations  already  cited  in  this  work  are  amply  sufiScient  to 
enlist  the  sympathy  of  the  world  in  behalf  of  the  people.  At 
the  close  of  the  sermon  there  is  a  doxology,  and  the  people  are 
dismissed  with  a  brief  blessing. 

On  the  same  block,  near  the  Tabernacle,  the  visitor  will  see 
the  foundation  of  the  great  Temple.  On  the  northwest  corner 
from  the  Tabernacle,  there  stands  the  "Endowment  House," 
an  unpretentious  building  externally,  but  within  its  portals  are 
perfortned  all  the  rites  and  ceremonies  that  hold  Mormonism 
together. 

The  promise  of  the  "  Endowments  "  in  that  small  building  has 
drawn  thousands  of  disciples  from  the  nations  of  the  Old  World 
to  Zion,  and  the  teaching  of  the  priesthood  concerning  the  bless- 
ings of  the  Endowments  has  done  more  to  inspire  the  sacrifices 
made  by  European  Saints  than  everything  else  put  togethei 
But  what  a  terrible  disappointment  has  followed  all  those  bright 
hopes  1  An  intelligent  gentleman,  who  had  for  many  years 
looked  forward  to  the  time  when  he  would  receive  his  Endow- 


698 


THE  KOCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


meLts,  was  interrogated  shortly  after  having  "  pa^jsed  through 
"  the  House,"  by  another  who  had  been  there  before  him,  about 
what  intelligence  he  had  received.  His  answer  was  expressive 
of  the  general  experience  :  "  I  went  in  expecting  everything ; 
"  I  came  out  with  nothing." 

The  Mormon  leaders  have  always  asserted  that  Free-Ma- 
sonry was  a  bastard  and  degenerate  representation  of  the  order 
of  the  true  priesthood.  The  reader  needs,  therefore,  no  other 
statement  than  that  of  the  leaders,  to  form  an  estimate  of  the 
signs,  grips,  passwords,  rites,  and  ceremonies  of  the  Endow- 
ment House."^  When  the  Temple  is  finished,  in  that  edifice 
the  ordinances,  according  to  the  fulness  of  the  priesthood,  will 
be  administered  :  thither  the  angels  will  come,  and  there  "  the 
"  Lord  "  will  find  a  place  of  rest  upon  the  earth.  The  anxiety 
of  the  Saints  for  "  the  Lord's"  rest  is  now  apparently  not  very 
urgent.  The  erection  of  the  Temple  has  been  so  very  slow 
that  its  completion  is  to  many  a  matter  of  much  doubt. 

Ecclesiastically,  the  city  is  divided  into  twenty  wards,  over 
each  of  which  are  placed  a  bishop  and  two  counsellors.  The 
bishop  may  be  a  merchant,  a  farmer,  or  mechanic.  Education, 
talent,  or  refinement,  has  nothing  to  do  with  the  selection  for 
oflSce.  They  are  generally  reliable  men,f  who  can  be  depend- 
ed upon  to  do  as  they  are  told,  and  see  that  the  Saints  do  their 
duty  and  pay  their  tithing  regularly.  In  each  ward  the  bishop 
holds  a  meeting  every  Sunday  night.  Under  this  divisional 
supervision,  the  city,  if  twenty  times  larger,  would  be  under 
the  same  complete  control. 

*  In  "The  Mormon's  Own  Book,"  by  T.  W.  P.  Tajlder,  pp.  139-147,  a  singular 
resemblance  is  pointed  out  between  the  ceremonies  in  the  Meusinia — a  festival 
among  the  Cretans — and  the  mysteries  of  the  Mormon  Endowment,  as  set  forth  by 
Van  Dusen. 

f  Governor  Gumming  often  related  that  when  loving  swains  and  their  lasses 
used  to  come  in  from  the  country  and  seek  his  services  to  unite  them  in  wedlock, 
he  would  invariably  send  them  to  the  nearest  bishop.  When  directing  them  to  the 
residence  of  that  ecclesiastic,  the  Governor  enjoyed  hugely  the  instructions  which 
he  gave :  "  Go  up  two  blocks,  then  turn  to  the  right,  and  go  about  three  blocks  far- 
ther ;  wherever  you  see  a  good  house  and  a  large  wood-pile,  that's  where  the  bishop 
lives,  and  if  he  does  not  suit  you,  go  on  to  the  right  or  left  until  you  see  another 
great  wood-pile,  and  thereabouts  you  will  find  another  bishop's  residence."  In  those 
days  a  good  wood-pile  was  a  certain  evidence  of  comfortable  circumstances.  With 
the  railroad  and  the  Gentile  coal,  the  old  landmarks  have  passed  away. 


DESIGN    OF    SALT    LAKE  TEMPLE. 


VOTING  AMONG  THE  MORMONS. 


101 


The  civil  government  of  Salt  Lake  City  is  nominally 
like  that  of  city  governments  elsewhere — with  a  mayor,  five 
aldermen,  nine  councillors,  a  recorder,  treasurer,  and  mar- 
shal, all  apparently  the  choice  of  the  people ;  but  there  the 
Church  rules  as  much  as  in  the  Tabernacle. 

All  elections  in  Utah  are  dictated  by  the  priesthood.  Brig- 
ham  Young  as  directly  selects  or  approves  of  the  brethren  who 
are  to  be  elected,  as  he  does  of  the  brethren  to  be  sent  on  mis- 
sions to  preach  the  gospel.  A  caucus  of  a  few  apostles  and 
leading  men  is  generally  held  in  the  historian's  office  a  few 
weeks  before  the  election,  and  if  none  of  the  old  city  council 
have  apostatized  or  disgraced  themselves  they  continue  in  office. 
When  a  vacancy  has  to  be  filled  a  name  is  suggested  and  that 
is  submitted  to  "  brother  Brigham."  He  approves  it,  and  the 
next  day  the  announcement  is  made  of  "  the  people's  ticket." 
There  is  to  be  no  "  scratching"  of  that  ticket.  On  one  occasion 
Dr.  Jeter  Clinton  deservedly  fell  into  universal  disfavour,  and 
even  Mayor  Wells  could  no  longer  hold  up  "  brother  Jeter  "  for 
reelection  as  an  alderman.  A  nephew  of  Brigham's  was  to  be 
substituted.  On  the  day  of  election,  Brigham  was  at  Provo, 
and  the  liberal  Mormons  wanted  to  elect  Bishop  Woolley  in- 
stead of  the  Prophet's  nephew.  This  desire  was  so  general  and 
so  well  supported  that  Mayor  Wells  and  the  apostle  George 
Q.  Cannon,  who  had  charge  of  the  election,  consented  to  the 
"  scratching  "  off  of  the  nephew's  name.  The  Bishop  was  over- 
whelmingly elected.  At  the  next  meeting  of  "  the  school  of 
"  the  Prophets  "  Brigham  was  furious.  He  was  mad  with  rage ; 
he  stormed  and  cursed,  and,  in  the  paroxysms  of  his  wrath,  he 
announced  that  the  anger  of  "  the  Lord  "  was  kindled  against 
them  for  "scratching"  the  ticket.  The  apostle  was  melted 
to  tears,  and  the  Mayor  was  speechless  with  emotion.  When 
he  regained  a  little  control  over  his  organs  of  speech,  the  Mayor 
humbly  confessed  his  sins,  and  told  how  he  realized  that  the 
anger  of  the  Lord  "  had  pierced  him  through  as  Brigham's 
eyes  met  his !  He  felt  that  he  had  sinned  grievously  in 
"  scratching"  the  name  of  the  Prophet's  nephew  off  the  ticket. 
The  bishop,  too,  who  had  been  honoured  by  the  majority  of 
votes,  came  in  for  a  share  of  the  Prophet's  anger,  and  he  con- 
sequently declined  to  accept  the  election,  and  Jeter  "held 


702 


TEE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


"  over,"  and  continued  in  office,  to  the  great  annoyance  of  the 
respectable  inhabitants  of  the  city. 

A  still  better  illustration  of  the  people's  voting  was  exhib- 
ited on  the  reelection  of  a  popular  delegate  to  Congress.  The 
delegate,  as  is  usual  on  such  occasions,  was  thanking  a  public 
audience  for  the  renewed  expression  of  their  confidence  in 
sending  him  to  the  seat  of  Government  to  represent  them. 
Brigham  sprang  up  after  the  delegate-elect,  stroked  his  beard, 
shrugged  his  shoulders,  and  mimicked  the  voice  and  gestures  of 
the  delegate,  and  repeated  his  thanks  to  the  people.  Then  he 
raised  himself  to  his  full  height,  and,  in  his  own  sarcastic  way, 
asked :  "  Does  not  brother  X.  Y.  Z.  know  wJio  sent  him  to 
"  Congress  ?  He  thanks  the  people  for  their  expression  of  con- 
"  fidence  in  him.  The  Saints  have  no  confidence  in  him,  and 
"  if  he  had  not  been  sent  by  the  priesthood,  he  would  not  have 
"  received  twenty  votes  throughout  the  whole  Territory,  and 
"  half  of  these  would  have  been  from  hickory  Mormons." 
That  delegate — an  honourable  gentleman — took  the  snubbing, 
and  ever  afterwards  fully '  realized  that  he  represented  the 
priesthood  at  the  seat  of  Government.* 

The  city  had  at  one  time  the  reputation  of  being  the  most 
orderly  in  the  Union,  and  it  probably  well  deserved  that  repu- 
tation. Every  person  was  taxed  to  the  uttermost  to  procure 
the  necessaries  of  life,  and  there  was  no  room  for  the  idler,  and 
a  man  without  visible  means  of  support  was  unknown.  With 
the  change  from  the  quiet  life  of  an  agricultural  population,  to 
a  life  amidst  the  busy  marts  of  commerce  and  speculation, 
there  has  been  as  significant  a  change  in  Zion  as  in  any  min- 
ing Territory  in  the  West,  and  no  one  bears  so  singular  a  rela- 
tion to  the  worst  features  of  the  change  as  the  Prophet  himself. 

By  way  of  speculation,  Brigham  constructed  a  street 
through  some  of  his  property,  parallel  with  the  principal 
thoroughfare,  and  rented  the  ground  to  parties  who  wished  to 

*  The  pretended  freedom  of  the  ballot  in  Utah  is  a  perfect  farce.  Every  ballot 
is  numbered,  and  the  number  placed  against  the  name  of  the  voter,  and  in  this  way 
those  who  dare  to  vote  contrary  to  the  published  ticket  are  known  to  the  priest- 
hood. In  other  parts  of  the  Union,  the  numbering  of  the  tickets  might  be  of  no 
moment,  but  in  Utah,  where  the  slightest  opposition  is  branded  as  rebellion,  and  is 
treated  accordingly,  it  is  of  the  last  importance,  as  it  practically  precludes  all  free 
voting. 


CHRISTIAN  CHURCHES  IN  UTAH. 


703 


build  for  commercial  purposes.  Curiously  enough,  after  the 
buildino-s  were  erected,  it  was  there  that  the  demi-monde  con- 
gregated, and  followed  their  profession.  In  Brigham's  Com- 
'^'niercial  Street"  no  lady  would  venture  to  be  seen.  But, 
while  the  reputation  of  a  part  of  the  city  has  changed  for  the 
worse  in  morals,  it  is  gratifying  to  state  that  other  elements 
are  at  work  for  the  benefit  and  elevation  of  the  people,  and 


St.  Mark's  Church. 


Christian  churches,  schools,  and  associations,  are  being  firmly 
founded  in  Zion.  For  many  years  there  was  no  place  where 
anything  but  Mormonism  could  be  heard,  and  the  stranger 
who  could  not  accept  the  new  Prophet  and  his  revelations  was 
entirely  cut  oflf  from  all  religious  communion.  All  this  is  past, 
and  there  are  now  the  places  of  worship  of  several  denomina- 


704 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


tions  of  Christians,  who  are  all  of  them  increasing  in  influence 
and  numbers.  But  a  few  years  ago  no  one  would  have  dreamed 
that  such  a  change  could  be  so  rapidly  effected.  The  Roman 
Catholics  have  erected  a  neat  little  church;  the  members  of 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  are  building  a  commodious 
meeting-house ;  ^  and  a  very  handsome  edifice  has  recently  been 
completed  by  the  Episcopal  Church,  at  a  cost  of  $4:8,000. 
When  the  first  ministers  of  this  Church  arrived  in  the  city,  in 
1867,  they  fonnd  only  two  communicants.  They  now  number 
about  120  highly-respectable  citizens,  with  abont  130  mem- 
bers of  families  attendant.*}*  In  their  parish-school  they  have 
about  250  children.  The  work  of  their  ministry  has  been 
conducted  by  Bishop  Tuttle,  assisted  by  the  Revds.  T.  "W". 
Haskins  and      M.  Kirby — gentlemen  universally  respected. 

The  labours  of  these  Christian  teachers  are  mainly  directed 
to  the  education  of  the  young,  though  not  a  few  parents  like- 
wise, in  different  parts  of  the  Territory,  have  returned  to  their 
"  first  love  in  the  Gospel."  Many  a  mother  greets  the  mis- 
sionary with  a  welcome  salutation,  and  bids  him  God-speed. 
These  women  do  not  desire  to  see  their  children  involved  in 
the  same  labyrinth  of  confusion  and  barren  materialism  into 
which  they  have  themselves  been  led.  At  the  last  confer- 
ence held  in  Salt  Lake  City,  the  apostle  Richards,  in  the  in- 
terest of  the  children,  kindly  warned  parents  to  be  on  their 
guard  against  the  labours  of  these  missionaries.  Brigham, 
with  his  usual  Machiavellianism,  corrected  the  apostle,  and 
said  he  differed  from  him.  This  was  purely  for  outside  effect. 
With  the  general  reader  the  Prophet's  remarks  would  have 
passed  for  liberality ;  with  the  Mormons  they  were  nothing 
but  dust  f©r  the  eyes  of  the  Gentiles.  Brigham  was  sarcastic 
and  facetious  :  Our  friends  who  have  such  care  for  us  ...  . 
"  I  say  to  you,  /  do  thanTc  you^  IthanTc  you  sincerely  for  your 
"  kindness  phe  bowed  too  lowly],  and  you  shall  receive  your 
"  reward  for  all  the  good  that  you  do  If  these  schools  can 

*  Since  the  arrival  in  Utah  of  the  Rev.  G.  M.  Pierce — Superintendent  of  the 
Missions — in  May,  ISYO,  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  has  expended  $30,000. 
Eight  ministers  are  engaged  in  preaching  and  teaching,  and  there  are  four  day- 
schools  and  six  Sunday-schools  sustained  by  their  efforts.  The  preachers  are  ener- 
getic men,  and  meet  with  encouraging  success. 

t  This  handful  of  Christians  have  established  the  first  free  hospital  in  Zion. 


BRIGHAM  AND  THE  GENTILE  TEACHERS. 


705 


"  receive  our  children — and  tliej  are  receiving  many — and 
"  teach  them  without  money  and  without  price^  send  your  chih 
"  dren  thereP  Brigham  well  knew  that  no  Christian  societies 
proposed  to  educate  the  children  of  the  Saints  "  without  money 
"  and  without  price  " — though  some  very  poor  children  had 
been  picked  up — and  to  the  Mormon  people  that  very  condi- 
tion stated  was  virtually  a  prohibition  of  their  children  being 
sent  to  the  Gentile  schools. 

The  priesthood  in  Provo  have  since  illustrated  how  they 
understood  Brigham.  The  Rev.  J.  P.  Lyford  had  been  preach- 
ing very  successfully  in  that  town,  had  been  kindly  received 
and  treated  with  social  politeness  by  the  people  who  came 
and  listened  to  him.  Some  sent  their  children  to  his  Sunday- 
school,  and  that  gave  offence  to  the  leaders.  To  remove  all 
excuse  for  sending  them  there,  the  Mormon  teachers  opened 
school  at  the  same  hour.  The  Methodist  teacher,  perceiving 
the  purpose  for  which  this  was  done,  changed  the  hour  of  his 
school  from  the  morning  to  the  afternoon.  The  children  then 
again  attended  school,  and,  perceiving  this,  the  Mormon  teach- 
ers changed  theirs  to  the  same  hour.  Of  course,  the  Methodist 
teacher  w^ill  return  to  his  former  hours  of  attendance. 

Elder  Franklin  D.  Eichards,  when  he  instructed  the  Saints 
not  to  send  their  children  to  the  Gentile  schools,  was  speaking 
as  an  honest,  consistent  apostle,  and  representative  of  the  Mor- 
mon Church.  He  knew  well  enough  what  he  was  saying.  The 
people  who  heard  him  also  knew,  and  Brigham  knows  full  well 
that  scores  of  times  he  has  publicly  forbidden  the  bishops  to 
engage  Gentile  teachers  in  their  schools ;  and  when  such  men 
as  Bishop  Woolley  have  done  so  against  his  orders,  they  have 
always  had  trouble  with  the  Prophet.  "Whenever  a  Gentile 
teacher  has  been  permitted  to  follow  his  or  her  profession, 
there  have  always  been  special  and  peculiar  reasons  for  the 
rare  exception. 

While  the  agencies  of  the  Churches  are  quietly  accomplish- 
ing much  good  in  many  ways — by  teaching,  example,  and 
kindness  to  the  poor — the  Eev.  Norm^an  McLeod,  the  former 
intimate  friend  of  Dr.  Eobinson,  is  lecturing  again  in  Inde- 
pendence Hall,  and  exposing  polygamy,  theocracy,  and  all  the 
evils  charged  to  the  Mormon  priesthood.    The  new-movement 


706 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


"  Reformers,"  in  their  first  zeal,  erected  a  building,  and  dedi 
cated  it  to  the  "  Church  of  Zion ; "  but,  with  the  change  in 
their  sentiments,  they  have  rechristened  it  "  the  Liberal  In- 
"  stitute,"  and  there  lecturers,  male  and  female,  of  every  shade 
of  opinion  in  religion,  politics,  or  science,  can  hold  forth  for 
the  edification  of  Saint  and  sinner.  The  Liberal  Institute  is 
the  Faneuil  Hall  of  Utah,  and  from  its  platform  will  go  forth 
facts  of  history  and  science  that  will  work  in  a  few  years  a 
grander  revolution  among  the  Saints  than  would  the  presence 
of  ten  thousand  troops,  or  any  other  movement  that  could  pos- 
sibly be  construed  into  "  persecution." 

In  the  gradual  disintegration  that  is  now  going  on,  and 
whose  progress  is  being  daily  accelerated,  the  Churches  will 
find  a  few  Saints  seeking  communion  again  within  the  folds  in 
which  they  once  rejoiced  in  their  Eedeemer ;  and  a  much  larger 
number  of  the  dissatisfied  will  repudiate  all  religious  associa- 
tions for  the  remainder  of  their  lives ;  but  the  great  bulk  of  the 
Mormon  people,  who  are  tired  of  Brigham  and  Polygamy,  and  * 
who  have  still  the  remembrance  of  their  past  experience,  without 
the  change  of  thought  that  the  present  light  of  the  world  might 
bring,  will  turn  their  eyes  towards  young  Joseph  Smith  as  the 
successor  of  his  father,  and  the  head  of  the  Mormon  Church. 

The  building  of  the  Utah  Central  Railroad,  from  the  junc- 
tion of  the  Union  and  Central  Pacific  Railroads  at  Ogden  to 
Salt  Lake  City,  was  completed  in  January,  18Y0,  and  from  that  . 
time  the  city  has  much  improved  in  appearance  and  in  its  com- 
merce. The  exorbitant  charges  for  overland  freight  no  longer 
heavily  tax  the  pockets  of  the  poor  nor  cool  the  ambition  of  the 
ricli  for  the  improvement  of  their  homesteads ;  and  the  Munici- 
pal Council,  too,  has  shown  some  ambition  to  add  to  the  com- 
fort and  security  of  the  city.  Water  and  gas-works  are  being  in- 
troduced, and  the  steam  fire-engine  is  to  be  seen  in  the  streets 
of  Zion.  Cars  are  now  running  through  the  streets,  from  the 
depot  past  the  hotels,  and  everything  has  the  air  of  progress 
and  not  of  retrogression.  There  have  always  been  several  good 
hotels  in  the  city,  both  Gentile  and  Mormon,  and  to  their  num- 
ber has  been  added  this  year  the  Walker  House,  which  will  do 
much  to  make  the  chief  city  of  Zion  a  pleasant  resting-place 
for  the  tourist  who  is  visiting  Utah. 


PROSPERITY  AND  PROSPECTS. 


707 


Numerous  elegant  private  residences  have  recently  been 
built,  that  tell  of  wealth,  and  the  appreciation  of  a  better  life 
than  that  predicted  by  the 
Prophet."^  The  wealthy  pro- 
prietors of  city  property  vie 
with  each  other  in  .the  erec- 
tion of  elegant  stores,  and  the 
past  poverty  and  rough  build- 
ing are  fast  passing  away. 
Some  conception  of  the  en- 
ergy and  enterprise  of  both 
Mormon  and  Gentile  mer- 
chants may  be  gleaned  from 
the  fact  that  edifices  are  now 
being  erected  with  brick  from 
Philadelphia,  and  iron  fronts 
from  New  York.  The  First 
National  Bank  has  met  with 
rare  prosperity,  and  very  prop- 
erly has  taken  the  lead  in  in- 
augurating the  "  iron  age  "  in 
building. 

With  such  indications  of 
the  stability  of  commerce, 
and  the  inevitable  growth 
and  development  of  the  Ter- 
ritory, how  strangely  read  the 
prophecies  of  the  Taberna- 
cle!    Twenty-five  years  ago,  The  First  National  Bank  of  Utah. 

when  the  exiles  were  poor  and 

needy,  and  but  a  little  higher  in  the  scale  of  social  life  than 
the  Indians,  it  was  natural  enough  for  Brigham  to  prophesy  of 
the  dissolution  of  all  society.  The  end  seemed  near  enough  to 
him  then,  but  lie  has  since  become  wealthy,  and  his  name  is 
found  to  railroad  bonds,  whose  redemption  is  dated  later  than 
the  time  when  he  professes  to  believe  the  second  coming  of 
Christ  will  be ! 

*  For  several  years  the  Tabernacle  sermons  abounded  with  predictions  about 
famine  and  desolation. 

43 


708 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


Whatever  follies  have  been  committed  by  enthusiasts  in 
fixing  the  date  for  the  reappearance  of  the  Son  of  Man,  Brig- 
ham  is  fully  resolved  that  the  whispering  of  the  "  Spirit "  to 
Joseph  Smith  ^  shall  in  no  way  interfere  with  his  own  mun- 
dane affairs.  Instead  of  preparing  for  this  great  event,  which 
was,  in  the  beginning  of  Mormonism,  a  matter  of  faith  with  all 
the  Saints,  Brigham  is  bent  on  the  accumulation  of  everything 
of  worldly  value,  as  if  this  "  wicked  world  "  were  to  "  wag  "  on 
for  ever.  Every  act  of  his  life  shows  that  he  has  no  faith  in 
the  predictions  of  his  predecessor. 

Had  Brigham  Young  been  a  man  of  benevolence,  intellect, 
refinement,  and  consistency,  and  had  he  cultivated  the  better 
qualities  of  the  human  nature  that  he  once  had  in  his  power 
to  mould,  the  present  age  would  have  seen  recorded  in  the 
history  of  the  world  the  establishment  of  another  powerful 
sect — a  sect  which  would  probably  have  become  one  of  the 
distinctive  religions  of  the  ages  yet  to  come.  As  it  is,  Brigham 
has  shorn  the  faith  of  the  Saints  of  its  strength,  and  robbed  it 
of  the  charm  of  its  early  days ;  and  the  lesson  left  indelibly 
inscribed  upon  his  work,  and  upon  that  of  the  latter  days  of 
his  predecessor,  is  that  the  civilization  of  the  world  is  progres- 
sive, and  that  the  whisperings  of  that  still,  small  voice  from 
the  Mount  opposite  Jerusalem,  and  not  the  thunders  from  the 
Mount  in  the  Wilderness,  will  infiuence  and  direct  the  advanc- 
ing mind  of  the  nineteenth  century. 

*  In  his  Autobiography,  Joseph  Smith  says  : 

"  I  was  once  praying  very  earnestly  to  know  the  time  of  the  coming  of  the  Son 
of  Man,  when  I  heard  a  voice  repeat  the  following :  *  Joseph,  my  son,  if  thou  livest 
until  thou  art  eighty-Jive  yems  old^  thou  shalt  see  the  face  of  the  Son  of  Man ;  there- 
fore, let  this  suffice,  and  trouble  me  no  more  in  this  matter  I  * " 

Joseph  was  born  in  1806,  consequently  the  great  event  is  fixed  for  1890. 


CHAPTER  LVL 


THE    MINES    OF  UTAH. 

THE  FOTOSI  OF  THE  WEST.— Early  Anticipations  of  the  Treasures  of  Utah- 
Ore  discovered  in  the  Mountains — First  Discovery  of  Argentiferous  Galena — ^En- 
terprise of  General  P.  E.  Connor — The  United  States  Soldiers  "  prospect"  for 
Mines — Mr.  Eli  B.  Kelsey  lectures  on  the  Wealth  of  Utah — Incorporation  of  the 
West  Jordan  Mining  Company — First  Smelting-Furnace  erected  at  Stockton — 
Rush  Valley  Smelting  Company  formed — Waiting  for  the  Railroad — First  Ship- 
ments of  Ore — The  Utah  Central  Railroad — Rich  Ores  in  Ophir  District — Silver- 
opolis — Valuable  Mines  in  East  Canon— Colonel  E.'D.  Buel's  Works  in  Cot- 
tonwood— Numerous  Furnaces  erected — Results  of  Inexperience — First  Mill  in 
Utah — ^Extraordinary  Success — Large  Shipments  of  Bullion  and  Ores — The  Emma 
Mine — Formation  of  Veins  of  Ore — The  Action  of  Water  and  Volcanic  Force — 
Statistics  of  the  Emma  Mine — Its  Immense  Value — Bonanzas — Extraordinary 
Dividends  to  Proprietors — Southern  Mines — True  Fissure-Veins — Their  Im- 
portance— Solfatario  Action — The  Mineral  Springs — The  Staples  of  the  Utah 
Mines — Silver  and  Lead— Gold  in  Bingham  Canon — Gold  in  Sevier  River — 
Quartz  Mines — Gold  near  Ogden — Iron  and  Lead  Ores — Supply  of  Fuel — Gradual 
Improvements — Scarcity  of  Wood — ^Discoveries  of  Coal — Building  Material — 
Importance  of  a  Valid  "  Title" — Development  of  Locations — Contested  Claims — 
Commissioner  Drummond^s  Decision — The  Vast  Mineral  Resources  of  (Jtah — Im- 
portance of  the  Territory — Its  Beauty,  Wealth,  Capabilities,  and  Claims  to  At- 
tention. 

In  launching  the  timber  logs  down  the  mountain  sides, 
occasionally  a  piece  of  lead  ore,  that  had  been  disintegrated 
from  ledges  of  that  mineral,  would  be  revealed  to  the  sight  of 
"  the  brethren,"  and  from  these  accidental  circumstances  arose 
the  impression  among  the  Saints  that  there  were  valuable  min- 
erals in  the  mountains.  It  was  also  seriously  believed  that 
there  were  large  numbers  of  gold  ledges  somewhere  ready  to 
be  revealed  for  "  the  building  up  of  Zion,"  the  embellishment 


712 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


of  the  Temple,  and  the  general  comfort  and  pleasure  of  the . 
Saints,  whenever  they  had  gained  the  experience  necessary  to 
make  a  prudent  use  of  the  precious  ore. 

When  the  furore  created  by  the  discovery  of  gold  in  Cali- 
fornia attacked  the  Saints  and  v^as  drawing  some  of  them  away 
to  the  Pacific  coast,  the  Prophet  used  to  hold  the  victims  of 
that  fever  up  to  ridicule  in  his  sermons,  and  promised  the  Saints 
who  stayed  at  home  greater  wealth  there  in  the  harvest-fields, 
and  a  far  greater  amount  of  wealth  in  the  time  to  come,  for  he 
knew  where  the  article  was  in  such  great  abundance  that  he 
could  "  go  out  and  bring  in  a  wagon-load  of  gold  "  if  it  were 
necessary  to  .do  so.  But  "  the  Lord "  wanted  the  Saints  to 
build  themselves  homes,  make  themselves  farms,  and,  when 
they  had  been  well  tried  in  poverty,  He  would  reveal  to 
them    the  hidden  treasures  of  His  storehouse." 

Many  years  ago,  the  Author  stood  by  the  side  of  Brigham 
at  his  ofiice  door  when  he  told  a  prominent  bishop  of  the  Meth- 
odist Church,  who  was  passing  through  the  city,  that,  from 
where  they  then  stood  and  chatted,  he  could  lee  where  there 
was  more  gold  than  ever  the  Saints  would  want  to  use,  unless 
it  were  in  the  manufacture  of  culinary  vessels,  ornamentation, 
or  for  paving  the  streets  of  the  ISTew  Jerusalem."  Brigham 
doubtless  believed  what  he  said.  He  could  from  his  office 
deor  look  to  a  range  of  mountains  where  a  "great  discovery* 
"  of  pure  gold  "  had  been  made,  but  its  locality  was  to  be  sa- 
credly kept  a  secret  which  no  one  knowing  would  divulge. 
Years  later,  the  "  pure  gold  "  turned  out  to  be  a  large  body  of 
pyrites  of  iron  in  a  crystallized  form,  which  to  the  inexperienced 
eye  had  all  the  appearance  of  gold  !  The  belief  that  large 
quantities  of  gold  exist  in  the  mountains  still  remains ;  and 
that  "the  Lord  "  would  not  permit  the  Gentiles  to  discover  it, 
was  a  frequent. theme  in  the  Tabernacle. 

Many  a  time  Brigham  has  ridiculed,  in  Sunday  sermons, 
the  Gentile  prospectors,  and  told  them  that  they  were  blind 
and  could  not  see  the  precious  metals  when  they  were  even 
lying  before  their  eyes,  and  frequently  they  would  "  stub  their 
"  toes  "  against  the  ores  and  knew  not  what  hurt  them  ;  and 
then,  with  a  dash  of  inspiration,  he  would  comfort  them  with 
the  assurance  that  they  would  never  discover  them  until  he 


THE  FIRST  DISCOVERY  OF  SILVER  ORE.  ?13 


[Brigham]  was  willing  that  they  should  be  discovered.  "  If  ever 
"  they  discover  them,  it  shall  he  over  my  faith.^^ 

While  confidence  was  entertained  that  "  the  Lord  "  would 
guard  the  treasures  of  the  mountains  for  His  Saints,  and  the 
Prophet  was  mocking  the  would-be  miners,  the  first  discovery 
of  a  ledge  of  argentiferous  galena  was  made  by  a  lady — the 
wife  of  a  surgeon  of  the  California  Volunteers,  under  the  com- 
mand of  Colonel  Connor. 

A  portion  of  the  horses  of  the  California  Yolunteers  had 
been  sent  to  Bingham  Canon  to  graze,  and  with  them  a  com- 
pany of  men  as  a  guard.  A  picnic  party  of  oflScers  and  their 
wives  from  Camp  Douglas  was  improvised,  and  Bingham  was 
selected,  as  the  troops  were  there.  During  the  rambles  of  the 
party  on  the  mountain-sides,  this  lady,  who  had  a  previous  ac- 
quaintance with  minerals  in  California,  picked  up  a  loose  piece 
of  ore.  The  Yolunteers  immediately  prospected  for  the  vein, 
discovered  it,  stuck  a  stake  in  the  ground,  made  their  location, 
and  from  that  hour  Utah  has  been  known  to  the  world  as  a 
rich  mining  country. 

Colonel  Connor,  elated  by  this  discovery,  published  to  the 
world  that  there  were  minerals  in  Utah  upon  the  domain  of 
the  United  States  ;  and  all  were  free  to  prospect ;  and  that  his 
troops  should  afibrd  all  necessary  protection  to  the  prospector 
and  miner.  He  had  had  no  occupation  for  his  troops — they 
were  eating  the  bread  of  idleness,  and  were  discontented  at 
being  detained  in  Utah,  and  not  taking  part  in  the  war.  The 
discovery  in  Bingham  was  opportune,  to  favour  prospecting,  and 
it  would  appease  the  men  and  give  them  the  chance  of  possibly 
enriching  themselves  and  the  country.  An  order  was  pro- 
mulgated'that  a  certain  number  of  men  would  be  furloughed 
to  prospect,  and  every  facility  aflforded  them  to  travel  within 
certain  boundaries.  Wearing  the  blue,  and  the  honourable 
sign  "  U.  S.,"  they  could  enter  what  canons  they  pleased. 
Thus  to  Colonel  Connor,  and  the  California  Yolunteers  under 
his  direction,  is  the  honour  due  for  the  first  discoveries  in  Utah. 

Mr.  Eli  B.  Eelsey,  thoroughly  breaking  off  from  'Mormon- 
ism,  and  believing  that  the  hour  had  fully  come  to  develop  the 
mineral  resources  of  the  Territory,  started  out  in  the  old  mis- 
sionary style  to  lecture  upon  Utah  in  the  Atlantic  and  Pa- 


714 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


ciflc  States,  in  the  summer  of  1870.  He  wrote  to  the  papers, 
spoke  to  "boards  of  trade/'  published  a  pamphlet,  and  created 
quite  an  interest  among  capitalists,  and  was  the  means  of  send- 
ing into  the  mining  districts  a  hundred  thousand  dollars  in  the 
fall  of  1870.  The  first  of  Eastern  capitalists  who,  at  this  time, 
was  converted,  was  an  enterprising  merchant  of  New  York, 
William  M.  Fliess,  Esq.,  who  joined  Mr.  Kelsey,  and  advanced 
the  "  working  capital "  required  to  develop  some  valuable 
mines.  From  that  time  capital  has  flowed  into  Utah,  and 
wealth  has  been  dug  out  of  the  mountains  in  such  abundance 
— in  proportion  to  the  capital  and  labour  employed — as  to 
justify  the  hope  that  Utah  will  yet  be  the  first  mining  country 
in  the  world. 

The  following  article  has  been  written  and  compiled  ex* 
pressly  for  this  work  by  a  gentleman  well  acquainted  with 
mining  work,  who  visited  and  studied  the 

MINES  OF  UTAH  * 

On  the  17th  of  September,  1863,  Captain  A.  Heitz,  with  a  number  of 
soldiers,  found  the  first  vein  of  argentiferous  lead  ore  in  Bingham  Canon. 
The  first  mining  record  is  that  of  the  West  Jordan  mine,  in  favour  of  one 
Ogilvie,  and  some  others.  In  the  following  December,  a  mining  district  was 
formed  and  named  the  West  Mountain  Mining  District.  It  covered  all  the 
Oquirrh  range  of  mountains,  from  Black  Rock  at  the  southern  end  of  Salt 
Lake,  south  of  the  40th  parallel  of  latitude.  But  little  work  was  done  in 
the  new  discovery  until  the  following  spring.  In  the  interim  two  other 
ledges  had  been  discovered,  namely,  the  Galena  mine  (on  the  26th  of  Jan- 
uary, 1864),  and  the  Empire  (February  6,  1864)  ;  both  contiguous  to  the 
original  discovery. 

In  the  month  of  March  following,  a  military  post  was  established, 
known  as  Camp  Relief,  near  the  present  site  of  the  town  of  Stockton,  in 
Rush  Valley,  Tooele  County,  and  several  companies  of  cavalry  were  posted 
there,  who,  excited  to  a  high  pitch  by  the  recent  successes  of  some  of  their 
comrades  in  arms  in  mineral  discoveries,  availed  themselves  of  every  pos- 
sible opportunity  when  of£  duty  to  explore  for  ledges,  or  to  develop  such 
mines  as  they  had  already  located.  On  the  11th  of  June  following,  at  a 
miners'  meeting  held  at  the  camp,  the  Rush  Yalley  Mining  District  was 
formed,  embracing  all  the  western  slope  of  the  Oquirrh  range  from  it8 
northern  to  its  southern  limits.    The  eastern  side,  sloping  into  Salt  Lake 

« 

*  Colonel  E.  D.  Buel  kindly  placed  at  the  Author's  disposal  a  voluminous  and 
valuable  manuscript  on  the  "  Mining  Districts  of  Utah,"  from  which  much  informa- 
tion has  been  taken  for  this  article. 


EARLY  MINING  OPERATIONS. 


715 


Yalley,  still  retains  the  original  name  of  West  Mountain  District.  In  the 
summer  of  1864,  the  West  Jordan  Mining  Company  was  incorjiorated 
under  the  laws  of  California,  and  work  by  a  tunnel  was  commenced  on  the 
mine,  at  a  cost  of  sixty  dollars  per  foot,  which  could  now  be  done  for  ten 
dollars.  Blasting-powder  was  at  that  time  $25  a  keg  ;  now  it  is  less  than 
one-sixth  of  that  price,  and  labour  is  also  more  abundant. 

The  first  smelting-fumace  in  the  Territory  was  erected  at  Stockton,  in 
1864,  by  General  Connor.  He  at  this  time  became  aware  of  the  impor- 
tance of  having  the  mineral  interest  developed  to  the  fullest  possible 
extent,  and  induced  a  large  number  of  his  California  friends  to  enter  into 
the  enterprise.  The  Rush  Yalley  Smelting  Company  was  organized  at 
the  same  time,  by  the  military  officers  at  Camp  Douglas ;  and  a  furnace 
was  built  by  them  at  Stockton. 

General  Connor  followed,  with  his  second  furnace,  on  the  reverberatory 
plan,  with  an  inclined  flue,  one  hundred  and  fifty  feet  long.  During  the 
summer  and  fall  of  1864,  furnaces  were  built  by  the  following  par- 
ties, in  and  around  Stockton  and  Rush  Yalley  (mining  prospects  innumer- 
able having  by  that  time  been  located  in  the  neighbourhood),  viz. :  The 
St.  James  ;  Finnerty ;  J.  W.  Gibson ;  Nichols  &  Brand  ;  Hartnet ;  Davids 
&  Company ;  and  one  cupola  blast-furnace  by  Johnson,  Monheim  &  Com- 
pany. A  cupelling  furnace  was  also  built  by  Stock  &  Weberling,  in  the 
same  year 

But  the  treatment  of  ores  by  smelting  was  a  task  new  to  these  Cali- 
fomians,  and  their  experience  in  milling  the  gold  ores  of  their  State  was 
of  no  service  to  them  in  this  task.  This  disadvantage  was  increased  by 
the  fact  that  charcoal  was  not  abundant,  that  rates  of  transportation  were 
excessively  high,  and  both  the  materials  of  which  the  furnaces  were  built, 
and  those  used  in  the  daily  operations,  were  very  dear.  These  are  circum- 
stances which  would  tax  the  ability  of  the  most  experienced ;  and  the 
Californians,  unused  to  the  work,  failed  entirely.  A  good  deal  of  money 
was  spent,  with  no  result,  excepting  the  establishment  of  the  fact  that  the 
ores  were  easy  to  treat.  During  this  time  of  trial,  the  usual  history  of  new 
mining-fields  was  repeated,  and  companies  which  were  organized  with 
high  hopes  spent  large  sums,  and  became  bankrupt. 

The  Knickerbocker  and  Argenta  Mining  and  Smelting  Company  was 
organized  in  New  York,  to  operate  in  Rush  Yalley,  and  expended  about 
one  hundred  thousand  dollars  in  the  purchase  of  mines  and  the  material 
for  working  them.  But,  owing  to  the  impossibility  of  making  medium 
and  low-grade  ores  pay,  at  such  a  distance  from  the  market,  the  company 
lost  their  money,  and  abandoned  the  enterprise.  Thus,  after  two  years  of 
steady,  earnest,  hopeful  toil — from  the  time  of  the  first  discovery  in  1863, 
to  tlie  same  month  in  1865 — the  business  of  mining  had  to  be  suspended 
to  await  the  advent  of  the  "  iron  horse,"  which  was  to  bring  renewed 
vitality  to  the  occupation  of  the  miner. 

With  the  failure  to  work  the  mines  profitably,  came  the  disbanding  of 
the  volunteer  troops,  in  the  latter  part  of  1865-6.    Their  places  could 


TEE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


now  be  filled  by  the  regulars — the  rebellion  by  this  time  having  been  sup- 
pressed— and,  as  the  owners  and  locators  (who  were  principally  military 
men)  could  not  subsist  on  non-paying  mines,  the  question  arose  as  to  how 
their  rights  could  be  secured  while  they  were  seeking  employment  else- 
where. Their  method  of  solving  the  diiiiculty  has  resulted  in  the  greatest 
injury  to  the  cause  which  had  its  rise  in  their  energy  and  determination. 
They  called  miners'  meetings,  and  amended  the  by-laws  of  the  district  in 
such  a  manner  as  to  make  claims  perpetually  valid,  which  had  had  a  cer- 
tain but  very  small  amount  of  work  done  upon  them.  For  the  perform- 
ance of  this  work,  a  certificate  was  given  by  the  district  recorder.  This 
certificate  prohibited  all  subsequent  relocation  of  the  ground.  In  conse- 
quence of  this  provision,  the  mines  of  Stockton  long  lay  under  a  ban, 
and  it  is  only  since  the  wonderful  discoveries  made  in  neighbouring 
canons,  that  mining  has  been  energetically  resumed  there.  While  the 
operations,  detailed  above,  drew  attention  chiefly  to  the  Eush  Valley 
mines,  discoveries  were  gradually  becoming  numerous  in  other  districts. 

The  first  discovery  of  silver-bearing  lead  ore  had  been  made  in  the 
Wahsatch  range,  in  Little  Cottonwood  Canon,  and  in  Mountain  Lake,  in 
the  summer  of  1864,  by  General  Connor,  but  nothing  was  done  towatds 
development  until  the  district  was  organized,  in  the  fall  of  1868  ;  wheu, 
for  the  first  time,  operations  of  any  extent  were  begun  on  the  mines  by 
Messrs.  Woodhull,  Woodman,  Chisholm,  Keich,  and  others.  The  first 
shipments  of  galena  ore  from  the  Territory  were  made  in  small  quantities 
by  Messrs.  Woodman  &  Co.,  Walker  Brothers,  and  Woodhull  Brothers,  of 
Little  Cottonwood  ore,  in  July,  1868,  being  the  first  products  of  the  Emma 
mine.  Several  other  shipments  were  made,  in  the  fall  of  that  year,  by 
the  same  parties.  The  completion  of  the  Utah  Central  Railroad  to  Salt 
Lake  City,  in  January,  1870,  presented  the  long-looked-for  opportunity 
of  embarking  with  certainty  in  the  business  of  mining. 

During  the  fall  of  1868,  and  the  spring  of  1869,  mining  was  taken  hold 
of  with  a  will,"  and  it  was  soon  proved,  beyond  a  question,  that  the 
mines  of  Utah  were  possessed  of  real  merit.  What  better  proof  can  be 
looked  for  than  the  fact  that  from  their  first  discovery  they  were  not  only 
self-sustaining,  but  highly  remunerative  ?  The  first  shipment  of  ore  to 
market  having  proved  a  success,  work  was  pushed  on  with  the  utmost 
vigour  on  the  mines  already  discovered.  This  was  especially  the  case 
in  Little  Cottonwood  district,  on  such  mines  as  the  Flagstafi",  Emma, 
North  Star,  Savage,  Magnet,  Monitor,  and  others.  Thus  an  impetus  was 
given  to  the  business  of  prospecting  for  mines  all  over  the  Territory  ;  and 
this  led  to  the  innumerable  discoveries  subsequently  made.  The  export 
of  ores  has  increased  from  a  few  irregular  weekly  shipments,  as  in  the  fall 
of  1868,  and  throughout  1869,  to  that  of  a  regular  and  constant  stream, 
during  the  summer  months,  of  from  four  hundred  to  six  hundred  tons 
weekly.  In  one  month  the  Walker  Brothers  shipped  4,000  tons.  In  the 
two  months — August  and  September,  1872 — 2,458  tons  of  ore,  and  1,363 
tons  of  silver-bearing  lead  and  iron,  were  sent  out  of  the  Territory.  The 


DISCOVERY  OF  "HORN"  SILVER  IN  EAST  CA^ON.  719 


latter  item  shows  what  progress  has  been  made  in  smelting  the  ores  within 
tlie  limits  of  the  Territory  itself. 

It  was  during  the  excitement  produced  by  the  very  rich  developments 
made  on  the  Emma  and  other  mines  of  Little  Cottonwood,  that  horn," 
or  chloride  silver  ores,  of  a  very  rich  character,  were  discovered  in  East 
Canon — ^now  known  as  Ophir  District.  The  first  location  in  this  district 
was  made  on  the  23d  of  August,  1870,  and  was  named  Silveropolis.  This 
location  was  soon  followed  by  many  others  of  a  similar  kind  of  mineral, 
all  proving,  at  the  surface,  to  be  very  rich — such  as  the  Tampico,  Moun- 
tain Lion,  Mountain  Tiger,  Petaluma,  Zella,  Silver  Chief,  Defiance,  Vir- 
ginia, Monarch,  Blue  Wing,  and  many  others,  with  promising  prospects. 
All  were  found  on  what  is  known  as  Lion  and  Tiger  Hills,  immediately 
south  of  Ophir  City ;  and  the  ores  (unlike  those  of  Cottonwood)  are 
adapted  to  mill  treatment  alone. 

At  the  same  time,  prospecting  was  going  on  upon  the  north  side  of 
Ophir,  where  many  very  extensive  ledges  of  lead  ore,  carrying  silver,  were 
found ;  which  ores  are  adapted  to  the  smelting-process  only.  A  remark- 
able distinction  is  to  be  noticed  in  the  character  of  the  ores  on  either  side 
of  the  canon,  the  bottom  of  which  appears  to  be  the  dividing-line.  On 
the  north  side,  at  the  distance  of  not  more  than  one-third  of  a  mile,  is 
found  a  combination  of  sulphides  of  iron,  lead,  arsenic,  antimony,  and  zinc 
—the  iron  predominating,  and  carrying  silver  in  appreciable  quantities, 
with  fifteen  per  cent,  to  forty  per  cent,  of  lead.  On  the  south  side,  distant 
from  the  canon  about  one  mile,  in  a  direct  line,  the  silver  occurs  as  chlo- 
ride, with  little  or  no  base  metal.  But,  small  as  the  quantity  of  the  other 
minerals  is,  they  contain  lead,  molybdanum,  antimony,  and  zinc,  and  there- 
fore few  of  the  mines  yield  ore  that  can  be  well  treated  without  roasting. 
Probably  fifty  or  sixty  per  cent,  may  be  taken  as  the  average  yield  of  those 
ores  in  the  mill,  when  they  are  treated  raw.  But  a  proper  roasting 
increases  this  to  eighty-five  and  even  ninety  per  cent.,  and  upwards. 
Some  mines  yield  a  remarkably  pure  chloride-ore — a  dolomitic  limestone 
containing  true  chloride  of  silver  in  a  very  pure  condition. 

It  was  at  the  time  of  these  discoveries  that  the  district  now  known  as 
"Ophir"  was  formed  in  that  part  of  the  Oquirrh  range  known  as  East 
Canon,  and  originally  included  in  the  Rush  Valley  district.  Some  forty 
locations  had  been  made  as  early  as  1864  and  1865.  The  conditions  under 
which  the  ore  exists  in  these  mines  is  somewhat  peculiar.  It  is  in  concen- 
trations, which  are  often  small  and  exceedingly  rich,  or  larger  and  less 
concentrated,  though  still  very  rich.  Mines  were  opene'd,  which,  when 
the  overlying  earth  was  removed,  disclosed  a  narrow  vein,  exhibiting  along 
its  length  a  number  of  "boulders"  highly  impregnated  with  chloride  of 
silver.  These  frequently  assayed  from  $5,000  to  $30,000  a  ton ;  *  though 
their  value  would  vary  very  much  in  different  parts  of  the  same  mass.  As 

*  The  Walker  Brothers  shipped  west  from  the  Silveropolis  40  tons  of  ore,  which 
netted  $24,000,  of  the  first  workings  of  that  mine. 


720 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS, 


a  rule,  the  ore  of  East  Canon  may  be  estimated  at  $80  to  $150  per  ton  in 
value,  though  considerable  quantities  run  much  higher.  But  the  marvel- 
lous stories  of  the  $10,000  and  $20,000  ore,  found  in  boulders,  attracted 
the  attention  of  prospectors  in  other  parts  of  the  West ;  and  these  discov- 
eries in  Ophir,  together  with  the  wealth  the  "Emma,"  have  probably 
done  more  than  any  thing  else  to  bring  about  that  strong  tide  of  immi- 
grating prospectors  which  has  so  rapidly  raised  Utah  to  the  position  of  a 
first-rate  mining-field.  At  all  events,  they  would  probably  have  been  sufii- 
cient  for  the  work,  had  the  other  discoveries  been  of  less  importance  than 
they  really  are.  • 

The  working  of  these  mines  not  only  opened  new  districts,  but  revived 
the  activity  of  those  which  had  suffered  partial  abandonment,  and  at 
present  there  is  not  one  district  where  important  works  are  not  going  on. 
Great  encouragement  was  also  received  from  Eastern  and  foreign  capi- 
talists. Important  sales  were  made,  and  a  great  deal  of  money  brought 
in  as  working  capital.  At  the  same  time  a  number  of  smelting-works 
were  built.  The  amount  of  ore  which  these  were  capable  of  treating  is 
variously  estimated  at  from  200  to  400  tons  per  day ;  but  few  of  them  are 
now  running.  In  June,  1870,  the  Woodhull  Brothers  built  a  furnace  eight 
miles  south  of  Salt  Lake  City,  at  the  junction  of  the  State  road  with  Big 
Cottonwood  Creek.  It  did  some  service  in  testing  practically  the  ores  of 
the  Territory,  and  from  these  works  was  shipped  the  first  bullion  produced 
from  the  mines  of  Utah.  It  was  smelted  from  ores  of  the  Monitor  and 
^lagnet,  and  other  Cottonwood  mines. 

These  works  were  soon  followed  by  the  Badger  State  Smelting  Works, 
about  four  miles  south  of  the  city  of  Salt  Lake,  on  the  State  road,  which 
were  commenced  in  August,  1870.  They  produced  their  first  bullion 
on  the  18th  of  March,  1871.  The  next  works  were  those  of  Jennings  & 
Pascoe,  immediately  north  of  the  city,  at  the  Warm  Springs.  They  con- 
.tained  reverberatory  furnaces,  which  are  not  well  adapted  to  the  average 
ores  of  Utah,  but  are  useful  for  the  preparation  of  galena  ore  for  the  blast- 
furnace. A  cupola  or  blast-furnace  has  since  been  added  to  these  works, 
increasing  their  value  greatly. 

The  next,  and  best  designed  works  of  any  built  in  the  Territory  until 
a  late  period,  were  those  of  Colonel  D.  E.  Buel,  at  the  mouth  of  Little 
Cottonwood  Canon.  The  smelting-works  of  Buel  &  Bateman,  in  Bingham 
Cafion,  which  followed,  were  built  on  the  same  plan  as  those  in  Little 
Cottonwood. 

During  the  winter  of  1870-1,  Messrs.  Jones  &  Raymond  built  fumacea 
in  East  Canon  for  the  purpose  of  treating  the  lead-ores  of  that  district.  A 
renewal  of  operations  also  took  place  in  Stockton,  and  the  works  there 
have  suffered  greater  vicissitudes  than  any  others  in  the  Territory.  Tintic, 
a  new  district,  saw  the  next  establishment  built.  But,  during  the  year 
1871,  furnaces  were  erected  in  all  quarters  :  in  Little  Cottonwood,  by 
Jones  &  Pardee ;  in  Big  Cottonwood,  by  Weightman  &  Co. ;  in  Bingham 
Canon,  by  Bristol  &  Daggett ;  m  American  Fork,  by  Holcombe,  Sevenoaks 


THE  FIRST  MILL  ERECTED  IN  UTAH. 


723 


&  Co.,  and  others.  These  were  nearly  all  shaft-fiirnaces,  rather  rude  in 
construction,  though  with  some  well  built  furnaces  among  them.  The 
only  works  which  deserve  notice,  for  the  introduction  of  good  metallur- 
gical models,  are  those  of  Robbins  &  Co.,  who  built  a  large  reverberatory 
furnace  for  reducing  the  ore  by  charcoal,  after  preliminary  roasting ;  and 
the  works  of  Colonel  Buel,  in  Little  Cottonwood,  where  the  later  construc- 
tions of  German  metallurgists  were  introduced  with  good  judgment  and 
effect.  The  furnaces  which  Colonel  Buel  placed  in  his  Cottonwood  and 
Bingham  Canon  works  have  been  repeatedly  copied  in  later-erected  estab- 
lishments, and  have  proved  themselves  as  serviceable  in  this  country  as 
abroad. 

Thus,  sixteen  furnaces  were  built  in  as  many  months,  and  the  number 
has  since  been  increased  more  than  one-half;  but  it  cannot  be  said  that 
great  success  has  attended  them.  Few  have  continued  in  active  opera- 
tion, and  fewer  still  work  with  the  regularity  necessary  to  success.  It  is 
impossible  to  doubt  that  a  history  like  this  must  be  the  result  of  in- 
experience. It  is  but  a  repetition  of  the  course  of  affairs  in  Nevada,  where 
men  accustomed  to  the  amalgamation  of  gold  undertook  to  treat  silver 
ores,  which  require  a  very  different  process.  They  at  first  ascribed  their 
failures  to  some  peculiarity  of  the  ores,  which  were  thought  to  be  differ- 
ent from  any  others  in  the  world ;  but,  now,  they  confess  that  the  cause 
of  their  difficulties  was  simply  ignorance.  Undoubtedly,  that  is  the  real 
secret  of  the  trouble  experienced  by  smelters  in  Utah ;  and  doubtless, 
when  they  have  become  more  experienced,  they  will  not  hesitate  to  ac- 
knowledge that  ignorance  of  the  work  was  the  cause  of  their  first  failures, 
instead  of  giving  the  numerous  excuses  that  are  now  current. 

In  addition  to  the  foregoing  means  of  reduction,  there  was  built  in 
Ophir  District,  East  Canon,  a  first-class  crushing  and  amalgamating  mill, 
in  May  and  June,  1871,  by  the  Walker  Brothers,  of  Salt  Lake  City.  It  is 
known  as  the  Pioneer  Mill.  It  has  fifteen  stamps,  and  was  built  by  the 
firm  to  work  the  ores  of  the  Silveropolis,  Tiger,  Rockwell,  Zella,  Silver- 
Chief,  and  other  mines — the  mill-process  alone  being  adapted  to  the 
ores  of  that  section  of  Ophir  known  as  Lion  Hill,  where  horn  chloride 
silver  ores  are  found.  There  are  also  four  or  five  "  Mexican  arastas "  in 
successful  operation  in  East  Canon.  The  mill-men  have  met  with  better 
success  in  Utah  than  the  smelters,  for  they  are  engaged  in  a  task  familiar 
to  them ;  the  process  being  the  same  as  that  in  use  in  Nevada  and  some 
parts  of  California. 

Notwithstanding  all  the  discouragement  which  has  been  met  with 
hitherto  by  the  smelters,  the  progress  of  mining  in  Utah  has  been  won- 
derful. Remembering  that  the  first  really  practical  work  done  towards 
the  development  of  the  mining  interests  was  commenced  only  in  the  fall 
of  1868,  and  making  due  allowance  for  the  inclement  season  then  at  hand, 
which  the  miners  had  to  pass  through  in  such  high  altitudes  as  those 
where  the  mines  are  situated,  it  will  be  understood  how  it  was  that  the 
summer  of  1869  had  progressed  so  far  before  work  to  any  appreciable 


724 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


amount  was  done.  Considering  the  shortness  of  the  time,  the  record  of 
what  has  been  done  is  most  extraordinary. 

From  the  summer  of  1869  to  the  25th  of  September,  1871,  there  were 
shipped  from  the  Territory  10,000  tons  of  silver  and  gold  ores,  of  the  gross 
value  of  $2,500,000 ;  of  bullion,  or  pig-lead,  containing  gold  and  silver, 
4,500  tons,  of  the  gross  value  of  $1,237,000;  copper  ores,  231  tons,  of  the 
gross  value  of  $6,000.  Salt  also  has  been  exported  to  the  extent  of  1,100 
tons,  of  the  value  of  $4,000  ;  and  silver  bars,  obtained  by  milling  chloride 
ores,  have  produced  $120,000.  The  annual  product  of  gold  from  Bingham 
Canon,  by  improved  appliances  for  washing  and  sluicing,  has  been  in- 
creased from  $150,000  to  $250,000.  The  number  of  districts  by  exploration 
and  location  have  grown  from  two,  as  in  1868,  to  thirty-two  in  1871. 
Since  June,  1870,  there  have  been  erected  eighteen  smel ting-furnaces,  built 
at  an  aggregate  cost  of  $200,000,  several  of  which  are  producing  bullion. 

If  this  were  a  professional  mining  work,  it  would  be  an  error  to  sin- 
gle out  a  few  of  the  most  remarkable  mines  in  Utah  for  description,  to  the 
exclusion  of  the  great  number  of  lesser  mines.  As  it  is  not  intended 
to  offer  here  a  guide,  either  to  the  miner  or  the  speculator,  but,  on  the  con- 
trary, to  present  the  average  disinterested  reader  with  information  about 
the  great  works  of  nature  in  the  Territory,  as  well  as  the  history  of  the 
people  who  have  settled  it,  no  impropriety  will  be  committed  in  discussing 
the  character  of  the  famous  Emma  mine,  that  has  attracted  especial  at- 
tention. 

Nature  has  formed  her  mineral  deposits  in  various  ways.  Sometimes 
volcanic  forces  have  opened  a  cleft  in  the  rocks,  which  has  been  filled  by 
minerals  introduced  either  in  solution  or  in  a  gaseous  form.  Sometimes  the 
mass  of  ore  has  been  withdrawn,  by  means  which  are  still  mysterious  to  us, 
from  the  neighbouring  rocks.  Other  veins,  again,  are  merely  cracks  in  the 
rock,  formed  by  contraction  as  the  mass  became  more  and  more  dense, 
or  more  and  more  dry,  examples  of  which  action  may  be  constantly  seen 
in  clay  beds  lying  in  the  sun,  and  these  cracks  have  been  filled  from  the 
surface.  But  the  method  to  which  the  student  of  geology  in  the  West 
is  forced  chiefly  to  give  his  attention  is,  the  formation  of  veins  by  hot 
waters.  There  is  a  lively  and  constant  circulation  of  water  within  the 
bowels  of  the  earth,  and,  little  as  the  ancient  alchemists  imagined  it,  wa- 
ter is  the  "  universal  solvent."  The  action  of  these  subterranean  waters  is 
greatly  increased  by  various  substances  which  they  already  hold  in  solu- 
tion, and  also  in  many  instances  by  their  high  temperature.  A  hot  spring 
bursting  through  the  narrow  crevice  in  the  rock  will  not  only  wear  away  a 
larger  channel,  but  it  will  enlarge  its  path  by  taking  the  solid  rock  into 
solution  and  bearing  it  also  away.  It  is  supposed  that  this  action  has 
been  enormously  intensified  in  the  case  of  vein  formation,  from  the  fact 
that  frequently  the  waters,  springing  from  a  great  depth,  are  under  im- 
mense pressure,  and  at  a  temperature  which  is  very  much  above  that  of 
boiling  water,  as  it  is  known  on  the  surface  of  the  earth. 

Under  these  circumstances,  the  magnitude  of  the  caverns,  whose  ex- 


THE  GREAT  WEALTH  OF  THE  EMMA  MINE. 


727 


cavation  we  can  ascribe  to  no  other  cause  than  the  action  of  water,  ap- 
pears less  marvellous.  The  same  description  of  caverns  are  found  in  the 
East,  though  usually  empty,  or  else  filled  with  some  other  substance  than 
ore,  as  clay  and  other  minerals.  But  it  is  in  the  West  that  the  manifesta- 
tions of  this  action  are  most  widely  found.  The  theory  just  mentioned, 
respecting  the  origin  of  most  of  our  mines,  may  be  regarded  as  the 
most  probable  one,  as  we  not  only  find  almost  innumerable  hot  springs 
throughout  the  whole  mountain-region  of  the  Territories,  and  springing 
up  even  in  our  very  mines  themselves,  when,  in  our  efforts  to  obtain  the 
ore,  we  remove  the  rock  that  has  choked  their  passage,  but  we  also  have 
in  this  country  springs  which  are  still  forming  mines.  In  Georgia  there 
is  a  hot  spring  which  deposits  gold  quartz,  and  we  have  only  to  imagine 
a  time  of  volcanic  disturbance,  leaving  behind  it  a  period  of  intense  sol- 
fataric  activity,  covering  the  whole  Western  country,  to  see  this  action,  so 
feebly  illustrated  in  Georgia,  become  the  source  of  many  thousands  of 
mineral  deposits.  The  word  '  solfataric,'  used  to  describe  the  process  by 
which  these  mines  are  formed,  is  derived  from  the  name  of  a  volcano  near 
Naples,  and  means  all  the  forces  of  a  volcano  which  are  not  included  in 
the  actual  eruption  of  lava. 

In  every  mine  it  is  an  important  question  to  ascertain  its  extent,  and, 
since  we  cannot  penetrate  the  earth  with  our  eyes,  no  resource  is  left  but 
to  determine  the  mode  in  which  the  vein  was  formed.  If  we  can  make 
sure  that  a  given  mine  is  in  a  great  cleft  formed  by  forces  far  below,  and 
afterwards  filled  from  the  same  source,  we  may  feel  confidence  in  the 
long  continuance  of  our  supply  of  ore.  But  the  difiiculty  with  veins 
which  are  formed  by  hot  waters,  or  by  any  sort  of  solfataric  action,  is  that 
we  can  never  ascertain  except  by  actual  trial  how  far  below  the  surface  the 
sources  of  the  deposits  are  to  be  found.  Some  mines,  like  the  Comstock, 
are  vast  in  every  direction — length,  depth,  and  breadth;  but  the  Com- 
stock is  a  true  fissure- vein,  the  crevice  having  been  formed  by  volcanic 
force,  and  afterwards  filled  by  hot  waters  which  deposited  the  ore.  Others 
are  so  shallow  as  to  be  nearly  worthless  as  mines. 

The  Emma  in  many  respects  rivals  the  Comstock,  and  in  some  excels  it. 
Of  less  remarkable  length,  its  width  is  enormous,  and  it  has  been  explored 
for  230  feet  in  depth,  with  every  prospect  of  much  longer  continuance. 
The  history  of  this  important  mine  can  be  given  in  a  few  words ;  its  dis- 
covery has  already  been  mentioned.  Since  the  great  body  of  ore  was  opened, 
it  has  been  developed  until  the  work  done  and  its  results  are  as  follows : 

Depth  of  workings,        .      .      ,      .      .    230  feet. 

Breadth       "   6  to  40  " 

Length        "    475  " 

Cubic  feet  excavated,  ....       about  500,000 

Tons  of  ore,  about  30,000 

Tons  of  waste  and  third-class  ore,  .  about  15,000 
Value  of  sales  (September,  1872),  about  $3,000,000 

The  profit  on  these  sales  has  been  immense,  and  probably  bears  a 
greater  proportion  to  the  expenses  than  that  of  any  other  large  mine  in  the 


128 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


country.  The  cost  of  mining  and  raising  the  ore  for  a  period  of  time  had 
been  only  about  eight  per  cent,  of  its  value,  a  proportion  remarkably  low, 
and  due  to  the  soft  nature  of  the  ore,  which  rarely  requires  blasting.  Its 
value  per  ton,  at  that  time,  averaged  about  $190  or  $200,  and  in  some  of 
the  later  workings  ore  having  a  value  of  more  than  $200  has  been  found, 
but  the  general  average  of  the  Emma  first-class  ore  ranges  about  $150  per 
ton,  and  second  class  $80.  At  present,  about  100  tons  of  ore  are  extracted 
daily. 

The  distinctive  peculiarity  of  this  mine  is  not  its  size,  for  many  are 
larger,  but  it  is  what  is  called  in  mining  language  a  lonanza  of  very  un- 
usual dimensions.  In  every  mine  there  are  alternations  of  ore  and  rock — 
the  latter  worthless.  When  the  mass  of  ore  reaches  an  unusual  size,  it  is 
called  a  lonama.  Some  of  these  form  the  wonders  of  mining  history, 
as,  for  instance,  that  great  lonanza  of  Potosi,  in  South  America,  from  which 
scores  of  millions  of  dollars  were  taken.  Attention  was  first  attracted  to 
the  Comstock  lode  by  the  great  lonanza  of  the  Gould  &  Curry  mine. 
The  Poorman  lode  in  Idaho  contained  a  lonanza  which  yielded  the  largest 
masses  of  silver  sulphide  that  have  ever  been  seen.  As  yet  the  workings 
on  the  Emma  have  been  confined  to  this  great  lonanza^  with  the  exception 
of  some  casual  trials  of  the  vein,  outside  its  limits,  and,  until  the  great  de- 
posit begins  to  show  some  signs  of  exhaustion,  this  course  will  probably  be 
continued.  There  will  then  remain  the  prospect  of  finding  paying  bodies 
of  ore  in  the  vein,  as  well  as  the  chance  of  a  second  large  mass.  But  the  im- 
portance of  that  which  is  already  under  exploration  may  be  judged  from 
the  fact  that  the  ore  removed,  with  that  remaining,  is  said  to  be  worth  fif- 
teen million  dollars.  There  is  nothing  in  this  to  indicate  the  approaching 
end  of  the  works.  It  is  quite  within  the  pov/er  of  nature  to  have  formed 
there  an  ore-mass  which  may  continue  to  the  greatest  depths.  The  geol- 
ogy of  the  district  has  not  yet  been  sufl[iciently  well  studied  to  enable  a 
judgment  to  be  formed  of  the  future  prospects  of  the  mine,  but  so  far  as  is 
known  there  is  nothing  to  indicate  a  discontinuance  of  this  lonanza  at  a 
less  depth  than  five  to  ten  times  that  which  has  been  reached. 

Remarkable  success  has  attended  the  mine  from  the  hour  the  great  de- 
posit was  reached.  The  dividends,  since  it  was  placed  on  the  London 
market  [November,  1871],  have  been  $75,000  per  month,  and  still,  owing 
to  continued  developments,  it  shows  much  larger  reserves  of  ore  to-day 
than  it  did  a  year  ago ;  the  nett  value  of  the  ore  in  one  portion  of  the 
mine  alone  being  estimated  by  reliable  experts  at  over  $10,000,000.  No 
signs  of  exhaustion  are  apparent,  but,  on  the  contrary,  the  workings 
are  steadily  sinking  lower,  and  developing  at  every  foot  still  larger 
quantities  of '  metal '  increasing  in  value. 

Active  mining  has  not  been  in  progress  in  this  deposit  for  more  than 
two  and  a  half  summers,  but  in  that  time  the  profits  have,  as  before  stated, 
amounted  to  about  three  million  dollars.  Dividends  to  the  amount  of  one 
and  a  half  per  cent,  a  month  on  the  capital  [$5,000,000]  have  already  been 
paid.    The  present  earnings  are  double  that  amount. 


THE  RICH  MINES  OF  THE  EMMA  HILL. 


729 


On  the  same  hill  are  a  number  of  very  rich  mines,  leading  to  the  con- 
clusion that  the  Emma  Hill  is  a  grand  repository  of  argentiferous  ore. 
Noticeably  there  is  the  Flagstaff  higher  up  and  west  of  the  Emma,  which 
has  shown  great  richness.  Again,  almost  due  north,  about  700  feet  higher 
up  the  hill,  a  cluster  of  four  mines — the  Last  Chance,  Hiawatha,  Mon- 
tezuma, and  the  Savage — covering  a  lineal  measurement  of  over  7,000 
feet,  which  are  said  to  have  developed  ores  equal  in  richness  to  the  Emma. 
The  Emma  was  sold  to  English  capitalists,  in  the  spring  of  1872,  for 
£1,000.000  sterling.  The  Flagstaff  was  sold  in  the  same  market  for 
£300,000.  The  group  of  mines — ^Last  Chance,  Hiawatha,  Montezuma, 
and  Savage,  were  sold  to  Detroit  and  New  York  capitalists  in  the  faU 
of  1872,  for  $1,500,000,  and  incorporated  under  the  laws  of  the  State 
of  New  York,  under  the  title  of  the  Winsor-Utah  Silver  Mining  Com- 
pany. These  three  great  companies  are  sanguine  that  their  mines  are 
inexhaustible — during  this  generation,  at  least. 

South  of  this  canon  is  the  American  Fork  ;  north  of  it  is  Big  Cotton- 
wood ;  both  of  which  are  worthy  neighbours.  In  fact,  the  whole  district, 
composed  of  these  three  canons,  and  perhaps  also  those  over  the  range  to 
the  east  of  them,  is  one  of  the  most  remarkable  collections  of  mineral 
deposits  in  the  world.  It  is,  however,  in  no  way  remarkable  that  such 
concentrations  of  mineral  wealth  should  occur.  On  the  contrary,  it  is 
quite  in  accordance  with  the  conclusions  formed  from  experience  in  other 
quarters  of  the  world.  There  is  no  region  of  the  globe  where  every 
mountain-peak  in  a  long  range  is  a  volcano.  Only  one  or  two  are  active, 
and  about  these  are  found  the  evidences  of  disturbance.  In  the  same 
way  the  lesser  volcanic  forces,  which  have  been  the  origin  of  the  mines, 
have  broken  forth  at  intervals,  and  left  nests  of  ramifying  veins. 

Parley's  Park  is  the  name  given  to  a  district  east  of  the  Cottonwood, 
and  just  over  the  range.  A  new  mine — the  McHenry — -just  discovered 
there,  is  said  to  be  one  of  the  wonders  of  mining. 

South  of  the  Canons  which  are  at  present  the  principal  centres  of  ac- 
tivity, are  a  number  of  others  which  are  known  to  contain  deposits  of  ore, 
and  it  is  highly  probable  that  the  mineral  district  reaches  far  southward, 
perhaps  to  Mexico.  Some  of  these  canons  have  been  hastily  examined. 
In  others  a  good  deal  of  work  has  been  done  ;  important  mines  have  been 
opened,  and  they  are  only  waiting  for  the  railroad  to  reach  them,  to  rise 
into  importance  equal  to  that  of  the  neighbouring  canons  which  have  en- 
joyed better  opportunities.  Camp  Floyd,  forty  miles  west  of  Salt  Lake 
City,  is  one  of  these,  and  there  the  Mormon  Chief,  Sparrowhawk,  Silver 
Cloud,  and  other  mines,  have  been  opened  and  worked  with  great  success. 
Ti^itic  is  another  promising  district,  and  Star  district,  nearly  2G0  miles  from 
Salt  Lake  City,  is  another,  while  the  mines  in  Sevier  district  have  attracted 
a  great  deal  of  attention.  In  truth,  these  districts  are  important  in  pro- 
portion to  the  nearness  of  the  railroad,  and,  as  that  progresses  southward, 
district  after  district  may  be  expected  to  assume  its  proper  position  as  a 
source  of  mining  activity. 


730 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


When  a  vein  is  formed  in  a  fissure  already  existing  in  the  rock,  and 
formed  from  below,  the  probabilities  are  that  the  body  of  ore  continues 
for  more  than  four  thousand  feet  in  depth,  which  is  the  present  limit  of 
ability  to  penetrate  the  crust  of  the  earth  by  machinery.  Such  veins  are 
called  true  fissure-veins^  and  are  held  in  such  esteem  that  every  miner 
labours  to  prove  his  own  vein  to  be  of  this  class.  But  it  is  probable  that 
the  number  of  this  kind  of  vein  is  comparatively  small  in  the  West.  This 
rule  holds  good  in  other  countries  besides  America,  and  it  is  a  remarkable 
fact  that  the  buyers  of  mines  expend  their  energies  in  seeking  a  class  of 
veins  which  the  history  of  mining  does  not  prove  to  be  of  first  impor- 
tance. It  would  be  a  discovery  of  great  value  if  we  could  learn  to  judge 
of  the  depth  from  which  the  veins  of  any  particular  district  were  filled ; 
but,  not  usually  having  that  knowledge  in  our  power,  we  must  trust,  for 
the  present,  to  the  evidences  of  the  miner's  pick  and  drill.  It  is  for  this 
reason  that  the  discovery  of  a  great  deposit,  like  the  Emma,  draws  such 
numbers  of  ore-seekers  to  its  neighbourhood.  Not  the  least  noticeable 
fact,  in  connection  with  the  Utah  mines,  is,  that  nearly  every  canon  shows 
at  least  several  of  these  greater  productions  of  nature.  In  Little  Cotton- 
wood, the  Emma,  Flagstafi',  Davenport,  the  Winsor-Utah  mines,  and  North 
Star,  are  the  leading  mines  on  one  side ;  in  American  Fork,  there  are 
the  Miller  and  the  Pittsburg ;  in  Bingham,  the  Winnemucca,  West  Jor- 
dan, and  Buel  and  Bateman  mines  take  the  lead  for  magnitude ;  and,  in 
East  Canon,  on  one  side,  the  Last  Cliance,  Silver  Shield,  Velocipede, 
Chicago,  Erie,  and  other  mines ;  an'd  on  the  other  are  the  Tiger,  Zella,Lion, 
Silver  Chief,  Silver  Exchange,  Sunnyside.  In  Dry  Canon,  adjoining  East 
Canon,  there  are  also  good  paying  mines — of  which  the  Mono  is  the  most 
prominent. 

As  has  been  already  observed,  many  remnants  of  the  solfataric  action, 
which  produced  the  mineral  deposits,  remain  in  Utah ;  near  Salt  Lake 
City  are  hot  springs  used  as  public  baths.  The  water  is  strongly  impreg- 
nated with  sulphur,  and  contains  numerous  salts.  Similar  springs,  and 
of  a  still  higher  temperature,  are  at  a  little  greater  distance.  In  Oneida 
County  are  the  Soda  Springs,  so  called ;  and,  in  fact,  these  springs  are 
found  in  great  numbers  in  the  Territory.  On  the  road  to  East  Canon, 
there  is  a  spring  which  supplies  water  so  slightly  tinctured  with  sulphur 
that  its  taste  is  unperceived  until  after  it  has  been  drunk.  Then  a  deli- 
cate flavour,  far  from  unpleasant,  remains  in  the  mouth ;  and  in  other 
respects  this  water  is  delicious. 

Some  of  the  mineral  waters  are  not  hot,  but  are  rather  of  an  icy  cold- 
ness, a  number  of  such  springs  being  found  about  seventy  miles  northeast 
of  Salt  Lake  City.  But  it  would  be  a  tiresome  task  to  enumerate  ^11  the 
mineral  springs  of  Utah.  Like  all  the  Western  regions,  it  has  many  a 
"  mountain-tap  "  whose  refreshing  and  pungent  waters  have  been  drunk 
by  the  trapper  in  fond  remembrance  of  the  cider  from  which  he  was  sepa- 
rated by  a  thousand  miles  of  wilderness. 

The  staples  of  the  Utah  mines  are  silver  and  lead ;  but  gold  is  also 


DISCOVERIES  OF  GOLD  IN  UTAH. 


131 


found,  and,  in  one  canon— Bingham — it  has  been  mined  for  years  with 
great  profit.  About  one  million  dollars'  worth  of  the  precious  metal  is 
said  to  have  been  washed  out  of  the  gravel,  and  the  sands  are  still  very 
remunerative.  Gold  is  also  found  in  some  of  the  lead  mines,  but  whether 
it  exists  there  as  auriferous  galena,  or  combined  with  the  iron,  which  is 
also  one  of  the  constituents  of  the  lead  ore,  can  only  be  surmised.  Aurif- 
erous galena  has  been  found  in  other  countries,  but  it  is  not  common,  and 
it  is  noticeable  that  the  mines  which  show  most  gold  contain  also  most 
iron.  But  Bingham  Canon  is  not  the  only  spot  in  Utah  where  this  metal 
is  found.  Many  streams  give  evidence  of  the  presence  of  gold  in  their 
sands,  and,  were  the  thorough  means  so  well  known  in  California  ap- 
plied to  their  working,  Utah  would  be  a  gold-producing  country  of  no 
mean  order. 

Gold-sands  were  worked  in  the  Sevier  River,  in  Juab  County,  as  early 
as  1861,  and,  in  a  very  rude  way,  paid  two  dollars  to  five  dollars  per  man. 
Quartz-mines  were  also  found  in  the  same  region  in  1868-9,  and  the 
approach  of  the  railroad  will,  perhaps,  permit  these  ledges  to  be  worked. 
The  discovery  of  gold  near  Ogden,  on  the  line  of  the  Pacific  Railway,  in 
1871,  made  a  good  deal  of  stir  ;  but  the  importance  of  silver-mining  in  the 
Territory  overshadows  all  other  discoveries. 

Copper  has  not  yet  been  worked  in  the  Territory.  Deposits  of  the 
ore  are  reported,  but  thus  far  they  do  not  seem  to  have  authorized  the 
investment  necessary  for  mining-works.  Tin  and  mercury  ores  are  also 
reported,  but  in  neither  case  with  reasonable  proof. 

Next  in  importance  to  the  mines  of  silver  and  lead  are  those  materials 
which  are  necessary  for  the  utilization  of  the  ore.  Chief  of  these  are  iron 
ore  and  fuel.  Iron  ore  is  put  down  as  valuable  in  its  relation  to  the  lead 
ores,  rather  than  for  its  possible  use  as  a  source  of  iron.  Furnaces  for 
smelting  this  ore  for  its  metal  have  been  erected  in  Iron  County,  about 
two  hundred  and  thirty  miles  south  of  Salt  Lake  City,  but  that  was  before 
the  railroad  was  finished.  Fuel  is  not  sufficiently  abundant,  and  labour 
is  too  high,  to  make  it  at  all  certain  that  iron  can  yet  be  made  in  the  Ter- 
ritory cheaper  than  it  can  be  brought  from  the  East. 

But  iron  ore,  or  some  product  containing  iron,  is  an  absolute  necessity 
in  the  treatment  of  lead  ores.  Utah  has  seen  many  furnaces  built,  but  with 
an  almost  unceasing  round  of  failures.  It  is  impossible  to  give  any  other 
reason  for  the  ill-success  of  so  many  adventurers,  except  the  general  one 
that  they  v/ere  ignorant  of  the  work  they  undertook.  But.  if  there  is  any 
one  of  their  errors  which  is  especially  prominent,  it  is  their  failure  to  seek 
a  cheap  supply  of  iron  ore.  Instances  have  been  known  where  the  smelt- 
ing of  ore  cost  less  than  twenty  doljars  a  ton  for  all  expenses  but  the  iron 
ore  used ;  that  alone  amounted  to  fifteen  dollars  more.  The  reason  of  this 
heavy  expense  is,  that  the  ore  is  mined  in  Wyoming  Territory,  and  carted 
to  the  Pacific  Railroad,  on  which  it  is  carried  to  Salt  Lake  Yalley,  where 
another  cartage  of  twenty  or  twenty-five  miles  farther  increases  the  expense. 
For  all  this  there  is  no  need  whatever.  Utah  contains  a  great  number  of 
44 


732 


THE  EOCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


iron  ore  deposits  which  might  be  opened.  Some  are  on  the  line  of  the 
railway,  as  in  Weber  Canon,  much  nearer  Salt  Lake  City  than  those  from^ 
which  ore  is  now  drawn.  Others  are  reported  in  other  parts  of  the  Terri- 
tory, and  there  is  strong  probability  that  ore  could  be  found  within  twen- 
ty miles  of  the  principal  mining  canons.  A  mine  of  this  material  conven- 
ient to  the  smelting- works  would  be  of  the  greatest  value,  not  only  to  its 
owners,  but  to  the  future  of  the  Territory.  It  would  decrease  the  cost  of 
smelting,  in  many  cases  one- third,  and  would  contribute  so  much  to  thor- 
ough work  in  the  furnace  that  the .  furnace-owners  of  Utah  would  find  it 
to  tbeir  interest  to  combine  for  the  purpose  of  seeking  iron  ore  in  their 
valley.  Their  dilemma  will  be  greatly  lessened  when  the  Utah  Southern 
Railroad  finds  its  way  to  the  great  deposits  of  the  southern  counties ;  but 
it  is  needless  to  wait  so  long. 

As  to  localities  at  present  known,  magnetic  ore  is  reported  at  Devil's 
Gate,  on  the  Weber  River ;  specular  ore  on  Church  Island,  in  the  Lake ; 
hematite  ore  at  Farmington,  between  Salt  Lake  City  and  Ogden,  and  at 
other  places,  in  the  Oquirrh  Range,  and  to  the  southward. 

Coal  is  really  of  secondary  importance  to  iron,  as  to  cost,  but  of  course 
it  is  a  siiie  qua  non  in  smelting.  The  character  of  Utah  ore  is  such  that 
much  of  it  requires  twice  the  amount  of  iron  ore  as  of  coal,  and  at  about 
the  same  or  a  greater  cost  per  ton.  Utah  is  not  well  wooded.  It  lies  so 
far  inland  that  it  receives  but  little  moisture  from  either  ocean.  Nothing 
but  the  intense  cold  of  winter  enables  it  to  arrest  what  few  vapours  escape 
condensation  on  the  Sierra  Kevada  and  Rocky  Mountaius,  and  even  in 
winter  the  drj^ness  of  the  air  is  such  during  the  intervals  between  the 
storms  that  the  thick  coating  of  snow  evaporates  with  wonderful  rapidity. 
These  conditions  are  not  favourable  to  the  growth  of  timber,  and  Utah 
has  little  or  no  timber  except  in  the  mountain  gorges,  where  it  can  be  had 
in  considerable  abundance  for  mining  purposes  when  roads  are  constructed. 
Fortunately,  considerable  deposits  of  coal  are  near  at  hand,  and,  though 
it  is  net  of  the  best  description,  being  a  cross  between  lignite  and  bitu- 
minous coal,  its  value  to  the  Territory  is  beyond  expression.  It  can  be  used, 
and  there  is  no  fear  that  the  mines  will  outlast  it.  Its  price,  too,  is  such 
that  the  enterprising  metallurgist  who  undertakes  the  task  of  utilizing  it 
in  the  right  way  will  find  himself  greatly  profited.  As  yet  nothing  is 
known  of  the  exact  extent  of  the  coal-beds.  They  are  found  for  more  than 
one  hundred  miles  along  the  line  of  the  railroad,  and  other  beds  are  known 
in  the  southern,  or,  more  properly,  the  central  part  of  the  Territory.  It  is 
by  no  means  impossible  that  other  deposits  will  be  found  in  the  heart  of 
Utah,  and  it  is  absolutely  certain  that  the  day  is  not  far  oft'  when  the  smelt- 
ers of  the  Territory  will  be  forced  to  solve  the  problem  of  how  to  use 
their  coal. 

Of  building-material  Utah  offers  many  sorts.  The  first  houses  of  the 
Mormons  were  built  of  adobes  or  sun-dried  bricks,  a  material  which  makes 
an  admirably  close  shelter.  Excellent  clay,  both  for  common  and  for  fire 
bricks,  is  found.    Of  stone,  there  is  quartzite,  a  hard,  durable  sandstone, 


IMPORTANT  DECISION  UPON  OLD  LOCATIONS. 


733 


in  almost  every  canon.  Its  colour  is  lighter  than  that  used  in  the  East,  and 
it  is  also  of  a  livelier  red.  Probably,  in  its  numerous  beds  of  limestone, 
some  gcod  building-varieties  will  be  found,  but  the  rock  in  the  neighbour- 
hood of  the  mines  has  been  so  much  altered  by  metamorphic  action  as  to 
destroy  its  usefulness  as  a  building-material.  For  the  fame  reason,  the 
softer  rocks  discovered  in  the  Plains  are  absent,  or  at  least  have  not  yet  been 
discovered  in  any  quantity.  For  building-lumber  it  is  at  present  for  the  most 
part  dependent  upon  the  great  forests  of  the  Nevada  Mountains,  though 
its  mining-lumber  is  cut  near  the  mines  in  which  it  is  to  be  used.  For 
works  which  will  bear  a  heavy  cost,  an  excellent  granite,  light  in  colour 
and  wearing  well,  is  at  hand,  and  has  been  used  in  the  foundations  of  the 
Mormon  Temple. 

The  great  desideratum  in  a  mining  country  is  the  assurance  of  being 
in  possession  of  a  clear  and  valid  title  to  property.  Without  it,  the  rich- 
est mine  in  the  world  is  nothing  but  a  source  of  interminable  litigation 
and  most  aggravating  annoyance.  Owing  to  the  peculiar  difficulties  which 
beset  the  first  mining  prospectors  in  Utah,  many  were  unable  to  work  lo- 
cations that  were  then  made,  and  left  the  country.  Till  work  had  been 
performed  sufficiently  to  develop  the  presence  of  ore,  such  "  locations  "  of 
course  had  no  actual  value,  and  not  infrequently  the  "  location,"  made  one 
week,  would  be  abandoned  for  a  better  "  prospect "  the  following  week. 
In  this  way,  some  untiring,  hopeful  men  spread  their  names  over  many 
pages  of  record,  and  ultimately  retired,  disgusted  and  broken  in  spirit, 
from  the  further  pursuit  of  the  buried  wealth. 

In  all  mining  countries,  the  hill-sides  are  honeycombed  with  such  aban- 
doned locations,  and,  in  some  of  the  now  regularly  organized  mining-dis- 
tricts of  Utah,  they  had,  at  one  time,  a  very  serious  aspect ;  but,  fortu- 
nately, a  contest  over  interests  of  considerable  importance  has  led  recently 
to  an  important  decision  by  the  Commissioners  of  the  Land-Office,  that 
sets  at  rest  the  question  of  unworked  and  undeveloped  ancient  claims,  and 
gives  assurance  and  protection  both  to  the  honest  miner  and  the  enterpris- 
ing capitalist. 

Two  discoveries  had  been  made — the  Last  Chance  and  Hiawatha — ^in 
Little  Cottonwood  Canon,  in  the  summer  of  1870,  almost  in  a  direct  line 
with  the  Emma.  When  the  work  on  these  discoveries  developed  to  the 
satisfaction  of  their  owners,  they  were  duly  recorded,  in  the  usual  legal 
way,  both  in  the  mining-district  and  with  the  County  Recorder.  In  Jan- 
uary, 1872,  application  was  made,  by  Colonel  E.  A.  Wall,  at  the  United 
States  Land-Office,  for  a  patent  covering  the  two  mines.  Before  the  ninety 
days'  notice  had  expired,  another  party,  J.  W.  Haskin,  filed  a  sworn  pro- 
test against  the  patenting  of  said  claims,  and  averred  that,  "  for  the  sum 
"  of  one  dollar,"  he  had  purchased  certain  prior-located  claims,  with  which 
the  Last  Chance  and  Hiawatha — for  which  the  patents  were  then  asked — 
would  come  in  contact  to  his  injury.  Commissioner  Drummond,  after 
maturely  reviewing  the  claims  of  the  protesting  party,  not  only  in  the  case 


734 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAIN  SAINTS. 


of  the  mines  named,  but  in  other  similar  claims,  set  aside  the  protest,  and 
rendered  a  decision  that  must  give  great  satisfaction  to  miners  in  general. 
He  says : 

"  Old  abandoned  locations  appear  upon  the  records  of  every  mining-district, 
which,  provided  the  whereabouts  of  the  locators  can  be  ascertained,  may  be  pur- 
chased for  a  mere  trifle  :  this  being  true  not  only  of  Utah,  but  in  the  other  mineral- 
producing  States  and  Territories. 

"  In  the  great  majority  of  these  cases,  these  old  locations  were  described  upon  the 
records  in  such  a  vague  and  indefinite  manner  that  the  locns  could  not  by  any  possi- 
bility be  determined  with  any  degree  of  certainty  from  such  record. 

"  To  allow  the  interposition  of  the  record  of  these  abandoned,  unoccupied  claims 
to  be  a  bar  to  proceedings  for  patent  by  hona-fide  claimants  of  an  actual  well-defined 
vein  or  deposit,  of  which  they  have  actual  possession,  and  upon  which  they  have 
made  substantial  improvements,  without  the  clearest  and  most  unquestionable  proof 
of  identity  and  actual  conflict,  would  result  in  a  virtual  nullification  of  the  Mining 
Act ;  these  paper  locations  of  undefined  lodes,  the  locus  of  which  cannot  be  deter- 
mined, with  any  degree  of  certainty,  from  such  records,  being  conveniently  floated 
around  so  as  to  be  made  to  conflict  With  any  valuable  mines  in  the  sarae  district, 
which  confliction  is  usually  discovered  immediately  after  the  hona-fide  claimant  has 
found  his  lode  to  be  of  value,  and  has  applied  for  patent.  .  .  .  The  records  of  all  dis- 
tricts show  almost  innumerable  '  locations '  of  claims  as  lodes  where  sufficient  work 
was  never  done  to  test  the  fact  whether  such  lode  really  had  any  existence  or  not. 

"  These  locations  were  usually  made  years  ago  by  various  parties,  who  recorded  a 
lode  for  almost  every  hole  dug  by  them  while  out  prospecting,  whether  any  ore  was 
found  or  not ;  and  to  treat  such  records  as  valid  adverse  claims  to  property  actually 
worked  and  occupied  by  hona-fide  claimants  would  put  it  in  the  power  of  a  few 
enterprising  individuals  to  suspend,  in  a  great  measure,  the  execution  of  the  mining 
statutes." 

Though  it  may  have  been  both  unpleasant  and  expensive,  to  the  parties 
directly  interested  in  these  and  other  great  mines  in  Utah,  to  have  been 
forced  into  litigation,  their  temporary  misfortune,  calling  forth  this  deci- 
sion, will  be  of  lasting  benefit  to  the  future  mining  development  of  the 
country. 

From  what  has  been  said,  the  reader  will  gather  that  Utah  has  great 
mineral  resources.  It  is  fully  able  to  house  and  support  any  number  of 
people.  As  a  field  for  the  tourist  it  offers  attractions  to  be  found  nowhere 
else.  Different  from  Nevada  on  the  one  hand,  and  from  Colorado  on  the 
other,  its  scenery  is  most  like  that  of  the  Austrian  Alps,  but  on  a  far 
grander  scale.  Instead  of  valleys  five  or  ten  miles  across,  its  mountains . 
lie  twenty  or  thirty  miles  apart,  stretching  a  hundred  miles  away  before 
they  are  lost  to  sight.  The  peculiar  clearness  of  the  air  makes  a  vista  of 
sixty  miles  appear  like  a  day's  walk,  and  more  than  one  unsuspecting  East- 
ern traveller  has  attempted  to  reach  the  mountains  which  lie  so  plainly 
in  sight  from  Salt  Lake  City,  in  a  walk  before  breakfast  1  In  one  case, 
after  two  hours'  walk,  the  gentleman  found  that  he  was  still  twelve  miles 
from  the  foot  of  the  mountain  which  he  had  expected  to  reach  in  half  an 
hour.  Utah  deserves  a  visit.  To  the  Eastern  man  the  change  is  usually 
beneficial,  and  many  a  man  overworked,  but  unable  to  find  the  right  place 
to  recuperate  in,  could  purchase  health  by  riding  and  driving  through  the 
sage-bush  valleys  of  Utah,  with  just  enough  interest  in  the  mines  to  give 
him  occupation. 


APPENDIX. 


I. 

[See  page  617.] 

The  following  is  the  speech  of  Gov.  John  B.  Weller,  at  the 
close  of  the  examination  of  witnesses  relative  to  the  assassination 
of  Dr.  J.  King  Robinson  : 

"  Gentlemen  of  the  Jury,  let  us  look  for  one  moment  at  the  circumstances 
connected  with  this  case,  as  disclosed  by  the  testimony :  Doctor  Kobinson 
(aged  31  years)  had  resided  in  this  city  for  three  years,  having  previously 
been  attached  to  the  military  forces  as  a  surgeon.  He  was  an  amiable, 
quiet  Christian,  universally  loved  and  respected.  In  March  last  he  was 
married  to  a  young  lady  of  18  years,  of  one  of  your  most  estimable  fami- 
lies. Ascertaining  that  certain  property,  upon  which  the  Warm  Spring  is 
found,  near  this  city,  was  wholly  unoccupied,  and  believing  it  to  be  a  por- 
tion of  the  public  domain,  locates  on  it  and  proceeds  to  make  improve- 
ments. Without  any  previous  notice  whatever,  an  armed  force  of  the  po- 
lice is  sent  out  by  order  of  the  city  authorities,  who  destroy  his  buildings 
and  eject  him  from  the  premises.  He  appeals,  as  was  the  bounden  duty 
of  a  good  citizen,  to  the  organized  tribunals  of  justice  for  redress.  During 
the  progress  of  the  case  his  counsel  raise  the  question  before  the  Chief  Jus- 
tice of  the  Federal  Court,  that  the  city,  because  of  the  non-performance 
of  certain  acts,  had  no  legal  existence.  This  question  was  fully  argued, 
and  on  the  19th  day  of  October  the  Judge  decided  in  favour  of  the  city. 
Dr.  Robinson  gave  notice  of  his  intention  to  appeal.  On  the  11th  day  of 
October,  a  bowling-saloon,  owned  by  the  doctor,  was  destroyed  by  a  gang 
of  twenty  or  thirty  men,  part  of  whom  were  disguised.  For  this  act,  per- 
formed at  midnight,  a  number  of  persons  were  arrested,  and  on  the  13th 
day  of  October  examined  before  the  District  Court.  The  Chief  of  Police 
and  two  of  his  subordinates  were  identified  as  parties  in  this  affair,  and 
bound  over  by  the  Chief  Justice — the  first  in  the  sum  of  $2,000,  and  the 
other  two  in  the  sum  of  $1,500  each.  On  Saturday,  the  20th,  Dr.  Robin- 
son, under  the  advice  of  his  counsel,  goes  to  the  house  of  the  Mayor,  to 
give  notice  that  he  intends  to  hold  the  city  responsible  for  the  damages 


736 


APPENDIX. 


which  he  had  sustained  by  the  wanton  destruction  of  his  property.  The 
Mayor,  as  soon  as  he  ascertained  who  he  was,  ordered  him  to  leave  his 
house.  Great  care  is  taken  by  the  Telegraph  newspaper  to  chronicle 
this  act  the  next  morning  in  the  following  terms : 

"  '  As  Well  Trained. — The  admiration  for  Zebra,  Napoleon,  and 
Leopard,  on  Friday  night,  was  "  snuffed  out "  by  the  greater  admiration  for 
Dr.  Ball-alley,  as  he  cleared  from  the  Mayor's  house  yesterday  afternoon. 
His  Honour  had  only  to  open  the  door,  direct  his  finger,  and  the  man  of 
pills  and  bluster  vamosed  with  a  grace  that  fairly  eclipsed  little  Leopard 
under  the  admirable  direction  of  Bartholomew.' 

"  On  the  very  next  day  after  this  publication,  between  the  hours  of  11 
and  12  p.  M.,  a  man  goes  to  the  house  of  the  doctor,  «,fter  he  had  retired 
to  bed,  wakes  him  up,  tells  him  that  a  brother  of  his  (Jones)  had  broken 
his  leg  by  the  fall  of  a  mule,  that  he  was  suffering  very  much  and  required 
his  professional  services  immediately.  The  doctor  hastily  throws  on  his 
clothes  and  proceeds  with  this  man  upon  what  he  regarded  a  mission  of 
mercy.  At  a  distance  of  175  steps  from  his  dwelling  he  was  struck  over 
the  head  two  blows  with  some  sharp  instrument,  and  then  immediately 
shot  through  the  brain.  The  shriek  of  the  doctor  when  he  was  struck, 
and  the  report  of  the  pistol,  were  heard  by  a  number  of  witnesses.  Tv/o 
gentlemen  in  a  boarding-house  (distant  from  the  scene  of  murder  about 
150  steps),  who  had  not  yet  retired  to  bed,  hearing  the  noise,  stepped  to 
the  window  and  saw  three  men  running  to  the  east  at  full  s])eed.  They 
went  down-stairs,  and  in  a  very  few  minutes  found  the  murdered  man.  One 
remains  on  the  ground,  and  the  other  goes  to  the  City  Hall  for  the  police. 
He  finds  the  Chief  and  five  of  his  men  sitting  by  the  stove,  all  of  whom 
had  shortly  before  returned  from  the  circus.  The  Chief  directs  his  men  to 
go  down  at  once  and  investigate  the  matter,  and  then  retires  to  bed.  Ar- 
riving at  the  scene  of  the  murder,  one  policeman  goes  for  Dr.  Ormsby  (a 
distance  of  some  300  yards),  who  is  too  much  indisposed  to  go  out. 
Three  other  physicians  are  sent  for,  who  arrive  in  due  time.  The  body  is 
removed  to  Independence  Hall,  some  fifty  yards.  In  the  meanwhile  the 
poor  wife  is  informed  of  the  murder.  She  wildly  rushes  to  the  Hall  and 
insists  upon  the  removal  of  the  body  to  the  house.  He  is  carried  to  the 
house,  and  in  an  hour  expires.  Previous  to  this  the  police  return  to  the 
City  Hall  and  retire  to  bed. 

"  One  witness  saw  one  of  the  assassins  running  from  the  spot  towards 
the  northwest ;  two  witnesses  saw  three  men  running  towards  the  east ; 
three  witnesses  saw  three  men  running  south — making  in  all  seven  men  at 
least  engaged  in  the  murder.  Some  of  the  witnesses  saw  the  assassins  at 
a  distance  of  four  or  five  feet.  The  spot  selected  for  the  deed  was  on  the 
comer  of  one  of  the  most  public  streets  in  the  city.  The  moon  was  at  its 
full  and  shining  brightly.  One  witness  says  *  it  was  light  enough  to  find 
a  pin  on  the  ground.'  Between  the  place  of  murder  and  the  house  from 
which  he  was  decoyed  is,  as  I  have  said,  175  steps.  Between  these  two 
points,  on  the  same  side  of  the  street,  there  are  five  dwelling-houses,  all 


APPENDIX. 


occupied  by  families,  and  on  the  opposite  side  the  same  number.  The 
nearest  dwelling-house  to  the  mui*der  is  forty  feet. 

The  shriek  which  preceded  the  report  of  the  pistol  was  heard  at  a 
distance  of  250  steps. 

"The  Chief  of  Police  goes  down  to  the  scene  of  the  murder  the  third 
day  after.  The  Mayor  is  informed  of  the  murder  at  10  o'clock  the  day 
after  it  occurred. 

"And  upon  this  evidence  I  have  a  few  plain  questions  to  propound, 
which  I  will  leave  you  and  others  to  answer.  I  do  not  propose  to  discuss 
them,  simply  because  I  could  not  do  so  without  increasing  the  excitement 
which  already  exists,  and  producing  an  exasperated  state  of  feeling,  which 
could  not  at  the  present  time  result  in  any  public  good : 

"1.  If  my  associate  Judge  Stout,  the  City  Attorney,  had  been  mur- 
dered under  the  circumstances  Dr.  Robinson  was,  would  the  police  have 
exhibited  a  greater  degree  of  vigilance  and  energy  ? 

"  2.  Would  the  attention  of  the  4,000  people  who  assembled  at  the  *  Tab- 
ernacle '  (where  secular  affairs  are  often  discussed),  on  the  succeeding  Sab- 
bath, have  been  called  to  the  crime,  and  they  exhorted  to  use  every  effort 
to  ferret  out  the  assassins  ? 

"  3.  Could  any  prominent  Mormon  be  murdered  under  the  same  cir- 
cumstances, and  no  clew  whatever  found  to  the  murderer  ? 

"4.  Would  any  portion  of  the  500  special  police  have  been  called  into 
requisition  or  ordered  on  duty  ? 

"  5.  Would  any  of  the  numerous  witnesses  who  saw  the  assassins  flee- 
ing from  their  bloody  work  have  been  able  to  recognize  and  name  them  ? 

"  6.  Have  we  not  utterly  failed  to  prove,  after  full  investigation,  that 
Dr.  Robinson  had  a  personal  enemy  in  the  world,  and  have  we  not  proved 
that  he  had  had  difficulties  with  none  except  the  city  authorities  ? 

"  7.  Is  there  any  evidence  that  he  had  done  anything  to  make  personal 
enemies,  unless  it  was  having  the  Chief  of  Police  and  two  others  bound 
over  to  answer  a  charge  of  riot  ? 

"  8.  Would  he  have  been  murdered  if  he  had  not  by  his  land-claim 
raised  a  question  as  to  the  validity  of  the  city  charter  ? 

"  9.  TJ^ould  the  ten-pin  alley  have  been  destroyed  if  it  had  not  been 
his  property,  and  that  he  had  a  suit  pending  against  the  city  ? 

."  10.  Would  the  Mayor  of  the  city  have  ordered  him  out  of  his  house 
two  days  before  he  was  murdered,  if  he  had  not  understood  that  he 
claimed  damages  from  the  city  for  the  wanton  destruction  of  his  prop- 
erty? 

"  11.  Is  it  not  remarkable  that  a  gang  of  men  could  go  to  a  bowling- 
alley,  nearly  surrounded  by  houses,  within  60  steps  of  the  most  public 
street  of  the  city,  between  the  hours  of  11  and  12  at  night,  demolish  the 
windows  and  break  up  with  axes  and  sledges  the  alley,  and  no  witnesses 
found  to  identify  the  men,  or  who  knew  anything  whatever  about  the  per- 
petrators of  the  act  ? 

"  12.  Are  not  the  Jury  satisfied  that  some  witnesses  have  withheld  evi- 


738 


APPENDIX. 


dence  calculated  to  fasten  guilt  upon  certain  parties,  because  they  feared 
personal  violence  ? 

"  13.  Is  there  not  an  organized  influence  here  which  prevents  the  de- 
tection and  punishment  of  men  who  commit  acts  of  violence  upon  the  per- 
sons or  property  of  *  Gentiles  ? ' 

"  14.  If  a  Mormon  of  good  standing  had  been  murdered,  would  the 
Mayor,  to  whom  the  Chief  of  Police  reports,  have  been  informed  of  the  act 
before  10  o'clock  the  next  day  ? 

"  15.  Would  the  Chief  of  Police  have  gone  to  bed  as  soon  as  he  heard 
of  the  crime,  and  waited  three  days  before  he  visited  the  scene  of  the  mur- 
der? 

16.  Was  the  murder  committed  for  the  purpose  of  striking  terror 
into  the  *  Gentiles,'  and  preventing  them  from  settling  in  this  Territory  ? 

"  17.  Is  it  the  settled  policy  of  the  authorities  here  to  prevent  citizens 
of  the  United  States,  not  Mormons,  from  asserting  their  claims  to  a  por- 
tion of  the  public  domain  in  the  regularly-organized  judicial  tribunals  of 
the  country  ? 

"18.  Are  all  legal  questions  which  may  arise  in  this  city  between  *  Mor- 
mons '  and  *  Gentiles '  to  be  settled  by  brute  force  ? 

"19.  Do  the  public  teachings  of  the  *  Tabernacle'  lead  the  people  to 
respect  and  obey  the  laws  of  the  country,  or  do  they  lead  to  violence  and 
bloodshed  ? 

"  And  now,  gentlemen  of  the  Jury,  I  have  a  few  general  remarks  to 
submit  upon  some  of  the  incidental  questions  alluded  to  in  the  course  of 
the  examination : 

"  I  came  here,  as  many  persons  well  know,  with  no  prejudices  against 
the  people  who  control  this  city  and  Territory.  When  they  were  driven 
out  of  Illinois  and  Missouri,  I  may  have  been  familiar  with  the  circum- 
stances which  led  to  the  act,  but  I  do  not  choose  to  go  back  and  review 
them.  It  is  enough  to  say  that  a  strong  impression  was  left  upon  my 
mind  that  they  had  been  persecuted  because  of  the  peculiarities  of  the 
religion  which  they  professed.  Under  these  circumetances,  it  is  scarcely 
necessary  to  say  that  my  sympathies  accompanied  them  in  their  weary  pil- 
grimage over  barren  and  desolate  plains  and  stupendous  mountains  into 
these  now  pleasant  valleys.  Here  they  established  settlements  which, 
without  their  labour  and  industry,  would  have  remained  in  the  undisturbed 
possession  of  savages  and  wild  beasts.  The  discovery  of  gold  in  Califor- 
nia, the  establishment  of  an  Overland  Mail,  passing  through  this  city,  and 
the  subsequent  discovery  of  rich  minerals,  in  Nevada  on  the  west  and 
Idaho  and  Montana  on  the  north,  afibrded  the  people  of  Utah  a  ready 
market,  and  at  high  prices,  for  all  the  products  of  their  labour.  Without 
this  the  people  would  have  remained  isolated  and  their  whole  commerce 
would  have  consisted  in  a  simple  exchange  of  commodities  amongst  them- 
selves, and  this  city  would  have  been  an  inconsiderable  town. 

"I  have  said  that  I  have  no  prejudices  whatever  against  these  people. 
I  did  not  come  here  as  a  missionary  or  a  moral  reformer.    I  have  endeav- 


APPENDIX. 


739 


oured  to  obey  the  laws,  respect  the  rights  and  opinions,  and  what  I  may 
regard  as  the  prejudices  of  the  people.  The  religion  which  they  profess  I 
ha^e  neither  by  argument,  ridicule,  nor  otherwise  attempted  to  change. 
Under  the  Constitution,  which  of  course  is  the  supreme  law  of  the  land, 
they  have  a  right  to  worship  God  in  their  own  way  and  according  to  the 
dictates  of  their  consciences.  I  never  war  against  anything  that  is  con- 
stitutional. Nor  have  I  attempted  in  any  way  whatever  to  interfere  with 
any  peculiar  institutions  which  they  claim  to  have  adopted  (and  which 
now  exist  amongst  them)  upon  Divine  revelation.  I  have  nothing,  there- 
fore, to  say  about  their  religion  or  customs,  but  I  have  a  few  observations 
to  submit  touching  the  public  teachings  of  those  who  are  recognized  as 
the  leaders  in  this  community  : 

"As  a  general  principle,  there  can  be  no  security  for  either  person  or 
property  in  a  community  where  any  of  the  laws  are  openly  disregarded. 
I  have  been  taught  from  my  infancy  to  regard  the  Constitution,  and  the 
laws  of  Congress  passed  in  pursuance  thereof,  as  the  supreme  law  of  the 
land.  To  these,  as  an  American  citizen,  I  owe  implicit  obedience.  Laws 
might  be  passed  which  I  may  regard  as  unconstitutional  or  in  derogation 
of  the  rights  of  the  people,  but  so  long  as  they  remain  upon  the  statute- 
book  it  is  my  duty  to  respect  and  obey  them.  If  the  people  of  this  Terri- 
tory consider  any  laws  of  Congress  arbitrary,  unjust,  or  unconstitutional, 
they  can  only  resort  to  the  legislative  power  for  a  repeal,  or  to  the  Courts 
for  a  judicial  decision.  Resistance  to  their  execution,  by  force  of  arms,  is 
treason.  Are  not  the  people  of  this  Territory  exhorted  by  those  who  di- 
rect and  control  their  minds  to  disregard  a  law  of  Congress  and  obey  the 
behests  of  their  spiritual  advisers  ?  Have  not  sentiments  been  promul- 
gated upon  many  occasions,  in  the  *  Tabernacle,'  calculated  to  inflame  the 
minds  of  the  people  against  the  '  Gentiles '  and  lead  to  acts  of  violence  ? 
Is  he  not  a  dangerous  teacher  who  advises  the  people  to  avenge  their  own 
wrongs  by  taking  the  law  into  their  own  hands  ?  It  is  moral  treason 
against  the  Government  and  destructive  of  the  best  interests  of  society. 
Here  we  have  a  large  number  of  young  men,  the  sons  of  the  early  Mormons 
who  migrated  to  this  country  twenty  years  ago,  who  have  been  taught 
from  their  childhood  that  the  '  Gentiles '  are  their  enemies,  and  that  it  is 
a  duty  they  owe  to  their  God  to  wage  unceasing  warfare  against  them. 
This  has  been  from  year  to  year  impressed  upon  their  minds  and  by  men 
whom  they  regard  as  prophets.  Here,  as  elsewhere,  there  are  many  per- 
sons not  overburdened  with  wisdom,  but  filled  with  fanaticism,  who  are 
apt  to  believe  from  these  teachings  that  it  is  lawful  to  strike  down  those 
who  stand  in  the  way  of  spreading  their  creed. 

"The  great  body  of  the  people  here  believe  that  certain  leaders  in  the 
Church  are  inspired  of  God,  as  were  Abraham,  Isaiah,  and  the  other  proph- 
ets of  old,  to  declare  His  will ;  and  is  it  a  matter  of  surprise  that  murders 
are  committed  ?  How  different  were  the  principles  inculcated  by  the 
founder  of  the  Christian  religion  I  He  preached  peace  and  good- will 
amongst  men,  instead  of  calling  into  action  the  worst  passions  of  the  hu- 


.740 


APPENDIX. 


man  heart.  *  Blessed,'  said  He,  ^  is  the  peacemaker.'  Did  He  not  teach 
obedience  to  the  laws  and  respect  for  the  powers  that  be  ?  Did  He  not 
say,  *  Thou  shalt  love  thy  neighbour  as  thyself  ? '  Did  He  not  say,  '  Love 
your  enemies  and  pray  for  those  who  despitefully  use  and  persecute  you  ? ' 
Why,  when  surrounded  by  his  enemies  and  nailed  to  the  cross,  He  ex- 
tended His  eyes  towards  heaven,  and  with  His  dying  breath  exclaimed, 
^  Father,  forgive  them  ;  they  know  not  what  they  do  ! '  How  utterly  in- 
consistent are  these  sentiments,  promulgated  by  our  illustrious  Saviour, 
with  the  doctrines  taught  by  our  modern  Prophet  in  the  ^  Tabernacle  1 ' 

"  Whilst  following  the  practices  of  some  of  the  patriarchs  of  old,  they 
have  also  adopted  the  creed,  *  An  eye  for  an  eye,  and  a*  tooth  for  a  tooth.' 

"  What  has  been  the  result  of  these  teachings  upon  society  here  ? 

"  There  are  a  number  of  respectable  men  in  this  city,  some  of  whom 
have  families,  who  dare  not  go  upon  your  streets  at  night !  "Nov  are  they 
men  who  are  afraid  of  shadows.  They  have  shov/n  their  courage  upon 
the  field  of  battle  in  defence  of  the  honour  of  the  country,  and  would  not 
shrink  from  meeting  any  of  them  single-handed  in  the  light  of  day.  But 
they  do  not  choose  to  meet  an  organized  band  of  assassins  at  midnight. 
They  dare  not  go  to  your  theatre  or  other  places  of  amusement.  Is  it  not 
hard  that  here,  in  an  American  Territory,  supposed  to  be  under  the  pro- 
tection of  our  national  flag,  citizens  who  have  perilled  their  lives  to  sus- 
tain the  supremacy  of  our  laws  and  the  integrity  of  the  Government,  are 
compelled  to  remain  in  their  houses  at  night  to  escape  the  hands  of  mur- 
derers ? — men  who  have  violated  no  law,  trespassed  upon  the  rights  of  no 
one,  but  have  simply  incurred  the  displeasure  of  the  dominant  party  ? 
Can  this  state  of  things  be  tolerated  on  American  soil  ?  A  government 
which  habitually  fails  to  give  protection  to  its  people  must  soon  cease  to 
command  their  confidence  or  respect.  But  I  do  not  choose  to  pursue  this 
subject  any  further. 

"  In  this  connection,  however,  I  feel  called  upon  to  notice  the  extraor- 
dinary efforts  which  have  been  made  and  are  still  being  made  at  the 
*  Tabernacle,'  as  well  as  by  the  press,  to  destroy  the  confidence  of  the  peo- 
ple in  the  courts  established  by  the  Federal  Government  in  this  Territory. 
Judges,  selected  by.  the  Government  because  of  their  legal  attainments  and 
sterling  integrity,  have  been  sent  out  here  to  administer  the  laws  and  pre- 
serve the  peace  and  order  of  society.  •  If,  in  the  faithful  performance  of 
their  duties  under  the  oath  they  have  taken,  they  make  a  decision  in  con- 
flict with  the  interests  or  the  opinions  of  the  dominant  party,  they  are  bit- 
terly denounced  and  every  effort  made  to  impair  their  power  and  lessen 
their  influence.  To  effect  this,  slang  and  ridicule  are  generally  employed. 
If  a  Federal  Judge  will  decide  every  question  which  arises  between  a  Mor- 
mon and  *  Gentile '  in  favour  of  the  former,  he  can  have  an  easy  and  quiet 
time.  He  can  have  as  much  fulsome  praise  as  he  desires.  But,  if  he  de- 
cides in  favour  of  the  latter,  *  uneasy  lies  the  head  that  wears  a  crown.'  In 
the  meanwhile,  lawyers  are  denounced  as  thieves  and  plunderers.  Why 
this  constant  denunciation  of  a  profession  that  has  furnished  many  of  the 


APPENDIX. 


ablest  and  best  men  that  ever  lived  ?  It  is  because  lawyers  in  every  civil- 
ized country  have  been  considered  indispensable  in  the  administration  of 
justice,  and,  as  a  part  of  the  judicial  system  of  the  country,  must  also  be 
prostrated  ;  it  is  because  they  believe  that  disputes  as  to  the  ownership 
of  property  should  be  settled  by  the  courts,  and  not  by  brute  force. 

"  And  now,  gentlemen  of  the  Jury,  my  task  is  done.  In  the  name  of 
the  people,  whom  I  represent,  I  thank  you  for  the  patience  you  have  exhib- 
ited during  this  protracted  examination.  I  have  laboured  zealously  and 
to  the  best  of  my  humble  ability  to  unravel  the  mystery,  but  I  confess  I 
have  failed.  We  have  not  been  permitted  to  lift  the  veil,  and  show  you 
the  perpetrators  of  this  horrible  murder — a  murder  most  atrocious  in  its 
inception,  brutal  and  cowardly  in  its  execution — a  crime  which  in  many 
respects  stands  without  a  parallel.  But  the  blood  of  a  pure  and  honour- 
able man,  shed  in  the  streets  of  your  city,  calls  aloud  to  Heaven  for  ven- 
geance, and  I  trust  the  cry  will  be  heard  and  answered ;  for  is  it  not  writ- 
ten that  ^  whoso  sheddeth  man's  blood  by  man  shall  his  blood  be  ^hed? '  " 


n. 

WRITERS  ON  MORMONISM. 

The  following  is  a  list  of  some  of  the  authorities — ^book^,  pamphlets, 
essays,  etc. — which,  with  innumerable  private  letters  and  valuable  docu- 
ments in  MS.,  have  been  consulted  in  preparing  this  work  for  the  press : 

Adams,  G.  J. — Letter  to  his  Excellency  John  Tyler.    New  York,  1844. 

Address  by  a  Minister  of  the  Church  of  Jesus  Christ  of  Latter-Day  Saints  to  the 

People  of  the  United  States.  Printed  while  the  Mormons  were  at  Nauvoo. 
Amberley,  Yiscount — The  Latter-Day  Saints.  Fortnightly  Review^  Nov.,  1869. 
Authentic  History  of  Remarkable  Persons,  etc.    New  York,  1849. 

Beadle,  J.  H. — Life  in  Utah  ;  or,  The  Mysteries  and  Crimes  of  Mormonism.  Phil- 
adelphia, 1870. 

Bennett,  John  C. — History  of  the  Saints;  or,  An  Expose  of  Joe  Smith  and  Mor- 
monism.   Boston,  1842. 

Bradford,  W.  J.  A. — The  Origin  and  Fate  of  Mormonism.  Christian  Examiner^ 
Sept.,  1852. 

Brewster,  James  Colin — An  Address  to  the  Church  of  L.  D.  S.  Springfield,  111., 
1848. 

Brigham,  Wm.  J. — The  Church  of  Latter-Day  Saints.  Old  and  New^  Sept.  and  Oct., 
1870. 

Brighamism,  its  Promises  and  their  Failures.  Piano,  111. 
Brigham  Young  and  his  Women.    Galaxy^  Dec.  1,  1866. 

Brown,  Albert  G.— The  Utah  Expedition.  AUanfic  Monthly^  March,  April,  and 
May,  1859. 


742 


APPENDIX. 


BuLFiNCH,  Rev.  Stephen  6. — The  Mormons.    Christian  Examiner^  1858. 
Burton,  Richard  P.— The  City  of  the  Saints.    New  York,  1862. 
Burton's  City  of  the  Saints.    [Review.]    Edinburgh  Review^  Jan.,  1862. 

Campbell,  Alexander,  and  Joshua  Y.  Hines — Delusions ;  An  Analysis  of  the 
Book  of  Mormon.    Boston,  1832. 

Caswell,  Rev.  H. — The  City  of  the  Mormons ;  or,  Three  Days  in  Nauvoo.  Lon- 
don, 1843. 

 ,  The  Prophet  of  the  Nineteenth  Century.    London,  1843. 

 ^  Joseph  Smith  and  the  Mormons.    [Chap.  xiii.  of  "  America  and  the  American 

Church."]    London,  1851. 

 ,  Mormonism  and  its  Author,  etc.    London,  1858. 

Chandless,  Wm. — A  Visit  to  Salt  Lake.    London,  1857. 

Clark,  Rev.  John  A. — Gleanings  by  the  Way.    Philadelphia,  1842. 

Clarke,  F.  W. — The  Mormon  Widow's  Lament.    Galazi/,  M.Sij  1,  1871. 

Concordance  and  Reference  Guide  to  the  Book  of  Doctrine  and  Covenants.  Piano, 

III,  1870. 

Conybeare,  W.  J. — Mormonism.    Edinburgh  EevieiOj  April,  1854. 
CoRRiLL,  John — A  Brief  History  of  the  Church  of  Jesus  Christ  of  Latter-Day 
Samts.    St.  Louis,  1839. 

Defence  of  Polygamy  by  a  Lady  of  Utah  [Mrs.  Belinda  Pratt],  to  her  Sister  in 

New  Hampshire.    Great  Salt  Lake  City,  1854. 
Demoralizing  Doctrines  and  Disloyal  Teachings  of  the  Mormon  Hierarchy.  New 

York,  1S66. 
Deseret  NeicSy  Salt  Lake  City. 

Epitome  of  the  Faith  and  Doctrines  of  the  Reorganized  Church  of  Jesus  Christ  of 
Latter-Day  Saints.    Piano,  111. 

Faulconer,  M. — Fulness  of  the  Atonement.   Piano,  111. 

 ,  M.  A. — Questions  for  the  Use  of  Scholars  in  the  Latter-Day  Saints'  Sunday- 
Schools.    Piano,  111.,  18G9. 
Ferris,  Benj.  G. — Utah  and  the  Mormons.    New  York,  1856. 

 ,  Mrs.  B.  G. — The  Mormons  at  Home.   New  York,  1 856. 

Ford,  Governor  Thomas — History  of  Illinois. 

Fuller,  Metta  Victoria — Mormon  Wives ;  a  Narrative  of  Facts  stranger  than 
Fiction.    New  York,  1856. 

Gospel,  The— [broadsheet].    Piano,  111. 

Grant,  J.  M.— Three  Letters  to  the  JVew  York  Herald,    New  York,  1852. 

Green,  Nelson  Winch. — Fifteen  Years  among  the  Mormons.    Narrative  of  Mrs. 

Mary  Ettie  Y.  Smith.    New  York,  1860. 

 ,  Mormonism,  its  Rise,  Progress,  and  Present  Condition.    Hartford,  1870. 

Greene,  John  D. — Facts  relative  to  the  Expulsion  of  the  Mormons  from  the  State 

of  Missouri.    Cincinnati,  1839. 
Gunnison,  J.  W.— The  Mormons,  or  Latter-Day  Saints  in  the  Valley  of  the  Great 

Salt  Lake.    Philadelphia,  1852. 


APPENDIX. 


Hay,  John. — The  Mormon  Prophet^s  Tragedy.    Atlantic  Monthly y  Dec,  1869. 

Hickman,  Wm.  A. — Brigham's  Destroying  Angel,"  Life  of.  Edited  by  J.  H.  Bea- 
dle.   New  York,  1872. 

History  of  the  Mormons. — Chambers,  Edinburgh. 

 and  Ideas  of  the  Mormons.    Westminster  Review^  Jan.,  1853. 

Hooper,  Wm.  H. — Extension  of  Boundaries.  Speech  in  the  House  of  Representa- 
tives.   Washington,  Feb.  25,  1869. 

 ,  The  Utah  Bill.  .  .  .  Speech,  etc.    March  23,  1870.    With  Remonstrance  of 

the  Citizens  of  Salt  Lake  City.    Washington,  1870. 

Howe,  E.  D. — Mormonism  Unveiled.    Pains ville,  1834. 

Hyde,  John,  Jun. — Mormonism  ;  its  Leaders  and  Designs.    New  York,  1857. 
Hymns,  A  Collection  of  Sacred.    Voree,  1850.    Second  edition. 
 .  A  Collection  of  Sacred.    New  York,  1838. 

 ,  Sacred  and  Spiritual  Songs.    14th  edition.    Salt  Lake  City,  1871. 

 ,  The  Saints'  Harp,  etc.    Piano,  111.,  1870. 

Idolatry.    Piano,  HI. 

Jaques,  John. — Catechism  for  Children.    Salt  Lake  City,  1870. 
Jenkins,  H.  D. — The  Mormon  Hymn  Book.    Our  Monthly ^  Dec,  1870. 
Johnston,  James  F.  W. — Joe  Smith  and  the  Mormons.    Harper''^  Magazine^  June, 
1851. 

Journal  of  Discourses.    Vols.  4.  Liverpool. 

Kane,  Thomas  L. — The  Mormons.    A  Discourse.    Philadelphia,  1850. 
Kendall,  Henry,  D.  D. — A  Week  in  Great  Salt  Lake  City.    Hours  at  Homey  May, 
1865. 

Kidder,  Daniel  P. — Mormonism  and  the  Mormons.    New  York,  1842. 

Life  among  the  Mormons — Putnam's  Monthly ^  August  to  December,  1855. 
LossiNG,  Benson  J. — The  Mormons.    Harper^ s  Magazine,  April,  1853. 
Ludlow,  Fitz-Hugh. — Among  the  Mormons.    Atlantic  Monthly^  April,  1864. 

 ,  The  Heart  of  the  Continent,  etc.    New  York,  1870. 

Lyon,  John — The  Harp  of  Zion.    Liverpool,  1853. 

McCarthy,  Justin — Brigham  Young.    Galaxy,  Feb.,  1870. 
McChesney,  James — An  Antidote  to  Mormonism.    New  York,  1838. 
Mac,  R.  W. — Mormonism  in  Illinois.    American  Whig  Review,  April,  June,  and 
December,  1852. 

Marshall,  Charles  —  Characteristics  of  Mormonism.  Transatlantic  Magazine^ 
Aug.,  1871. 

Martin,  Moses — A  Treatise  on  the  Fulness  of  the  Everlasting  Gospel.  New  York, 
1842. 

Mayhew,  Henry — The  Mormons,  etc.    3d  edition.    London,  1852. 
Memoir  of  the  Mormons.    Southern  Literary  Messenger,    Nov.,  1848. 
Millennial  Star,  Liverpool. 
Memorial  to  Congress.    Piano,  111.,  1870. 

Mormonism  Past  and  Present.    North  British  Review,  Aug.,  1863. 


744 


APPENDIX. 


Mormons,  The — History  of  their  Leading  Men.    Phrenological  Journal^  Nov.,  1866. 

 in  Utah.    Beniley's  Miscellany,  June,  1855. 

 's  Wife,  The.    Putnam's  Monthly,  June,  1855. 

Morris,  Annie — A  Week  among  the  Mormons.  LippincotVs  Magazine,  July,  1870. 
Mountain  of  the  Lord's  House.    Piano,  111. 

New  American  Religions.    London  Quarterly  Review,  April,  1867. 

Olive  Branch.    Kirtland,  Ohio,  and  Springfield,  111. 

Origin  and  History  of  the  Mormonites.    Eclectic  Magazine,  Nov.,  1850. 

Page,  John  E. — The  Spaulding  Story,  etc..  Exposed.    Piano,  111.,  1866. 

Pearl  of  Great  Price.    Liverpool,  1851. 

Pratt,  Orson — Remarkable  Visions.    New  York,  1841. 

 ,  A  Series  of  (16)  Pamphlets.    Liverpool,  1851. 

 ,  Divine  Authenticity.  Liverpool. 

 ,  The  Kingdom  of  God.  Liverpool. 

 ,  Parley  P. — A  Voice  of  Warning.    New  York,  1837. 

 ,  Late  Persecution  of  the  Church.  ...  Written  in  Prison.    New  Y~ork,  1840. 

 ,  Key  to  Theology. 

 ,  The  Millennium  and  Other  Poems.    Treatise  on  the  Regeneration  and  Eternal 

Duration  of  Matter.    New  York,  1840. 

Reid,  Mayne.    The  Mormon  Monsters.    Onward;  Nov.,  1869. 
Rejection  of  the  Church.    Piano,  111. 

Remy,  Jules — A  Journey  to  Great  Salt  Lake  City.    London,  1861. 
Report  of  Three  Nights'  PubUc  Discussion  in  Bolton.    Liverpool,  1851. 
Richards,  Franklin  D. — A  Compendium  of  the  Faith  and  Doctrines  of  the  Church. 
Liverpool,  1857. 

Rise  and  Progress  of  the  Mormon  Faith  and  People.    Southern  Literary  Messenger^ 
Sep.,  1844. 

Seeley,  R.  H. — The  Mormons  and  their  Religion.  Scribner^s  Monthly,  Feb.,  1872. 
Seer,  The.    Washington,  D.  C,  and  Liverpool. 

Senate  Document — Trial  of  Joseph  Smith,  Jun.,  and  others,  for  high  treason  and 

other  crimes  against  the  State  of  Missouri.    Feb.  15,  1841. 
Sheen,  Isaac — The  Narrow  Way.    Piano,  111. 
 ,  The  Plan  of  Salvation.    Piano,  111. 

Sketches  of  Mormonism,  as  Drawn  by  Brigham  Young  and  the  Elders.  Western 

Literary  Messenger,  July,  1856. 
Smith,  Alexander  H. — Polygamy,  etc.    Piano,  111. 
 ,  David  H. — The  Bible  versus  Polygamy.    Piano,  111. 

 ,  George  A. — The  Rise,  Progress,  and  Travels  of  the  Church,  etc.    Salt  Lake 

City,  1869. 

 ,  Joseph — Book  of  Doctrine  and  Covenants.    Liverpool,  1849, 

 ,  The  Book  of  Mormon.    Palmyra,  1830. 

 ,  Book  of  Mormon,  Completely  Revised  by  the  Translator.    Nauvoo,  HI.,  1840. 

 ,  Book  of  Mormon.    Salt  Lake  City,  1871. 

 ,  The  Holy  Scriptures,  Translated  and  Corrected  by  the  Spirit  of  Revelation. 

Piano,  IlL,  1867. 


APPENDIX. 


745 


Smith,  Joseph — Reply  to  Orson  Pratt.  Piano. 
 ,  "  Who  then  Can  be  Saved  ?  "  Piano. 

 ,  Lucy  (Mother  of  the  Prophet)— Biographical  Sketches  of  Joseph  Smith  the 

Prophet,  and  his  Progenitors  for  Many  Generations.  Liverpool. 

 ,  T.  W. — Spirituahsm  Viewed  from  a  Scriptural  Stand-point.  Piano. 

 ,  The  "  One  Baptism,"  etc.  Piano. 

 ,  The  "  One  Body."  Piano. 

Snovt,  Eliza  R. — Poems,  Religious,  Historical,  and  Political.    Liverpool,  1856. 
Spaulding,  Samuel  J. — Spauldlng  Memorial:  A  Genealogical  History,  etc.  Bos- 
ton, 1872. 

Spencer,  Orson — Patriarchal  Order ;  or.  Plurality  of  Wives.    Liverpool,  1853. 
 ,  Letters.    Liverpool,  1848. 

Stenhouse,  Mrs.  T.  B.  H. — ^A  Lady's  Life  among  the  Mormons.    New  York,  1872. 
Sturtevant,  J.  M. — Review  of  Mormonism  in  All  Ages.    American  Biblical  Reposi- 
tory^ Jan.,  1843. 
Successor  in  the  Prophetic  Office,  etc.  Piano. 
Sunderland,  La  Roy — Mormonism  Exposed.    New  York,  1842. 

Taylder,  T.  W.  P.—The  Mormon's  Own  Book.    London,  1855. 

 ,  The  Mormon's  Own  Book  .  .  .  Also  a  Life  of  Joseph  Smith.    London,  1857. 

Taylor,  John — The  Government  of  God.    Liverpool,  1852. 

 ,  Three  Nights'  Public  Discussion  at  Boulogne-sur-Mer.    Liverpool,  1850. 

 ,  Truth  Defended,  etc.    Liverpool,  1840. 

Thompson,  Charles — Evidences  in  Proof  of  the  Book  of  Mormon.    Batavia,  New 

York,  1841. 
Tithing.    Piano,  111. 

Trial  of  the  Witnesses  to  the  Resurrection  of  Jesus.    Piano,  111.,  1870. 
True  Latter-Day  Saints'  Herald.    Cincinnati,  and  Piano,  111.,  1860-1872. 
Truth  Made  Manifest ;  A  Dialogue.  Piano. 
Truth  by  Three  Witnesses  ;  A  Warning  Voice.  Piano. 

Tucker,  Pomeroy — Origin,  Rise,  and  Progress  of  Mormonism.    New  York,  1867. 
Tullidge,  E.  W. — Brigham  Young  and  Mormonism.    Galaxy,  Sept.,  1867. 

 ,  Leaders  in  the  Mormon  Reform  Movement.    Phrenological  Journal,  July» 

1871. 

 ,  The  Mormon  Commonwealth.    Galaxy,  Oct.  15,  1866. 

 ,  The  Mormons :  Who  and  What  they  are.    Phrenological  Jou/rnal,  Jan.,  1870. 

 ,  The  Reformation  in  Utah.    Harper'^s  Magazine,  Sept.,  1871. 

 ,  The  Utah  Gentiles ;  Who  and  What  they  are.    Phrenological  Journal,  May, 

1871. 

 ,  Views  of  Mormonism.    Galaxy,  Oct.  1,  1866. 

 ,  Wm.  H.  Hooper,  of  Utah.    Phrenological  Journal,  Nov.,  1870. 

Turner,  J.  B. — Mormonism  in  All  Ages.    New  York,  1842. 

 ,  0. — Origin  of  the  Mormon  Imposture.    Living  Age,  Aug.  30,  1851. 

Utah.    Beadle's  Monthly,  July,  1866. 

Valley  Tan.    Salt  Lake  City. 

Van  Dusen,  Increase,  and  Maria,  his  Wife. — Spiritual  Delusion.   New  York,  1854. 


746 


APPENDIX. 


Van  Dusen,  Increase  McGee,  and  Maria,  his  Wife — Startling  Disclosures.  New 
York,  1849. 

 ,  Increase  McGee,  and  Maria,  his  Wife — Sublime  and  Ridiculous  Blended. 

New  York,  1848. 
Visit  to  the  Mormons.    Westminster  Review ^  Oct.,  1861. 
Voice  of  the  Good  Shepherd.    Piano,  111. 

Waite,  Mrs.  C.  V. — The  Mormon  Prophet  and  his  Harem.    Chicago,  1857. 
Ward,  Austin  N. — The  Husband  in  Utah.    New  York,  1857. 

 ,  Maria — Female  Life  among  the  Mormons.    New  York,  1855. 

Waters,  ,  Life  among  the  Mormons,  etc.    New  York,  1868. 

Wells,  Samuel  R. — Our  Visit  to  Salt  Lake  City.    Phrenological  Journal^  Dec, 
1870. 

 ,  The  Mormon  Question.    Fhremlogical  Journal^  Dec,  1871. 

Westbrook,  G.  W. — The  Mormons  in  Illinois.    St.  Louis,  1844. 
Whittier,  John  G. — A  Mormon  Conventicle.    Living  Age^  Dec.  4,  1847. 
Winchester,  B. — A  History  of  the  Priesthood.    Philadelphia,  1843. 

Yankee  Mahomet,  The.    American  Whig  Review^  June,  1851. 


IlsTDEX. 


AARONIC  PRIESTHOOD,  476,  556. 
Abraham,  682,  683  ;  seen  in  a  vision, 
64  ;  his  equivocation  pleaded,  192. 

—  Book  of,  507. 

Across  the  Continent  (by  Samuel  Bowles), 

614,  660. 
Adair,  John  W.,  444. 

—  Samuel,  444. 

Adam,  485,  489  ;  seen  in  a  vision,  63. 
Adam-Deity,  202,  485,486,  492,494,  553, 
561. 

Adam-Ondi-Ahman,  77,  85,  86. 
Adultery,  strange  confession  of,  295. 
Affinity,  184. 
Africans,  561. 

Ahmensen,  an  emigrant,  314. 
Aldrich,  M.,  175. 
Alexander,  Colonel,  365. 
Allen,  Captain  Ira,  240,  244. 
Allyer,  175. 
Alma,  544. 
Alton,  215. 

Alvin  (brother  of  Joseph  Smith),  seen  in 

a  vision,  64. 
Amelia  (Folsom),  653. 
America,  Ancient,  548. 
American  Fork,  432. 
Amos,  David,  225. 

Anderson,  Kirk,  402.  (  Vide  Valley  Tayi.) 
Anthon,  Professor,  his  story  of  the  Book 

of  Mormon,  25. 
Anti-Mormons,  46,  80,  139,  215,  218,  220, 

284. 

Anti-Polygamy  Act,  197. 
Apostacy,  cause  of,  4,  67  ;  spirit  of,  361 ; 
very  great  in  England,  202. 

—  Brigham  Young  on,  502 ;  of  Walker 
Bros.,  and  others,  623,  631,  637.  (  Vide 
New  Movement.) 

Apostates,  61,  622,  627,  641  ;  arrested, 
621  ;  murder  of,  621 ;  cut  off,  640 ; 
successful,  645. 

Apostles,  Twelve,  75,  127,  146,  263,612; 
chosen,  60  ;  seniority  of,  61. 

Appendix  of  Doctrhie  and  Covenants,  192. 

Appendix,  737. 

45 


Archer  of  Paradise  (P.  P.  Pratt),  128. 
Argus,  Open  Letters  of,  430,  439,  442, 

445,  461. 
Arizona,  669. 

Arkansas,  emigrants  to,  424,  428,  430, 

435,  444,  449,  452. 
Army  of  the  Lord,  50,  56  ;  disbanded,  58. 

—  The  Standing  (in  Utah),  453. 

—  The  United  States,  in  Utah,  369,  371, 
396,  415,  417. 

Ashley,  100. 

—  James  M.,  614. 

Assassination  of  Joseph  and  Hyrum 

Smith,  166-176. 
Assembly  rooms.  Salt  Lake  City,  643. 
Atchison,  General  D.  R.,  82-84,  99,  100, 

.103,  116. 
Atlantic  Monthly,  The,  401,  685. 
Atwood,  Millen,  314,  328. 
Atwood,  W.,  316. 

Auerbachs,  merchants  of  Salt  Lake  City, 

627. 
Austin,  Dr.,  84. 
Authorities  elected,  566,  567. 
Autobiography  of  Joseph  Smith,  26,  65, 
125. 

Autograph  of  Brigham  Young,  654. 
Avard,  Dr.  Sampson,  originator  of  the 
Danite  Band,  91,  93. 

BABBITT,  Almon  W.,   Secretary  of 
Utah,  247,  270,  280. 
Bachelor,  Origen,  190. 
Baker,  Colonel,  214. 
Baldwin,  Caleb,  112. 
Ball,  244,  249. 
Ballot  in  Utah,  702. 
Bank,  Kirtland  Safety  Society,  72. 

—  First  National,  of  Utah,  707. 
Bankers,  Joseph  Smith  and  Rigdon  as,  70. 
Banks,  John,  594,  599,  600.  ' 
Banner  of  the  Gospel  [W.  Woodruff], 

128. 

Baptism,  first  Mormon,  28 ;  for  the  dead, 

475  ;  by  immersion,  475. 
Baptiste,  336. 


748 


INDEX. 


Baptiste,  Jean,  a  grave-digger  who  robbed 

the  dead,  482. 
Barbarism,  Slavery  and  Polygamy  twin 

relics  of,  308. 
Baron,  David  Le,  225. 
Baskin,  R.  N.,  District  Attorney,  684. 
Bateraan,  Wm.,  444. 

Bates,  George  0.,  United  States  Attorney 

for  Utah,  685. 
Battalion,  Mormon,  240-249,  259,  268, 

273,  274. 
Battle  Creek,  432. 

Baurak  Ale  [Joseph  Smith],  50,  51,  56. 
Beadle,  J.  H.,  452. 
Bear  River,  670. 

—  Lake,  670. 

Bee-Hive  House,  604,  607,  652,  653. 

Bennett,  John  C,  General  of  Nauvoo  Le- 
gion, etc.,  129,  134-136,  144,  145,  183, 
184,  198. 

Benson,  Elder  Ezra  T.,  553,  673. 

Benton,  Senator,  249. 

Bemhisel,  Honourable  J.  H.,  213,  386. 

Bible,  The,  Book  of  Mormon  compared 
with,  533,  540. 

—  New  translation  of,  41. 
Bidamon,  Major  L.  C,  188,  225. 
Big  Cottonwood  Lake,  349,  397. 
Big  Elk,  250. 

Big  Fishing  River,  55. 

Big  Mound,  The,  225. 

Bingham  Canon,  712. 

Bird,  William,  466. 

Bishop,  Gladden,  212,  305,  306. 

Bishops  (Mormon),  295,  698,  d  al 

Black,  Adam,  81,  82,  111. 

—  George  A.,  680. 

—  Jeremiah  S.,  Attorney-General,  408. 
Blackburn,  Bishop,  302. 

Black's  Fork,  366,  370. 

Blair,  Seth  M.,  United  States  Attorney  in 
Utah,  275,  282. 

Blessings,  563,  564. 

Bloodshedding  for  love,  299. 

Boarding-house  at  Nauvoo,  128 ;  revela- 
tion on,  129. 

Bogart,  Captain,  an  anti-Mormon,  84,  94- 
96. 

Boggs,  Governor  of  Missouri,  82,  111,  116, 
137,  140,  247,  248 ;  letter  of,  96. 

Bollwinkel,  J.  M.,  502. 

Bolton,  Major-General  Lewis,  83. 

Book  of  Abraham,  182,  507. 

Book  of  Covenants,  192.  (  Fic?e  Doctrine 
and  Covenants.) 

Book  of  Mormon,  29,  74,  123,  197,  206, 
489,  547,  555,  630,  650,  697. 

Boston,  prediction  of  its  destruction,  5. 

Boulogne-sur-Mer,  Apostle  Taylor  at,  194. 

Bowery,  588,  et  al. 

Bowman,  Mrs.,  a  Morrisite,  599. 


Bowles,  Samuel,  editor  of  the  Springfield 

Republican  (Mass.),  613,  637. 
Boyle,  444. 

Boynton,  John  F.,  69,  76. 

Brandebury,  Chief-Justice  of  Utah,  277. 

Brannan,  Elder  Samuel,  256  ;  takes  600 
emigrants  to  San  Francisco,  238 ;  in- 
terviews the*  President,  239. 

Brassfield,  0.  N.,  assassination  of,  615, 
616. 

Breckinridge,  Senator  John  C,  348. 
Brewer,  murder  of,  418. 
Brewster,  Elder,  212. 
Bridger,  Fort,  302,  330,  357,  370,  376, 
380,  384,  385,  401,  404,  428,  593,  685. 
Bridger,  Jim,  256. 

Brigham  Young,  5,  44,  52,  60,  68,  79, 
113,  123,  127,  128,  175,  186,  187,  193, 
205,  223,  243,  244,  247,  253,  263,  264, 
268,  269,  272,  275,  281,  289,  292,  295, 
300-305,  313,  322,  331,  335,  336-339, 
342,  346,  349,  350,  355,  858,  367,  371, 
376,  382,  390,  398,  410,  411,  416,  422, 
435,  442,  446,  448,  459,  460,  463,  464, 
472,487,  490,  494,  500,  557,  560,  562,- 
566,  573,  588,  593,  596,  600,  604,  608, 
610,  620,  626,  628,  632,  638,  640,  649, 
650,  652-659,  660,  661,  664-668,  673- 
677,  680-686,  693-698,  701,  708,  711. 

Brigham,  Junr.,  662. 

British  Government,  Mormon  Memorial 
to,  222. 

British  Missions,  9,  135,  201,  266,  271, 
340,  458;  statistics  of,  202. 

Brocchus,  Perry  E.,  Associate  Justice  of 
Utah,  275-279. 

Brockman,  Thomas  A.,  a  Campbellite 
preacher  and  leader  of  the  anti-Mor- 
mons, 226,  227. 

Bross,  Lieut.-Governor  of  Illinois,  612, 

Brown  County,  153. 

—  Captain  James,  268. 

—  Hyrum,  199. 

—  Lieutenant,  618. 

—  Sam,  80. 

Browne,  Albert  G.,  401. 

Buchanan,  President  James,  346,  348, 

352,  381,  382,  391,  393,  395,  413,  416, 

423. 

Buckmaster,  Colonel,  174. 
Buffington,  Joseph,  Chief- Justice  of  Utah, 
275. 

Bullock,  T.,  clerk  to  Brigham  Young,  271. 
Buncombe,  89,  94. 
Bunker,  314. 

Buren,  President  Martin  Yan,  123. 
Burlington,  Iowa,  123. 
Bums's  poem    Holy  Willie,"  76. 
Burr,  General,  298. 

Burton,  Captain  R.  F.,  on  Brigham  Young, 
638. 


INDEX. 


749 


Burton,  Colonel  [now  General]  R.  T.,  367, 

695,  598-600. 
Butler,  John  L.,  80. 


CACHE  County,  673. 
Cache  VaUey,  397. 
Cahoou,  Thyrza,  191. 

—  Reynolds,  191. 
Caldwell  County,  69,  82,  85. 
Calhoun,  Honourable  J.  C,  147. 
California,  146,  244,  248,  256,  269,  306,. 

405,  416,  434,  444,  452,  462,  669  ;  emi- 
gration to,  424,  432  ;  Volunteers,  422, 
602,  606,  612,  712;  gold  discovered 
in,  273. 

—  Upper,  236,  240,  243,  360 ;  taken  by 
the  United  States,  239 ;  iDOunds  of, 
284. 

—  Southern,  Mormon  settlement  in,  353. 
Calvin  Sorrow,  John,  450. 

Camp  Douglas,  604,  608,  609,  620,  621, 
680,  685. 

—  Douglas  Cemetery,  620. 

—  Floyd,  410,  411,  602,  622,  623. 

—  Scott,  379. 

—  U.  S.,  in  Utah,  397. 

—  of  Death,  370. 

Cannon,  Apostle  George  Q.,  626,  639, 

640,.  664,  701. 
Carey,  a  Mormon,  105. 
Carlin,  Governor  of  Hlinois,  134,  137. 
Carolina,  420. 

Carroll  County,  69,  82,  93,  94,  100,  102. 
Carson  Valley,  284,  285. 

—  City,  353,  410. 

—  River,  353. 
Carter,  Simeon,  113. 

Carthage,  149,  150,  156,  164,  169,  172. 

—  Grays,  155,  165. 

—  Jail,  163,  204. 
Cartwright,  Thomas,  444. 
Cass  County,  47. 
Caswell,  Rev.  H.,  106. 
Catechism  (Reformation),  295. 

Cedar  City,  397,  404,  434,  439,  440,  443- 
445,  451,  452,  455,  459. 

Celestial  Marriage,  176. 

Central  Pacific  Railroad,  672,  706. 

Champion  of  Right  [Apostle  John  Tay- 
lor], 128. 

Chandler,  Michael  H.,  509. 

Chariton  County,  102. 

Charter  of  Nauvoo,  133,  134. 

Chase,  112. 

Chenango  County,  N.  Y., 

Chicago,  355 ;  Mormon  elders  at,  354 ; 
wagons,  333. 

Chicago  Tribune  on  the  Mormon  Bat- 
talion, 248. 

Chihuahua,  106. 


Child's  Corner,  465. 
China  Creek,  199. 

Chislett,  Mr.  John  (writer  of  the  Hand- 
Cart  Story),  312,  314,  332,  417,  485. 

Christ,  mode  of  His  incarnation,  485  ;  a 
polygamist,  485  ;  appears  in  -America, 
535. 

Christian  Churches  in  Utah,  703,  704. 
Christianity,  influence  of,  460. 
Church,  The  Mormon,  6,  91,  148,  645, 
696 ;  organization,  7  ;  in  Britain,  202  ; 

—  difficulties  in,  205  ;  first  organized, 
30;  leaders  of,  461;  funds  of,  667. 
(  Vide  Missions  and  Mormons.) 

—The  Reorganized,  263. 

—  of  Zion,  706. 
Cincinnati,  348. 

City  Creek  .Canon,  692. 
Clara  Crossing,  435. 

Clark,  John  B.,  first  division  of  Missouri 

militia,  83,  96,  99,  100,  108,  110,  111, 
Clawson,  H.  B.  (son-in-law  of  Brigham 

Young),  422,  627. 
Clay  County,  47,  80,  89,  112,  147. 
Clayton,  Wilham,  189,  255,  627. 
Cleveland,  Sarah  M.,  191. 
Clinton,  Dr.  J.,  619,  701. 
Coalville,  621. 
Cobb,  Mrs,  Van  Cott,  652. 
Cold,  sufferings  of  the  army  from,  370. 
Colfax,  Vice-President,  613,  637,.638,  660. 
Colorado,  448,  669,  671. 
Colorado  River,  450. 
Columbia  River,  269. 
Commander-in-Chief  of  Militia,  432,  435  ; 

of  the  "  Armies  of  Israel,"  50. 
Commerce,  Hancock  Co.,  Illinois,  123. 
Commissioners,  United  States,  to  Utah, 

396,  399,  450. 
Committee  on  Territories,  614. 
Comstock,  Captain  Nehemiah,  100,  101. 
Confederate  Army,'  377. 
Confederate  States,  499. 
Conference,  the  first  Mormon,  36;  at 

Nauvoo,  211,  221,  238,  421  ;  of  the 

Church,  255,  258,  276,  566,  644,  704. 
Confession  (during  the  "Reformation"), 

294. 

Congress,  Memorial  to,  from  sons  of  Jo- 
seph Smith,  197 ;  act  of,  669  ;  Mormon 
petition  to,  214 ;  slavery  before,  420 ; 
committees  of,  456  ;  Delegates  to,  609 ; 

Connor,  Colonel  [now  General],  601, 
604,  606-608,  610-612,  679,  7l2. 

Contract,  mail,  348  ;  fraudulent,  416. 

Contractors'  War,  The,  416. 

Contracts  ;  Brigham  Young's,  635. 

Converts,  how  made,  8. 

Cook,  Bishop  Richard,  596. 

Cooke,  Philip  St.  George,  Major-General, 
241. 


750 


INDEX. 


Cooperative  [Zion's  Cooperative  Mercan- 
tile Institution],  625-628,  644,  667, 
672. 

Copley,  Lemon,  196. 

Corinne,  672. 

Coriime  Reporter^  430. 

Corn  Creek,  433,  434. 

Cott,  Elder  John  Van,  333,  336. 

Council,  465  ;  in  Nauvoo,  204. 

Council  Bluffs,  225,  250,  262-265,  382, 

477,  604. 
Counterfeit  money,  218. 

—  plates,  410-412. 

—  United  States  drafts,  410. 
Court,  Supreme,  684,  686. 

Courts,  United  States,  140,  278,  282,  284, 
285,  402,  406,  409,  415,  594,  597,  601, 
606,  684. 

Courts,  Circuit,  111,  155 ;  of  Illinois, 

218  ;  of  Hancock  County,  175. 
Covenants  and  Commandments,  40,  192. 

(  Vide  Doctrine  and  Covenants.) 
Cowdery,  Oliver  (Joseph  Smith's  scribe, 

etc.),  26  ;  baptized,  28-30 ;  sees  (with 

J.  S.)  a  great  vision,  65,  75,  112,  190- 

194,  255,  649. 
Cowdery,  Lyman,  76. 
Cox,  Mr.,  of  Indiana,  101. 
Cradlebaugh,  Judge  John,  352,  401,  403- 

410,  444,  445,  463,  591. 
Creation,  The,  Brigham  Young  on,  487 ; 

new  story  of,  488. 
Crickets  in  Utah,  270 ;  destruction  of 

crops  by,  270. 
Crimes,  confession  of,  during  the  "  Ref- 

ormation;'  296. 
Crooke,  Father,  557. 
Crooked  River,  91,  95. 
Crosby,  Associate-Justice,  591,  601. 
Camming,  Alfred,   Governor   of  Utah, 

352,  364,  377,  383,  389,  391-398,400  ; 

policy  of,  402  ;  407-413,  444,  445,  676, 

697,  698. 
Cutler,  Elder  Alphaeus,  191,  212. 

—  Lois,  191. 

DALLAS,  Hon.  Vice-President  Geo.  M., 
238. 

Dame,  Colonel  Wm.  H.,  434,  437,  440, 

441,  454,  461. 
Daniels  [testifies  to  the  murder  of  Joseph 

Smith],  160. 
Danites,  79,  91-93,  614. 
Darwin's  Theory  and  Mormonism,  632. 
Davies  County,  69,  80,  82,  83,  93,  96,  97, 

102,  112,  268. 
Davis,  Bishop,  451. 

—  Jacob  C,  175. 

—  William,  175. 

Dawson,  J.  W.,  Governor  of  Utah,  591, 
601 ;  attack  upon,  592. 


Dayton,  353. 
Deacon,  556. 
Dead,  robbing  the,  482. 
Declaration  of  Independence,  Brigham's, 
365. 

Demming,  General,  154. 
Democratic  Convention,  348. 
Democrats,  126. 
Department  of  the  Plains,  616. 
Deseret,  State  of,  269,  274-276,  303,  354- 
357,  453,  593;  boundaries  of,  269. 

—  Currency,  412. 

—  News,  94,  302,  305,  307,  347,  362, 
406,  504,  506,  567,  610,  640. 

Desperadoes  in  Utah,  417. 
Desti'uction  Company,  the,  89. 
Detroit,  243. 

Devil,  origin  of,  490,  491 ;  devils,  574 ; 

casting  out,  84. 
Devil's  Gate,  336,  338. 
De  Witt,  85. 

Diagram  of  the  Celestial  Kingdom,  506. 

Dick  Welding,  80. 

Disfellowshipping,  639,  643. 

Divine  authenticity,  523. 

Divine  Plan,  314,  333,  338,  341,  523. 

Dixie,  658. 

Doctrine  and  Covenants,  27,  39,  165, 190 

-196,  206. 
Don  Carlos  Smith,  86.  ^ 
Doniphan,  General,  83,  85,  99,  106, 
Dotson,  Peter  K.,  352. 
Doty,  Jas.  Duane,  Governor  of  Utah,  592, 

593,  609. 

Douglas,  Camp,  605,  606,  612,  680,  685, 
712.    {Vide  Q2,m^.) 

—  Judge  and  Senator,  Stephen  A.,  127, 
138,  147,  346-348. 

—  Hon.  John,  143. 

Dow,  Alexander,  affidavit  of,  599. 
Dragoons  in  Kansas,  366. 
Drake,  Thos.  J.,  Associate-Justice,  601, 
605. 

Dream,  Farnsworth^s,  642. 

Drummond,  Judge  W.  W.,  ill  conduct  of, 

285,  307. 
Drummond,  Mrs.,  28§. 
Du-dah,  extraordinary  Mormon  song,  370, 

372. 

Dunbar,  Elder  W.  C,  319,  560. 
Dunklin,  Governor  of  Missouri,  55,  77. 
Dunn's  Company,  155. 
Durfee,  463,  466. 
Durkee,  Governor,  675. 
Durphy,  Perry,  80. 

• 

EAGLE  VALLEY,  353. 
Earl,  W.  J.,  465. 
Eastern  States,  Jesse  C.  Little  presides 
over,  237. 

Echo  Canon,  362,  363,  369,  390,  393, 414. 


INDEX.  751 


Eckles,  CHef-Justice,  352,  377,  3»3,  891, 
685. 

Edmonds,  Judge  John  W.,  34. 

Edmunds,  George,  225. 

Elang,  Joseph,  444. 

Eldridge,  Elder,  626,  644. 

Elect  Lady  [Emma  Smith],  the,  21,  188. 

Elections  in  Missouri,  139. 

Elections  in  Utah,  701,  702. 

Elkhorn  Wood  River,  316. 

Ellsworth,  Edmund,  314. 

Emigrants,   Mormon,   578;   hand -cart, 

311  ;  sufferings  of,  320  ;  story  of,  321  ; 

horrible  distress  of,  325  ;  losses  of,  331 ; 

miserable  death  of,  336. 
Emigration,  265,  291  ;  to  California,  273. 
Emigration  Canon,  396. 
Emma  (Hale),  wife  of  Joseph  Smith,  21. 

( Vide  Elect  Lady.) 
Emmeline  [Free  Young],  652,  653. 
Emmett,  Elder  James,  206,  212. 
Endowment  promised,  56 ;   given,  63 ; 

476,  697,  698. 
Endowment  House,  297,  605,  697. 
English  Saints,  303.    ( Vide  Missions  and 

British.) 
Enoch,  50. 

Enoch,  Order  of,  502,  503. 
Ensign  Peak,  260. 

Entablature  of  Truth  [George  A.  Smith], 
128. 

Entablature  on  the  Temple  at  Nauvoo, 
223. 

Episcopal  Church  in  Utah,  703. 
Epistle,  a  general,  265. 
Equivocation  in  the  Marriage  Ceremony, 
193. 

European  Saints,  697. 
Evans,  David,  42. 

Evening  and  Morning  Star^  42,  46. 
Excommunication,  202  ;  of  Apostates, 
640. 

Expedition  to  Utah,  415,  421. 

Expose  of  Polygamy,  588. 

Expositor^  The  Nauvoo,  148,  155,  157, 

163,  164,  283. 
Express,  The  B.  Y.,  345. 
Expulsion  of  the  Mormons  from  Missouri, 

112. 

Extermination  of  the  Mormons  resolved 
on,  95,  96,  104. 

EAITH  of  the  Mormons  in  Joseph 
Smith,  114. 
Farnsworth's  Dream,  642. 
Far  West,  69,  74,  88,  94,  103,  108. 
Fearnaught,  Captain  [David  Fatten],  93, 
94. 

Federal  Army,  396,  397. 

—  Court,  686.    ( Vide  Courts.) 

—  Judges,  683,  686. 


Federal  Officers,  678,  681. 

—  Troops,  410,  421,  428;  leave  Camp 
Floyd,  622. 

—  Appointments,  282. 
Felt,  N.  H.,  319. 
Ferguson,  James,  283,  403. 
Ferris,  Secretary,  279. 

Festivities  at  Big  Cottonwood  Lake,  349. 
Fillmore,  Millard,  274,  432,  433,  459, 
460. 

First  Presidency,  204,  205,  263. 
Flag-staff,  presentation  of,  to  Brigham 

Young,  422. 
Flenniken,  Chief-Justice,  591,  601. 
Florence,  Neb.  [Winter-Quarters],  316, 

317,  321,  334. 
Florida,  364. 

Floyd,  Camp,  346,  397,  406,  410,  412, 
413,  416,  419,  422,  445,  452. 

Floyd,  John  B.,  Secretary  of  War,  352, 
397. 

Fobbs,  assassination  of,  405. 

Folsom  (Young),  Amelia,  604,  605,  652. 

Forbes,  Mr.,  467. 

Ford,  Governor,  of  Illinois,  142,  143, 
147,  148,  152,  163,  165-169,  170.  172, 
174,  184,  185,  198,  214,  222. 

Ford's  History  of  Illinois,  135,  143,  149, 
150,  153,  157,  170,  450,  451. 

Forney,  Jacob,  401,  402,  450. 

Fort  Bridger,  685. 

Fort  Limhi,  Mission  to,  658. 

Foster,  Robert  D.,  129. 

Fourth  of  July,  286,  314,  423,  680,  681. 

Fox,  Jesse  W.,  "consecration"  of  his 
goods,  502. 

Francher,  Charles,  450. 

Free-loveism  threatened,  184,  185. 

Freeman,  Columbus,  444. 

Fremont,  John  C,  249. 

Frontier  cities,  250. 

Frontiers,  the,  312. 

Fuller,  Frank,  Secretary  of  Utah,  591- 

594,  600,  609. 
Funeral  of  Joseph  and  Hyrum  Smith, 

174. 

Funerary  Disk.  (  Vide  Book  of  Abraham.) 


GALLAGHER,  Wm.,  175. 
Galland,  Dr.  Isaac,  129. 
Gallatin,  Davies  County,  80. 
Garden  of  Eden,  in  Missouri,  77. 
Garden  Grove,  250. 

Gauge  of  Philosophy  [Orson  Pratt],  128 

Gazelam  [Joseph  Smith],  50. 

Gee,  Lysander,  406. 

Gentiles,  622,  642,  665,  693,  697. 

Gibbs,  Luman,  112. 

Gifts,  554,  642,  et  al 

Gila  River,  269. 


752 


INDEX. 


Giles,  Old,  an  emigrant,  335. 
Glaze,  Mr.,  102. 

God,  Heber  C.  Kimball  declares  that 
Brigham  Young  is  as,  486;  Mormon 
ideas  of,  484. 

Godbe,  Wm.  S.,  342,  562,  630,  636,  639, 
640,  641,  643,  645,  676,  {Vide 
Harrison  and  New  Movement.) 

Goddard,  Geo.,  639. 

Gold,  discovery  of,  in  California,  273. 

Golden's  Point,  165. 

Gold  plates  found  by  Joseph  Smith,  21. 
Goodyier,  an  Indian  trader,  268. 
Gospel,  a  new,  60. 

Governor  of  Utah,  proclamation  by,  358  ; 

Brigham  Young,  366. 
Grand  River,  77,  86,  670. 
Grant,  President  U.  S.,  674  ;  letter  to, 

from  Author,  241. 

—  G.  D.,  317,  319,  326. 

—  Thos.  D.,  83. 

—  J.  M.,  Apostle,  278 ;  originates  the 
"  Reformation,'^  293  ;  303,  305,  497, 
561. 

Great  Britain,  420.    (  Vide  Missions  and 

Britain.) 
Great  Plains,  334. 
Green,  John  P.,  44. 

—  Plains,  215. 

—  River,  367,  670. 
Greenwood,  451. 
Grover,  Thos.,  113. 
Grover,  Wm.  H.,  173,  175. 
Guadaloupe  Hidalgo,  269. 
Gulls  in  Utah,  270. 

Gunnison,  Lieutenant,  173,  189,  278,  464. 
Guyman,  N.  J.,  464,  665. 


HAIGHT,  President,  engaged  in  Moun- 
tain Meadows  Massacre,  435,  437, 
440,  441,  444,  447-449,  451-454. 
Hale  family,  the,  21.  (  Vide'Emma,  Smith.) 
Halley,  Wm.,  244. 
Halliday,  George,  335. 
Ham's  Fork,  336,  338. 
Hamlet,  plagiarism  of,  543. 
HamUn,  Jacob,  448,  450. 
Hamlin's  Ranch e,  441. 
Hampton,  Ben,  337. 
Hancock,  Solomon,  113. 
Hancock  County,  143,  153,  199,  213, 
214,  217. 

Hand  Cart  Emigration,  311 ;  plan  divine- 
ly inspired,  313  ;  song,  333. 

Hardin,  J.  J.,  Brigadier-General,  214, 
217. 

Harding,  Stephen  S.,  Governor  of  Utah, 

601,  602,  605,  606,  609. 
Harmony,  Susquehanna  Co.,  21, 440,  451, 

459, 


Harney,  Brigadier-General,  352,  365,  412, 
Harris,  Martin,  amanuensis  to  Joseph 
Smith,  22,  26,  29,  75,  76. 

—  Mrs.,  26. 

—  B.  D.,  Secretary  of  Utah,  275,  277. 
Harrison,  E.  L.  T.,  444,  562,  630,  631, 

633,  636,  637,  639-642,  676,  677; 

revelations  to,  631,  632. 
Hartnett,  John,  352. 
Haskins,  Rev.  T.  W.,  704. 
Hatch,  Ira,  444,  451,  456. 
Haun,  101. 

Haun's  Mill,  100 ;  massacre  of  Mormons 
at,  102. 

Hawkins,  -Thos.,  trial  of,  for  polygamy, 
685. 

Hawley,  Cyrus  M.,  Associate-Justice,  684. 

Hawn,  Francis,  450. 

Healing,  gifts  of,  8,  9. 

Heber  C.  Kimball.    ( Vide  Kimball.) 

Heitz,  Captain  A.,  713. 

Hempstead,  Major  C.  H.,  U.  S.  Attorney, 

608,  612,  684. 
Hendrick,  Elder,  212. 
Herald,  New  York,  116,  278,  386,  412, 

638. 

Hewett,  Richard,  199. 

Hey  wood,  Joshua  L.,  U.  S.  Marshal,  275. 

Higbee,  Sarah,  191. 

—  Judge  Elias,  123,  145. 

—  Bishop  John  M.,  444,  448,  451. 

—  Francis  M.,  145. 

High  Council  at  Nauvoo,  222.  (Vide 
Council.) 

High-Priests,  295.    (Vide  Priests,  etc.) 
Hill,  615.    {Vide  Brassfield.) 
Hillman,  Sarah,  191. 
Hinckle,  Colonel,  84,  85,  94,  104,  105. 
Historical  Society  of  New  York,  413. 
History  of  Illinois  (  Fide  Ford),  106,  217, 

248. 
Hoge,  Mr.,  142. 
Holland,  Simpson,  368. 
Hollman,  District  Attorney,  281. 
Holy  Ghost — a  man!  361. 
Hooper,  Hon.  W.  H.  [Delegate],  593,  613, 

614,  626,  644,  681. 
Hopkins,  Chas.,  444. 
Horse-Head,  450. 
Hospital,  Salt  Lake  City,  704. 
Hudson,  Frederick,  386. 
Huff,  Mary,  450. 

Human  Sacrifices,  613.    {Vide  Reforma- 
tion.) 
Hunt,  John  A.,  335. 
Hunter,  Ann,  191. 

Hurd,  Dr.  Garland,  an  Indian  agent,  413. 
Hussey,  Mr.  Warren  [banker].  Salt  Lake. 
City,  668. 

Hyde,  Elder  John,  391,  393,  545,  546, 
560,  640. 


INDEX. 


753 


Hyde,  John,  Mrs.,  640. 

—  Orson  [Olive-Branch  of  Israel]*  46,  52, 
60,  68,  88-90,  94,  128,  146,  205,  263, 
264,  284,  353,  476,  483-485,  505,  506, 
573,  574,  694. 

Hymns,  Mormon,  371,  374,  498,  499 ;  in- 
spired, 2 ;  Montgomery's,  165,  166 ; 
by  Taylor,  360. 

Hyrum  Smith,  death  of,  177.  (  Vide  Smith.) 

IOARIANS,  French,  at  Nauvoo,  223. 
Idaho,  606,  669. 
Illinois,  123-127,  133,  139,  142,  147,  184, 
211,  285,  350, 405  ;  Governor  of,  141- 
144  ;  militia  of,  142  ;  history  of,  184, 
198,  248;  Saints  in,  120,  284.  (Vide 
Ford.) 

Income,  Brigham  Young's,  666-668. 
Indemnity  to  Mormons,  and  people  of 

Davies  and  Caldwell  Counties,  113. 
Independence,  Jackson  County,  38,  108, 

319. 

—  Brigham  Young's  Declaration  of,  351. 

—  Sidney  Rigdon's  Declaration  of,  91. 
( Vide  Salt  Sermon.) 

—  Hall,  616. 
Indiana,  120,  184. 

Indian  affairs,  359,  366,  401,  432,  450, 
451. 

Indian  Agent,  413,  449  ;  country,  186, 
250,  401,  428  ;  farm,  464 ;  'Superin- 
tendent, 286  ;  interpreter,  289. 

Indians,  243,  255,  272,  273,  283,  334, 
377,  409,  421,  434,  435,  437,  446-448, 
450,  451,  457,  458,  593,  670,  697; 
prisoners,  409  ;  Utah,  448  ;  mission  to, 
658. 

Indians,  "White,"  401. 
Infallible  Priesthood,  11,  236,  641. 
Ingram,  444.    (  Vide  M.  M.  Massacre.) 
Inspired  Hymn,  2. 
Investigation  of  murders,  403,  463. 
Iowa,  214,  215,   225,  314,  316,  317; 
Saints  journey  through,  222,  315. 

—  Camp,  314. 

—  City,  333,  391. 
Iron  County,  440,  673. 
Iron  Creek,  435,  440. 
Isaiah  (quoted),  25. 

JACK  Mormons,  214. 
Jack's  Yalley,  353. 
Jackson  County,  108,  119,  268  ;  inheri- 
tance in,  49 ;  448. 
Jacksonville,  217. 
Jacobs,  H.,  90. 

Jail,  Two  Minutes  in,  170, 171. 

James,  an  old  emigrant,  his  death,  etc., 

327-329. 
Jarvis,  297. 


Jeddy  [Jedediah  M.  Grant],  his  mule, 
293,  295  ;  300,  301. 

Jennings,  Elder  Wm.,  625,  644. 

Jerusalem,  the  new,  37,  etc.  ( Vide  Zion.) 

Jim  Bridger,  256. 
Joab,  a  General  in  Israel,"  127. 

John,  Uncle,  563. 

Johns,  Colonel  Wm".  M.,  678. 

Johnson,  Bishop  A.,  191,  463-465. 

Johnson,  Luke,  60,  69,  76. 

Johnson,  Lyman  E.,  60,  69,  76. 

Johnston,  General  Albert  Sidney,  366, 
369,  376,  377,  383,  389,  392,  395,  407, 
411,  412,  417,  445,  510,  685. 

Johnston,  Joaquin,  418. 

—  Polly  Z.,  191. 

—  Mrs.,  466. 

—  County,  Arkansas,  450. 

—  Nephi,  444. 

Jones,  Mr.,  a  Pittsburg  banker,  71-73. 
( Vide  Kirtland  Bank.) 

—  Captain  Dan,  335,  337. 

—  Henry,  405. 

Jordan  River,  298,  396,  431,  432,  670. 
Joseph  A.  (Young).    (  Vide  Young.) 

—  Smith.    ( Vide  Smith.) 

—  'Hhe  young,"  consecrated,  204;  555, 
628,  706. 

Journal  of  Discourses^  277,  280,  303,  305, 

306,  650. 
Judd,  Rebecca,  Miss,  101. 
Judges,  Federal,  400. 
July  24th  in  Salt  Lake  Yalley,  423. 
Juries,  Mormon,  408. 
Jurors,  story  of  the  eleven  who  "had 

some  of  the  ham,"  615. 


KAHN  Bros.,  627. 
Kane,  Thomas  L.,  Colonel  (nowMa- 
jor-General),  238,  244,  247,  275,  382- 
389,  391,  412,  413. 
Kanesville,  250,  264. 
Kanosh,  an  Indian  chief,  404,  436. 
Kansas,  112,  345,  364. 
Kearney,  Colonel  (now  General)  S.  W., 

First  Dragoons,  240,  243,  244. 
Kearns,  H.  H.,  466. 

Keeper  of  the  Rolls  [Apostle  Willard 

Richards],  128. 
Kelsey,  Eli  B.,  632,  633,  640,  642,  645, 

676,  712,  713. 
Kesler,  Bishop,  298. 
Keys  restored,  33. 

Kimball,  H.  C,  Apostle,  44,  52,  60,  68, 
69,  123,  186,  205,  263,  277,  291,  295, 
300,  301,  306,  331,  360,  376,  379,  485, 
547,  560-562,  573,  602,  640,  653,  658, 
659,  666;  and  the  "Reformation," 
294 ;  prophecy  of,  274. 

—  H.,  Captain,  230,  329. 


754 


INDEX. 


Kimball,  Vilate,  Mrs.,  306. 

—  W.  H.,  317,  319,  326. 
Kinderhook,  ancient  plates  found  at,  548. 
King,  Judge  Austin  A.,  83,  111,  117. 
Kingdom,  the,  495,  496,  498,  500,  502, 

681,  691;  an  earthly,  4;  of  God,  506. 
Kingdom,  Celestial,  diagram  of,  506. 
Kington,  Fort,  Bisho'p  of,  281. 
Kinney,  Chief-Justice  John  R,  280,  281, 

591,  593,  594,  599-601,  605,  607,  609. 
Kirby,  Rev.  R.  M.,  704. 
Kirtland,  Ohio,  39,  43,  44,  ^0,  61,  74, 

78,  182,  650;  Joseph  Smith  flies  from, 

70,  73  ;  return  to,  119. 

—  Temple,  dedication  of,  64. 

—  Safety  Society  Bank,  72,  274. 
Klemgard,  Peter,  597. 
Knight,  Newell,  33,  552,  553. 

LADIES'  Relief  Society,  190,  191. 
La  Fayette,  47. 
La  Harpe,  225. 
Lake  Utah,  670. 

Lamanites  preached  to,  37.  (  Vide  Book 

of  Mormon.) 
Lamentation,  the,  of  Parley  P.  Pratt,  5. 
Land-OflQce  (Salt  Lake  City),  671. 
Land  of  promise,  299. 
Landon,  298. 

Lapeer  County,  Michigan,  199. 

Laramie,  Fort,  319,  322,  .323,  593. 

La  Roy  Sunderland,  5. 

Latter-Day  Saints,  Brigham  Young  elected 
head  of  Church  of,  265.  ( Vide  Mor- 
mons.) 

—  Messenger  and  Advocate^  49,  208. 
Law,  William,  118,  129,  130,  198. 

—  Wilson,  148,  191. 

—  Jane,  191. 

Lawrence,  Major  H.  W.,  595,  601,  627, 

633,  642,  644,  645. 
Leavenworth,  Fort,  244,  249,  345,  348, 

365,  366. 
Le  Clerc  [Pied  Riche],  250. 
Lee,  Major  John  D.,  434,  439,  440-449, 

451,  454-456,  461. 

—  General,  610. 

—  County,  Iowa,  230. 

Legion,  The  Nauvoo,  133,  134,  139,  149, 

150,  153,  157,  168,  612. 
Letter  of  Joseph  Smith  to  the  Saints, 

113,  118. 

—  to  President  Grant  from  the  Author, 
241. 

—  from  P.  St.  George  Cooke,  243. 

—  from  a  lady,  378,  379. 

—  of  President  Buchanan,  382. 

—  to  Brigham  Young,  446. 
Lewis,  Samuel,  444. 

—  Samuel,  Junior,  434. 
Lexington,  95. 


Liberal  Institute,  Salt  Lake  City,  706. 
Liberals,  the,  of  Utah,  676,  et  al. 
Liberty,  89,  112. 
Lima,  215. 

Lincoln,  President,  348,  591,  604,  611. 

Linforth,  James,  335. 

Lion  House,  651,  653. 

Lion  of  the  Lord  [Brigham  Young],  128, 

276,  379,  396,  500,  634. 
Literary  and  Musical  Societv,  300. 
Little,  Elder  Jesse  C,  237,  240,  244, 247. 
Liverpool,  emigration  from,   265,  312, 

324,  340 ;  mission  at,  341,  342. 
Livingston  County,  102.  • 
Log  Tabernacle,  264. 
Los  Angeles,  243,  432. 
Loveridge,  Alexander,  444. 
Lucas,  General  S.  D.,  83,  99,  104,  106, 

109,  110. 
Lyford,  Rev.  J.  P.,  705. 
Lyman  Wight,  212. 
Lyman,  Apostle  Amasa  M.,  263,  643. 

MACK,  Jonathan,  649. 
Magazine^  Utah,  633.  ( Vide  Utah.) 
Mangum,  John  [  Vide  M.  M.  M.],  444. 
Mann,  S.  A.,  Secretary  of  Utah,  676,  678. 
Manuscripts  of  Book  of  Mormon  stolen,26. 
Maps,  443. 

Marcy,  Captain  R.  B.,  380,  390,  396. 

—  Hon;  W.  L.,  Secretary  of  State,  240. 
Marion  County,  96. 

Marks,  Rosannah,  191. 

—  Sophia  R.,  191. 

—  William,  counsellor  to  "  young  Jo- 
seph," 198. 

Marriage,  190-194,  504  ;  in  Utah,  187. 
Marsh,  Thomas  B.,   President  of  the 

Twelve  Apostles,  61,  88-91,  94,  205. 
Marsh,  Mrs.,  a  Morrisite,  599. 
Marshall,  Thomas,  273. 
Martin,  Leader  of  a  Hand-cart  Company, 

334. 

Martin's  company  [hand-cart],  330-332. 
Mason  and  Slideil's  case,  Brigham  Young 
on,  614. 

Massacre  of  Mormons  at  Haun's  Mill, 
101. 

Massacre  at  Mountain  Meadows,  357, 

et  seq. 
Matheney,  Sims,  444. 
Matty,  a  nickname  for  President  Van 

Buren,  124. 
Maxwell,  General  George  R.,  684. 
McAllister,  Major,  367. 
McArthur,  Daniel,  314. 
McBride,  101. 
McCord,  Alexander,  247. 
McCulloch,  Peace  Commissioner,  394. 
McCurdv,  Solomon,  Judge,  610,  615. 
McDonald,  A.  F.,  462,  465. 


INDEX. 


'755 


McDonough  County,  149,  150. 

McDulange,  F.  C,  444. 

McEwan,  Henry,  502. 

McFarlan,  Daniel,  444. 

McFarlan,  John,  444. 

McGaw,  James,  334. 

McKeaD,  James  B.,  442,  678,  683,  684. 

McKean,  Deputy-Marshal  T.,  59'7,  600. 

McKinzie,  George,  465. 

McLean,  Hector,  429. 

McLellin,  Wm.  E.,  60,  16. 

McLeod,  Rev.  Norman,  616,  705. 

McRae,  Alexander,  112. 

Medium,  Joseph  Smith  a,  14. 

Melchisedec  Priesthood,  476,  556,  559. 

Memorial  to  Congress  from  sons  of  Jo- 
seph Smith,  197.    {Vide  Congress.) 

Merrick,  Mr.,  101. 

Merriman,  Colonel,  214. 

Message,  alleged,  from  Brigham,  order- 
ing Mountain  Meadows  Massacre,  448. 

Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  Salt  Lake 
City,  704. 

Mexican  War,  248. 

Mexico,  California  a  part  of,  269. 

—  New,  269, 

—  Gulf  of,  269. 

Michael,  seen  in  a  vision,  64. 
Migration  to  Salt  Lake  Valley,  267. 
Militia,  Mormon,  366,  412,  673,  680. 
Millennial  Star,  5,  135,  201,  244j  248, 

265,  270,  291,  307,  313,  342,  505. 
Miller,  Eleazar,  foreman  of  jury,  283. 

—  George,  191. 

—  Mary  C,  191. 

—  P.  B.,  442. 
Mills,  W.  G.,  331. 

Mines  in  Utah,  670,  709-734 ;  prophecies 

of,  636,  710. 
Minute-Men,  676. 
Miracle,  the  first  Mormon,  33. 
Mission  to  Carson  Valley,  283. 

—  British,  135,  201. 

—  of  reorganized  Church,  629. 
Missions,  Mormon,  9,  38,  41,  68,  312,  475, 

479,  494. 

Missionaries,  Mormon,  called  in,  353; 
arms  brought  from  England  by,  674. 

Missionary  Elders,  absurd  fears  of,  354. 

Missionary  work,  41,  568-572,  658. 

Mississippi,  123,  577 ;  baptisms  in,  476. 

Missouri,  74,  87,  90,  112,  123,  125,  127, 
133,  138,  139,  141,  142,  214,  350,  577; 
Upper,  82,  88;  troubles  in,  48,  78,  80, 
81,  116, 117 ;  emigrants  from,  424,  428, 
430;  Saints  in,  107,  124,  284;  militia, 
109. 

—  River,  255,  265,  311,  384,  348,  382, 
692. 

Mobbers,  66,  et  seq. 

Mobs  cause  trouble,  46,  et  seq. 


Mohammed,  Joseph  Smith  compared  to, 
•21,  203. 

Mojave  River,  434. 

Montana,  669. 

Montgomery's  Hymn,  166. 

Montrose,  151. 

Morality,  revelations  on,  40. 

Mormon,  derivation  of  name,  43 ;  348, 
predictions,  397 ;  leaders,  397 ;  faith, 
sketch  of,  by  Joseph  Smith,  474 ;  first 
sermon,  33;  militia,  109;  troubles,  be- 
ginning of,  45 ;  Churcli  organization,  6 ; 
missionary  work  [vide  Missions],  10. 

—  Book  of,  25,  489,  523,  526. 
Mormonism,  668. 

—  primitive,  1 ;  grounds  of  faith  in,  2,  et 
seq. 

Morm.O¥is,  sufferings  of,  230,  235 ;  trials 
of.  111 ;  cruelties  to,  228  ;  social  posi- 
tion of,  415  ;  confidence  in,  71 ;  arrive 
in  Salt  Lake  Valley,  260 ;  loyalty  of, 
611,  612. 

—  the, — work  by  Mackay,  on  the  Saints, 
173. 

—  Own  Book,  698. 

—  Church,  643,  645. 

— •  war,  the,  342,  355,  357. 

—  The,  a  religious  publication,  347,  354. 
Moroni,  an  ancient  American  prophet, 

450. 

Morris,  Joseph,  a  prophet  among  the  Mor- 
mons, 520,  593-600^  620. 

Mountain  Meadows  Massacre,  857,  403, 
404,  406-410,  422,  437,  439,  446,  448, 
455,  460,  461,  614,  620. 

Mule,  Jeddy's,  293. 

Murders,  615-620. 

—  secret,  353,  417,  439,  441. 

—  of  apostates,  621. 

Musser,  Amos  M.,  562,  644,  645,  666. 


AUVOO  ["The  Beautiful"],  found- 
ed, 129;  flourishes,  130;  123,  126, 
129,  133,  141-143,  147,  152-166,  169, 
170,  172,  204,  205,  215,  226,  361; 
Joseph  Smith  brought  back  to,  141 ; 
Mormon  tactics  in,  142  ;  Common  Coun- 
cil of,  extraordinary  ordinances,  152; 
Mayor  and  Common  Council  of,  surren- 
der, 162 ;  troubles  in,  162 ;  Apostles  go 
to,  on  Joseph  Smith's  death,  219 ;  High 
Council  at,  221 ;  attack  on,  by  anti- 
Mormons,  226  ;  cruelties  to  Saints  in, 
228 ;  population  of,  232 ;  evacuation 
of,  242 ;  exiles  from,  their  order  of 
travel,  272  ;  Mormons  from  settlements 
flee  to,  235 ;  conference  at,  421 ;  mu- 
nicipal court,  jurisdiction  of,  150;  court 
sets  aside  writ  on  Joseph  Smith,  155, 
160. 


756 


INDEX. 


Nauvoo,  Charter,  133,  139;  Governor 
Ford  on,  140. 

—  House,  136.    ( Vide  Boarding-House.) 

—  Expositor,  148,  159. 

—  Legion,  673-675  ;  called  out,  139,  147, 
165,  187,  593. 

—  Temple,  festivities  at  the  foundation 
of,  143,  205  ;  cost  of,  232  ;  building  of, 
238 ;  completed  and  destroyed,  241. 

—  Recorder's  oflSce,  158. 

—  a  citizen  of,  his  account  of  the  Mor- 
mons, 148. 

Navajo  Indians,  450. 
Negroes,  origin  of,  490,  492. 
Nelson,  Abraham,  80. 

—  Hiram,  80. 

Nephi,  Book  of,  27, 489,  526.  (  Vide  Book , 

of  Abraham.) 
Nevada,  353,  410,  669. 
New  England  States,  120. 

—  Mexico,  380. 

—  Orleans,  265,  429. 

—  Testament,  inspired  translation  of,  44. 

—  York,  713  ;  prophecy  of  destruction 
of,  5,457;  Saints  in,  120;  Elders  in, 
355,  356;  Joseph  Smith  in  State  of, 
21 ;  apostates  in,  630-634. 

Newman,  Dr.  J.  P.,  discussion  with  Orson 

Pratt  on  Polygamy,  682. 
New  Movement,  631-638,  648-645,  676, 

677. 

Nomlen,  Jabez,  444. 
North  Platte,  331. 

—  Bluff  Fork,  319. 


OBEDIENCE,  unquestioning,  required, 
212  ;  Brigham  Young's  idea  of,  650 ; 
H.  C.  Kimball  on,  659. 
O'Fallon's  Bluffs,  335. 
Officers,  Federal,  376 ;  U.  S.,  in  Utah,  411 ; 
appointed,  591  ;  manipulated,  287-413, 
et  seq. 
Ogden  City,  268,  706. 

—  Junction,  635. 

Ohio,  Saints  gather  to,  ^9,  40,  120 ;  apos- 

tacy  in,  68,  184. 
Old  man  in  Israel,  200. 
Olive  Branch  of  Israel  [Orson  Hyde],  128. 
Omaha,  Nebraska,  250,  316,  334,  637. 
Open  Letters  to  Brigham  Young,  by 

Argus,  431,  et  seq, 
Oquakee,  285. 
Oquirrh  Range,  397. 

Order,  Brigham  Young's,  for  the  Moun- 
tain Meadows  Massacre,  448. 

—  of  Enoch,  502. 

Oregon,  146,  147,  222 ;  appointment  of 

Governor  of,  248. 
Osborne,  Dr.  [Colonel  Kane],  881. 
Osiris,  513.    ( Vide  Book  of  Abraham.) 


Outrage  in  San  Pete,  301. 
Ox-teams,  312. 

PACIFIC  RAILROAD,  621,  625,  666- 
Page,  John  E.  [The  Sun-Dial],  128. 
Pappau,  336. 

Parks,  ]3rigadier-General,  84,  99. 
Parowan,  433-437,  440,  444,  459,  461. 
Parrish,  301,  366,  403-406,  424,  426,  437, 

462,  506.    {Vide  Potter.) 
Parsons,  John,  597. 

Patriarch,  The  [Uyrum  Smith],  130,  212, 
563. 

Patriarchal    David's     Staff  [William 

Smith],  128. 
Patrick,  Colonel  M.  T.,  678. 
Patten,  Captain  David,  60,  93-95,  128, 

205,  et  seq. 
Pay  of  the  Mormon  Battalion,  Brigham 

Young  draws,  247. 
Payson,  405,  432. 
Peabody,  George,  667. 
Pearl  of  Great  Price,  26,  507. 
Peep  o'  Day^  630. 
Peniston,  Colonel,  80,  458. 
Penn,  120. 

Pennsylvania,  Saints  in,  120,  124. 
Penrose,    C.  W.  P.,"  373. 
Perpetual  Emigration  Fund,  340,  577. 
Persecution  of  Apostates,  645.  • 
Petition  of  Ladies  to  Mrs.  President 

Grant,  673. 
Petty,  Catherine,  191. 
Phelps,  W.  W.,  42,  46, 112, 128,  174,  182. 
Pied  Riche,  Chief  of  Pottowattamies,  250. 
Pierce,  President,  281,  307. 

—  Harrison,  444. 

—  Rev.  G.  M.,  704. 
Pike,  Sergeant,  419. 

Pinto  Creek,  435,  440,  443,  459. 
Pioneers,  261,  349. 
Pisgah,  Mount,  244,  250. 
Pittsburg  bankers  visit  Joseph  Smith,  71) 
72. 

—  Sidney  Rigdon  at,  205. 

Plains,  journey  across  the,  317,  630. 
Plates,  gold,  discovered  by  Joseph  Smith, 
21. 

Platte,  Department  of,  612. 

—  River-crossing,  335,  336. 

—  Bridge,  338. 

Point  of  the  Mountain,  The,  397. 
Police,  captain  of  Salt  Lake  City,  466. 
Polk,  President,  222,  238,  239,  247-249, 
361. 

Pollock,  Samuel,  444. 

Polygamy,  revelation  on,  145,  176 ;  ori- 
gin of,  182  ;  first  publicly  taught,  183, 
201;  painful  results  of,  186;  extraor- 
dinary facts  of,  186 ;  repudiated,  190, 
192-196,  199-201  ;  m  England,  201, 


INDEX. 


757 


202;  in  Nauvoo,  225  301,  582-585, 
588;  in  Utah,  613,  615,  621,  629,  634, 
638,  652,  660,  673,  682,  683,  685,  693, 
706. 

Polytheism  in  Nauvoo,  159,  160. 

Pond  Town,  405. 

Pony  Express,  420. 

Pope,  Judge  N.,  140. 

Post-Office  Contracts,  845. 

Potomac,  Army  of,  421. 

Potter  [and  Parrish],  murder  of,  301, 403- 

405,  463,  464. 
Pottowattamies,  250. 
Potts,  John,  243. 
Powder  River,  608. 

Powell,  L.  W.,  United  States  Commis- 
sioner, afterward  Governor,  391,  394. 

Pratt,  Apostle  Orson  [Gauge  of  Philoso- 
phv],  128  ;  5,  9,  11 ;  conversion  of,  36  ; 
52,*  60,  123,  205,  263,  264,  353,  425, 
483,  492-498,  545,  552-555,  586,  649, 
664,  682. 

—  Apostle  Parley  P.  [Archer  of  Para- 
dise], 128,  455 ;  debate  with  La  Roy 
Sunderland,  4,  5  ;  converted,  36  ;  52, 
61,  94, 104,  112,  123,  128, 196,  205,  263, 
270,  351,  352,  429,  432,  492-494,  649. 

Preachers  [Methodist,  Baptist,  etc.]  take 
arms  against  the  Mormons,  105. 

Predictions,  42;  fulfilled,  348;  false,  of 
Brigham  Young,  376,  610. 

Preexistence,  of  souls,  486. 

Presidency  of  United  States,  348. 

—  the  First  [in  Mormon  Church],  204, 
560. 

President  of  the  United  States,  Joseph 
Smith  candidate  for,  174. 

—  of  Stakes  of  Zion,  695,  696. 
Press,  Associated,  the,  413. 
Preuss,  map  designed  by,  269. 
Price,  Colonel  Sterling  G.,  110. 

—  James,  444. 

Priesthood,  63,  637,  678;  Aaronic,  28; 
Melchisedec,  28,  659;  infallible^  11, 
342 ;  High,  Joseph  President  of,  42  ; 
gradations  of,  62  ;  in  Zion,  556. 

Priests,  558. 

Probate  Courts  of  Utah,  686.  (Vide 
Courts.) 

Processions  through  Salt  Lake  City,  611, 
620. 

Proclamation  of  Brigham  Young,  358  ; 
of  Governor  Shaffer,  678. 

Progress,  an  article  in  Salt  Lake  Tele- 
graph, 638. 

Promised  Land,  481. 

Prophecies  of  Brigham  Young,  376,  610. 
(  Vide  Brigham.) 

—  of  Joseph  Smith,  420.  ( Vide  Smith.) 
•Prophet  of  the   Nineteenth  Century 

[Work  by  Caswell],  106. 


Prophets,  School  of,  44.  (  Vide  School.) 
Prospect  Hill,  337. 

Provo  City,  399,  403-407,  432,  444,  450 ; 

Mayor  of,  407,  701,  705. 
Proxy  wives,  187. 
Prudence,  Angeline,  450. 
PubHc  discussion,  195  ;  in  England,  488, 

682. 


QUEEN  of  England,  Memorial  to,  576. 
Quincy  (III),  Joseph  Smith  flees  to, 
117,  123,  143,  169,  215. 
Quorums,  61,  205,  295  ;  of  apostles,  559  ; 
of  Three,  560 ;  of  Twelve,  204,  262, 
662. 


EAY  County,  Mo.,  89,  94,  109,  110. 
Rawlins,  General,  675. 
Rebecca,  450. 

RebeUion,  the  Utah,  336,  337. 
Red  Butte  Canon,  336,  605. 
Reed,  Chief-Justice,  279,  609. 
Rees,  96. 

Reformation  in  Utah,  the,  286,  292,  409, 

410,  461,  464,  467,  473. 
Reformed  Egyptian,  123,  489. 
Reformers,  636,  642,  677,  705,  706.  (  Vide 

New  Movement.) 
Reichau,  336. 

Reign  of  Terror  in  Utah,  407. 

Reorganized  Church,  224,  554,  658. 

Republican  party,  307,  348. 

Resurrection,  Mormon  theories  of  the, 
470,  486-483,  487. 

Revelation,  50,  51,  107,  108,  253,  254, 
631 ;  a  new,  proposed  by  Vice-Presi- 
dent Colfax,  613. 

Rhode  Island,  letter  to,  from  a  lady, 
378. 

Rich,  C.  C,  95,  353. 

Richards,  Franklin  D.,  Apostle,  108,  313, 
329,  333,  335,  339,  340,  441,  442,  542, 
704,  705. 

Richards,  Willard,  Doctor  and  Apostle 
[Keeper  of  the  Rolls],  128,  163,  169, 
170,  174,  241,  255,  263,  278. 

Richardson,  Albert  D.,  of  New  York  Tri- 
hune,  613. 

Richmond,  Ray  County,  89,  95, 100, 110; 
jail,  109. 

Rigdon,  Sidney,  36,  41,  69,  72,  74,  78, 
86,  87,  91,  104,  112,  123,  124,  137, 
204-206 ;  cut  off,  207,  208,  210,  562, 
649. 

Rigdon,  Nancy,  daughter  of  Sidney,  206. 
Riggs,  William,  444. 
Robinson,  Angelina,  191. 

—  Br.  J:  King,  616-618,  623,  705. 

—  Quartermaster  Lewis,  366. 

—  George  W.,  104. 


INDEX. 


Robinson,  Cornet,  136. 

Rockwell,  Orrin  Porter  [a  Danite 

140,  141,  367. 
Rocky  Mountains,  146,  221,  237,  379; 

Zion  in,  175. 
Rocky  Ridge,  327. 
Rogers,  Mr.,  of  Davis  County,  101. 


SACRAMENT,  the  first  Mormon,  33. 
Sacrifices,  Human,  613. 
Sacrifice,  human,  commended,  304,  410. 
Safety  Society  Bank,  at  Kirtland,  70,  et  seq. 
Saint  Louis,  215,  244,  266,  285,  306,  333, 

623  ;  U.  S.  Treasurer  at,  410. 
Saints  persecuted,  47.    (  Vide  Mormons.) 

—  to  be  avengers,  57. 

—  scattered,  120.    {Vide  Mormons.) 
Salt  Creek,  432. 

—  dearth  of,  in  the  U.  S.  army  in  Utah, 
377. 

—  Sermon,  Sidney  Rigdon's,  78,  79. 
Salt  Lake,  259,  670. 

—  Valley,  259,  269,  357,  691,  692. 

—  City,  102,  144,  183,  185,  260,  611, 
623,  625,  626,  635,  661,  668,  670,  672, 
676,  691-698,  701,  706,  707 ;  laid  out, 

•  291;  poverty  in,  301,  314,  345,  389; 
troops  passing  through,  396  ;  382,  397, 
428,  606. 

—  County,  673. 
Salter,  Job,  298. 

Sam,  an  ancient  American  Prophet,  530. 
San  Bernardino,  353,  434,  444. 
San  Francisco,  354,  615,  637. 

—  Bulletin^  634. 
Sanhedrim,  75. 
San  Pete,  301,  302. 
Santa  Clara,  447,  448,  451. 
Savage,  317. 

Savage,  Levi,  314,  328,  329. 
School  of  the  Prophets,  639,  701. 
School,  Sunday,  in  Salt  Lake  City,  704, 
705. 

Schuyler  County,  149,  150. 
Scott,  Camp,  376-379,  383,  384,  389,  396, 
417. 

Scott,  Lieutenant-General,  380,  396. 
Sealing,  504. 

Secretary  of  War,  the  U.  S.,  380. 
JSeer,  the,  587. 
Seminole  Indians,  336. 
Sermon,  the  first  Mormon,  33. 
Seth,  50. 

Settlements,  Mormon,  671. 
Seventies,  61,  296,  559. 
Shaffer,  Governor  J.  Wilson,  675-679, 
681. 

Sharpe,  Thos.  0.,  editor  of  the  Warsaw 

Signal,  165,  172,  175. 
Shaver,  Judge,  279,  281. 


Shearer,  Norman,  112. 
Shearman,  Wm.  H.,  635,  642. 
Sheridan,  General,  674. 
Sherman,  General,  616. 
Shiloh,  377. 
Shoal  Creek,  100,  101. 
Sierra  Nevada  Mountains,  269. 
Sig7ialy  the  Warsaw,  172. 
Sinclair,  Chas.  E.,  the  Hon.  Associate- 
Justice,  283,  352,  401-403,  591. 
Singleton,  Captain,  153. 
Slade,  William,  444. 
Slavery,  308. 

Smith,  Alexander  H.,  629,  633,  634. 

—  Albert,  305. 

—  Captain  of  Carthage  Grays,  153. 

—  David  Hyrum,  213,  629. 

—  E.,  502. 

—  Elias,  Judge,  610. 

—  Emma  [the  Elect  Lady],  175,  186, 
188-191,  629,  634. 

—  Fort,  429. 

—  George  A.  [Entablature  of  Truth],  52, 
123,  128,  434,  435,  560,  626,  661-664, 
684,  696. 

~  Hyrum,  30,  52,  76,  106, 112,  129, 152, 
153,  155,  166, 167;  funeral  of,  174, 188, 
189,  199,  204,  306,  563,  634,  661,  663. 

—  Joseph,  the  Prophet  of  the  Lord,  13; 
tarred  and  feathered,  41,  42 ;  30, 44,  60, 
61,  68,  72,  76,  81,  82,  86,  89,  90,  104- 
108,  110,  111,  117,  123,  126,  129,  136, 
137,  140,  147,  152,  153,  155,  156,164- 
176,  182,  193,  204,  206,  301,  306,  384, 
392,  472,  487,  503,  507,  508,  521,  546, 
547,  630,  632,  644,  649,  661;  early 
life  of,  16 ;  baptized  by  Oliver  Cow- 
dery,  28,  29  ;  he  prophesies  of  Brig- 
ham  Young,  68 ;  in  Missouri,  69  ;  flees 
from  Kirtland,  70;  surrenders,  104  ; 
in  prison,  115;  his  trial,  118;  troubles 
of,  123 ;  becomes  Lieutenant-General, 
Mayor,  etc.,  185;  character  of,  157- 
159  ;  death  of,  168  ;  character  summed 
up,  173  ;  funeral  of,  174;  posterity  of, 
185,  196,  198;  and  polygamy,  186; 
his  prediction  of  Senator  Douglas, 
347;  prophecy  of,  420;  the  first  to 
be  "resurrected,"  480;  prediction  of, 
499  ;  faith  of,  555. 

—  Joseph,  444. 

—  Joseph  F.,  629,  634. 

—  Klingon,  Bishop,  439,  442-451. 

—  General  Persifier  F.,  365. 

—  Lucy  [mother  of  Joseph],  her  book, 
14. 

—  Robert  J.,  justice  of  the  peace,  155. 

—  William  B.  [Patriarchal  David's  Staff], 
214. 

—  Don  Carlos,  86. 

—  Samuel  H.,  80. 


INDEX 


759 


Smoot,  Elder  A.  0.,  Mayor  of  Salt  Lake 
City,  349-352,  608,  609. 

Snow,  Eliza  R.,  Secretary  of  Ladies'  So- 
ciety, and  poetess,  191. 

—  Zerubbabel,  Associate- Justice,  275, 
218. 

—  Erastus,  333. 

Social  Hall,  Salt  Lake  City,  286. 

Soda  Springs,  368,  606. 

Sophronia  [or  Mary]  Huff,  450. 

Sorrow,  John  Calvin,  455. 

South,  the,  46,  212,  307;  prophecy  of 
rebellion  in,  44 ;  rebelUon,  610. 

South  Pass,  330. 

Southern  California,  353. 

Southey,  Robert,  the  poet,  strange  pas- 
sage from,  89. 

Spanish  Fork,  432,  464. 

Spaulding,  Solomon,  208,  508,  543. 

Speech  extraordinary  of  General  Clark, 
110. 

Spencer,  Augustine,  155. 

—  Orson,  266. 

—  Daniel,  333,  335,  339,  341,  342. 
Spiritualism  and  Joseph  Smith,  66,  508, 

520-522,  546,  551,  552,  631,  632,  636, 
641. 

Springfield,  140,  215. 

Springfield,  speech  of  Senator  Douglas 

at,  347. 
Spring  Hill,  77. 

Springville,  301,  403,  404,  407-409,  432, 

462,  463,  465. 
Springville,  murder  at,  459. 
Squatter  sovereignty,  347. 
Staines,  Elder  W.  C,  Superintendent  of 

Emigration,  391. 
Stakes  of  Zion,  695,  696.    {Vide  Zion.) 
Stanley,  Mr.,  102. 
Stansbury,  Captain  Howard,  272. 
Stanton,  Secretary,  592,  601. 
Star  office  destroyed,  46,  49. 
Star.   {F^c?6  Millennial.) 
Stenhouse,  Elder  T.  B.  H.,  disfellow- 

shipped,  639. 
Steptoe,  Lieutenant-Colonel  E.  J.,  364. 
Stewart,  J.  M.,  463,  465,  467. 

—  William,  444. 
Riley,  80. 

Stiles,  Judge  George  P.,  280,  282,  283, 

285,  307. 
Stoddard,  Judson  L.,  598. 
Stores  destroyed,  422. 
Strang,  Elder  James,  185,  212. 
Strickland,  Obed,  Associate-Justice  of 

Utah,  442,  684. 
Sunday-Schools  in  S.  L.  C,  704,  705. 
Sunderland,  La  Roy,  351. 
Sunderland,  Dr.,  of  Washington,  682. 
Sun -Dial,   the   [John  E.  Page],  128, 

273. 


Surveys  in  Utah,  671. 

Sweetwater,  the,  320,  329,  331,  337,  368. 

TABERNACLE,  Salt  Lake  City,  125, 
182,  280,  294,  299,  300,  303,  305, 

332,  339,  372,  374-376,  379,  380,  384, 
392,  397,  400,  415,  420,  462,  473,  485, 
486,  546,  561,  586,  601-610,  627,  634, 
638,  641,  642,  644,  651,  666,  693-697, 
701 ;  discourses  in,  359,  361,  610,  624, 
641,  695-697,  711  ;  0.  Pratt  in,  493; 
discussion  in,  682. 

Table  Mountain,  273. 
Taggit,  WilHam,  450. 
Taos,  380. 

Taylder,  T.  W.  P.,  Jiuthor  of  ^*The  Mor- 
mon's Own  Book,"  698. 

Taylor  [Champion  of  Right],  Apostle 
John,  128, 150,  157,  166,  169,  170,  174, 
194,  195,  204,  236,  241,  248,  263,  264, 

333,  339-341,  357,  359,  364,  365,  664. 

—  Leonora,  191. 

—  Steve,  336. 

—  President  Zachary,  249,  276,  277,  280, 
361,  557. 

Telegraph,  The  Salt  Lake,  612,  638. 

Temple,  The,  108,  266,  478  ;  to  be  reared, 
38 ;  revelation  on,  38 ;  at  Independ- 
ence, 120  ;  in  Kirtland,  49,  61-63  ;  ded- 
ication of,  63;  in  Nauvoo,  123;  foun- 
dation of,  136,  137,  140-146,  174; 
completing  of,  217,  221 ;  finished,  223 ; 
dispute  whether  finished,  224-226, 48U, 
505 ;  in  Salt  Lake  City,  670,  697,  698. 

—  Block,  260. 

Tenant,  Mr.,  an  emigrant,  335. 
Territorial  Legislature,  276,  282. 

—  Marshal,  684.  . 

Territory,  of  Utah,  Organic  Act  of,  281. 
Terry,  Partial,  405. 

Testament,  Old,  inspired  translation  of, 

45. 
Texas,  364. 

Theocracy,  Mormon,  668,  675,  681. 
Theodule  Deveria,  516.    {Vide  Dev^ria 

and  Book  of  Abraham.) 
Theological  Institute,  300. 
Thompson,  Robert  B.,  129. 
Thornton,  444. 
Times,  The  London,  321. 
Times  and  Seasons,  79,  136,  137,  190, 

199,  200,  211,  212,  474,  519. 
Timpanogos,  272. 

Tithing,  266,  416,  456,  578,  623,  698. 

—  Office,  651,  654. 

Titus,  Chief-Justice,  617,  621,  683. 
Tom  Corwin's  story,  614. 
Tompkins,  Judge,  117. 
Tongues,  gift  of,  650.    {Vide  Gifts.) 
Tooele,  268. 

Trains,  United  States,  burning  of,  368. 


760 


INDEX. 


Transmigration  of  souls,  481,  488. 
Treason  charged  against  Joseph  Smith, 
112. 

Trial  of  Joseph  Smith  (vide  Smith) ;  of 
assassins  of  Smith,  116. 

Trial  of  Mormons  for  murder  and  polyg- 
amy, 685. 

Tribune,  Salt  Lake,  644. 

—  The  New  York,  34,  301. 

—  The  Chicago,  248. 
Trobriand,  General  E.  De,  681. 
Troubles  in  Missouri,  46. 

True  Latter-Dai/  Saints^  Herald,  225,  634. 
Trustee  iu  Trust,  502,  578,  651,  657,  665. 
Truth  for  the  Mormons,  278. 
TuUidge,  Elder  Edward  W.,  342,  630, 

632,  633,  639,  642. 
TuUis,  David,  451. 
Tuttle,  Bishop,  704. 

Twelve  Apostles,  462;  Brigham  Young 

President  of,  210.    ( Vide  Apostles.) 
Tyler,  Elder,  334,  336,  444. 

UNITED  Brethren,  573. 
Union  Pacific  Railroad,  268,  363, 
635,  637,  706. 
United  States  Army  in  Utah,  417,  658, 
677. 

—  Marshal,  686. 

Urim  and  Thummim,  22,  29. 

Utah  Territory,  organized,  274 ;  bounda- 
ries of,  274,  669 ;  crops  in,  270 ;  diffi- 
culties in,  279,  407 ;  murders  in,  418  ; 
population  of,  672;  statistics  of,  691, 
706. 

—  County,  268. 

Central  Railway,  636,  667,  706. 

—  Expedition,  365. 

—  Lake,  272. 

Magazine^  630,  635,  637,  639,  642. 

VALLEY,  Salt  Lake,  396.    (Vide  Salt 
Lake.) 

—  Tan,  402,  409,418. 
Van  Buren,  47. 
Vaughan,  Vernon  H.,  678. 
Vedette  [newspaper],  612. 

Vic  [Queen  Victoria],  Rigdon  threatens 

to  pull  the  nose  of,  207. 
Vision  of  Joseph  Smith,  15,  16,  18;  of 

Joseph  Smith  and  Oliver  Cowdery,  28, 

63  ;  at  dedication,  63,  64;  of  apostates, 

642. 

Tleit,  Major  Stewart  Van,  353  ;  in  Salt 

Lake  City,  356,  358,  362,  364,  385. 
Volunteers,  604,  612,  et  al 
Vorhee,  185. 

TirAHSATCH  Mountains,  377,  592, 669, 
f  T    670,  673,  691. 


Waite,  Associate-Justice  Charles  B.,  599- 
602,  605,  609. 

—  Mrs.,  her  book,  247,  279,  453 
— •  Miss,  602. 

Walker  Brothers,  merchants  of  Utah, 
417,  623,  627,  643-645. 

—  J.  Robinson,  621,  623-628. 

—  Cyrus,  candidate  for  Congress,  142. 

—  House,  706. 

Wallock,  Major-General,  96. 
War,  in  Utah,  preparing  for,  353. 

—  The  Civil,  421. 
Warm  Springs,  617. 
Warren,  Major,  217. 
Warsaw,  154,  169,  215. 
Washington,  a  Latter-Day  Saint,  481, 

—  Monument,  276. 

—  County,  459. 

—  City,  436. 
Washoe  Valley,  353. 
Watt,  George  D.,  573. 
Weatherford,  214. 
Webb,  C.  G.,  319,  333. 
Weber  Canon,  593,  594. 

—  County,  268. 

—  Station,  393. 
Weld,  Dr.,  225. 
Welding,  Dick,  80. 

Weller,  Governor  John  B.,  617. 

Wells,  General  Daniel  H.,  272,  367,  368, 

371-376,  412,  593,  609,  640,  666,  680, 

681,  685,  701. 
Western  Standard,  354. 
Wheelock,  Elder  C.  H.,  321,  335,  336. 
White,  Captain  Joel,  443. 
Whitmer  family,  29;  David,  30,  75,  112; 

John,  112;  Peter,  30. 
Whitney,  Bishop,  5,  6. 

—  Eliza  Ann  [counsellor],  191. 

—  N.  K.,  191. 
Wife,  spiritual,  193. 

Wight,  Colonel  Lyman  [Wild  Ram  of 
the  Mountains],  81,  82,  86,  104,  111, 
112,  128,  206,  263. 

Wild-Cats,  Missouri,  424,  428. 

Wiley,  Mr.  R.,  548. 

Williams,  Colonel  Levi,  149,  165,  172, 
175  203-205,  209,  314,  319,  320. 

—  Frederick  G.,  counsellor  of  Joseph,  69. 
Williamson,  Dr.,  618. 

Willie,  Captain    James  G.  [Hand-cart 

Company],  314,  319,  320,  323-329. 
Willis,  John,  175,  439,  441,  444. 
Willow  Creek,  329. 

Wilson,  Alexander,  District  Attorney,401. 

—  General,  106. 

—  an  apostate,  621. 

Winter-Quarters  [Florence],  250,  255, 
261,  264,  316;  log-cabin  at,  262. 

Witnesses  to  Book  of  Mormon,  29,  76, 
112,  508. 


INDEX. 


761 


Wood,  William,  243. 

—  River,  318. 

Woodruff,  Apostle  Wilford  [Banner  of 
the  Gospel],  128,  52,  '79,  191,  263. 

—  Phoebe,  191. 
Woods,  Sarshel,  94. 

—  Governor  George  A.,  680. 
Woodward,  William,  314,  31^,  328. 
Woolley,  Bishop,  701,  705. 
Wootton,  Secretary,  445,  591. 
Word  and  Will  of  the  Lord,  253. 
Works,  Abigail,  191. 
Wyoming,  669. 

YOUNG.    ( Vide  Brigham.) 
—  Bishop  L.  D.,  379. 

—  John,  649. 

—  John  W.,  696. 

—  Joseph,  649. 

—  Lorenzo  D.,  649. 

—  Phineas  H.,  649. 


Young,  Joseph,  100. 

—  Joseph  A.,  319,  322,  336,  663. 

—  Mrs.  Mary  Ann  Angel,  652. 

ZACH,  Old.  (F^Wc  Taylor.) 
Zion,  the  New,  39,  120,  217,  259,  355, 
363,  371,  375,  379,  396,  420,  423,  428, 
452,  601,  613,  633,  637,691,  692;  emi- 
gration to,  313,  316,  333,  341  ;  Stake 
of,  297 ;  defence  of,  353 ;  in  Kirtland, 
100 ;  in  Jackson  County,  268,  S'54 ; 
the  Rocky  Mountain,  276  ;  predicted 
by  Joseph  Smith,  146 ;  crimes  in,  620 ; 
terror  in,  621 ;  Stakes  of,  695,  696. 

—  Daughters  of  [Danites],  93. 
Zion's  Camp,  52,  55,  57,  58. 

—  Songs  of,  349. 

—  Cooperative    Mercantile  Institution, 
625,  627,  628.    (  Vide  Cooperative.) 

Ziori's  Watchman  [La  Roy  Sunderland's 
paper],  5,  351. 


THE  END. 


I' 


V 


GETTY  CENTER  LIBRARY 


